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Nonfiction book that had facts that shocked you
(lemmy.world)
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this post was submitted on 07 Aug 2025
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I just finished The Dawn of Everything by Graeber and Wengrow, and it's a remarkable look at state formation, prehistoric societies, the process by which cultures differentiate from each other and form their identities, the origins of farming and why it was (or wasn't) adopted around the world, and so much more.
If you have even a passing interest in prehistory, it's a must-read
My go to reference for historical non-fiction is Arms Germs and Steel. The book sets out to answer the question “why did Spain discover and conquer South America and not the opposite?” The answer is the title, and so much more!
Greatly written, very engaging, spans so many sections of history that left me fascinated - and I wasn’t a history nerd before this read.
You'd certainly enjoy The Dawn of Everything then. The authors do make some cheeky academic jokes about parts of Diamond's work that they disagree with, but they also point out where they think he was right.
And here it goes, on my reading list! Thanks for the suggestion!
Just finished that recently myself. One of the best books I've ever read that compels the reader to better understand what it means to be human on this planet.
This is the type of feedback that makes me want to read a non-fiction book.
I'm reading through that right now! Fascinating but dense as a brick.
My last nonfiction was Graeber's Debt: the First 5000 years which is worldview changing exploration of the origin and concept of money which I recommend highly.
It's a rare book that is so dense yet so enjoyable (to me at least).
I've got Debt on my list, too; I'm looking to read everything those guys put out. It's such a a shame that Graeber passed away, he still had so much to give to the world.