Reviews by Category: Nonfiction

Title: Midnight in Chernobyl

Author: Adam Higginbotham

Genre: Biography

In the nonfiction novel Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, Yuval Noah Harari takes

the reader on a journey through the human experience from the homo genus’s creation until

now. He accomplishes this by focusing on how the three principal revolutions-—cognitive,

agricultural, and scientific—came to be and how they shaped our development. The first of

them, the cognitive revolution, touches on how we developed our trademark intelligence. The

What My Mother and I Don’t Talk About is a series of essays written by those who feel

certain feelings towards their mothers, whether their estranged or close, all essays convey

different emotions. Many are about their mothers’ pasts, while others are about their mothers’

not being there when their children needed them. Many are long, while others are short. The

essays are deeply personal but let the reader have a small glimpse into the writers’ lives. A

The Diversity of Life is a nonfiction biology book written by Edward O.

Wilson. This book explains world living species and how they become diverse. This

also explains how we impact them as people, and what we can do to prevent this.

These are examined massive species extinction caused by human activities

during the 20th century, and how we can alter them. Edward O. Wilson explains in

this book about the unity and the diversity of species. The author of this book

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a nonfiction novel by Rebecca Skloot. The HeLa cells

were used for many medical advancements, such as the polio vaccine and cancer research, but

the family of the woman who gave those cells didn’t learn the truth of what happened with

herself until many years later. Rebecca Skloot documents the life of Henrietta Lacks, the story

of her cells and the life of the Lacks family after learning the story of Henrietta’s cells.

Louis Zamperini was a runner, a captive, and a fighter. Louie grew up causing problems, so he picked up a hobby of running. Soon this hobby spiraled into a possible career. Louie continued his life as a runner and became very talented in this field. Then WW2 broke out. Louie went out to fight for the United States, until disaster struck. His plane crashed. Louie became helpless and hopeless, while floating in the middle of the ocean. Louie and Phil, who was with him, were found, but were they found by their friends or enemies.

Brain of Fire is a book that follows Susannah as she battles through an invisible disease that is brushed off at first, but proves to be life threatening as a result of the ignorance. When nobody believes her, Susannah is led to believe she has gone crazy. With the support of her boyfriend, and the doctor who believed her every word and was determined to help her, Susannah managed to remain motivated to battle through arguably the toughest phase of her life.

And We Still Rise leaves reader more knowledgeable on the current disparities of the US education system along with the desire to learn more about it. The author follows 12 students at Crenshaw in California as they lead a tremulous life balancing trauma, financial issues, and education. Although the book is meant to be centered around all 12 students, it fails to dedicate equal importance to each one. The author focuses too much on certain students and even teachers, while mostly forgetting about the rest.

The Zodiac Unmasked is a true crime documentary type of book. This book is more on the informational side since it gives all the facts, data and research that went into the investigation for the zodiac killer. This book is good for anyone who is trying to learn more about true crime and all the work and process that goes into catching these killers. Since the book is more on the informational side it can be a harder read but nonetheless it is a good book.