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Notable Non-Fiction October 2026 |
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Why You Should Read Children's Books, Even Though You Are So Old and Wise by Katherine RundellKatherine Rundell, one of the most accomplished modern children’s writers, offers an extended essay about the pleasures and benefits of reading children’s literature as an adult. Rundell explores how children's books ignite—and can re-ignite—the imagination; how children's fiction, with its unabashed emotion and playfulness, can awaken old hungers and create new perspectives on the world. Infinitely wise and thought-provoking, Rundell’s short book is a perfect one-sitting read, and a terrific gift for the book-lover in your life.
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Swimming the Seasons: A Freshwater Almanac by Polly Atkin Follow poet and nature writer Polly Atkin as she swims through the turning year in the rivers, lakes and tarns of the English Lake District, in this lyrical ode to the uplifting power of water. This is a love story between a person and a place. It is a story of acceptance, persistence and finding joy in the everyday, as eight years of outdoor swimming through every season deepen Atkin’s knowledge and understanding of both the landscape she calls home and her disabled body. Each month in the water reveals how a life lived with pain can be as rich, rewarding and full of delight as any other. Atkin swims for the sheer pleasure of it, showing how that pleasure may be found in every season, even by those who find the cold neither thrilling nor soothing. She reminds us of the quiet power of noticing the lives alongside ours ― birds, plants and people. And through paying attention to herself and to the living world around her, she finds swimming becomes a transformative force, a kind of natural magic through which the extraordinary is revealed day after day, year after year.
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Indoor Epidemic: 93% Inside Steals Sleep, Focus & Years-The 7% Outdoor Rx Restores Them by John La PumaYou aren't just stressed, exhausted, or getting older. You are living in biological captivity. We spend 93% of our lives indoors—bathed in blue light, trapped in climate-controlled boxes, staring at screens, and breathing stagnant air. Your body is revolting, and you feel it every single day:- You lie awake staring at the ceiling, or wake up feeling like you never slept at all.
- Puffy eyes, joint stiffness, digestive issues, and that heavy, unexplainable body fatigue.
- Mid-afternoon energy crashes, irritability, and a constant, low-level buzz of mental overwhelm.
- Watching your children transform into passive, anxious screen-captives with zero energy for the real world.
The problem isn't your willpower. Your biology is running on dim light, stale air, little movement, and no timed signals from the outdoors. The Remedy Isn't Another Pill, Workout Routine, or Diet. It’s the 7% Outdoor Rx. In Indoor Epidemic, board-certified internist, chef, and organic farmer Dr. John La Puma reveals how modern indoor living acts as a continuous biological poison—and gives you the exact, evidence-based protocol to reverse it.No expensive biohacking gadgets. No 2-hour gym sessions. No radical lifestyle overhauls. Just micro-doses of nature designed for busy adults and overworked parents.
Inside this book, you will discover:
- The exact morning light protocol that fixes broken sleep cycles and ends the 3 p.m. brain fog crash without extra caffeine.
- How brief, strategic outdoor exposures including daylight, distance vision and trees lower cortisol, calm overactive immune responses, and drain physical tension.
- Practical, stress-free ways for parents to pull kids off screens, restore their mood, prevent nearsightedness and protect their developing minds and eyes.
- How stepping outside intentionally at the right time, with a minimum effective dose of just 17 minutes per day restores sharp focus, deep energy, and years of vibrant health.
Stop managing symptoms. Reclaim your sleep, restore your energy, and rescue your family from the indoor epidemic.
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Yakuza: A 400-Year History of the Japanese Underworld by Andrew Rankin Japan’s gangster groups, known collectively as the yakuza, are among the oldest underworld societies in the world. With military-style organization and a code of absolute obedience, they have run Japan’s black markets for centuries. They have remained strikingly conspicuous in Japanese society and as a cultural force beyond Japan, with movies and video games celebrating their exploits globally. Andrew Rankin offers the first comprehensive history of the yakuza, from their emergence out of seventeenth-century samurai gang culture to the present day. Though their activities have always encompassed illegal gambling and sex trafficking, the yakuza have also aggressively maintained business interests in private security, the construction industry, the entertainment industry, and debt collection. Yakuza bosses acquired a degree of legitimacy by styling themselves as peacekeepers maintaining order at society’s bottom end. Yet that legitimacy has come into doubt in recent years as Japan’s contracting economy has pushed the yakuza into increasingly predatory criminal activities. Featuring a lively cast of extortionists, smugglers, hit men, and corporate crime lords, Yakuza is a fascinating tour of Japan’s sprawling mob syndicates and the cultural traditions with which they are so deeply intertwined.
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ER: The Oral History by Lynette RiceLong before Jurassic Park was the embryo of an idea in Michael Crichton's mind, there was ER. A medical student who dreamt of a career in Hollywood, Crichton did what any aspiring writer would: he created a script based on time working in a high-octane hospital emergency department. Of course, nobody wanted it. It wasn't until Crichton turned his attention to dinosaurs and his 1990 novel Jurassic Park became a megahit – and a mega-movie franchise – that Steven Spielberg's camp asked the former doctor what other ideas he was kicking around. Producers weren't interested in Crichton's dream to make a hospital film. But, they were looking for new television series programming and thought there might be something even bigger in the concept than a movie. And, thus, ER was born.
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Lessons from the Garden: African Spirituality, Health, and Holistic Practice by Lahronda Welch Little How we live, practice our faith, and think of God profoundly influences our health and well-being. Inspired by the reflections of a young girl snapping beans on the porch and playing in the dirt, Rev. Lahronda Welch Little's Lessons from the Garden offers us a pathway to the biblical landscape of spirituality and health. From the garden to her grandmother's kitchen, Little discovered a powerful truth: What we ingest profoundly shapes our well-being. Nature's bounty offers remedies for colds, minor cuts, burns, bruises, and even indigestion, teaching us that health is rooted in the earth. Little weaves together personal stories and insights that illuminate these revelations, inviting us to embrace the wisdom of nature as a companion to our spiritual life. With clarity and passion, Little redefines health and spirituality, equipping spiritual seekers with the essential tools to explore the holistic foundations of African American and Kemetic spirituality. She shares transformative practices such as Kemetic yoga, sewing, breathwork, prayer, and biblical study, each serving as a pathway to deeper wellness and connection to the divine. At the heart of Little's journey toward wholeness lies grace. Through the practice of compassion and empathy--first for ourselves and then for others--we learn to adapt and thrive as a community. While not every seed we plant bears fruit, our connection to the cyclical nature of life keeps us attuned to the Spirit.
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This book is a wake-up call about the decades-long project that led to Trump’s America. It’s the playbook for progressives who want to do far more than restore the status quo. This is how we build a stronger country, with hope and opportunity for all — before our democracy slides into a distant memory.
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The Butterfly Season: What 64 Butterflies Taught Me about Nature's Great Mysteries and the Meaning of Life by Lea KorsgaardCombining nature writing, philosophy, myth, science, and sixty-four beautiful hand-drawn illustrations, The Butterfly Season is a luminous account of one woman’s quest to see all sixty-four species of butterflies native to Denmark in a single year. Part field diary, part mythological tapestry, part existential reflection, Lea Korsgaard’s journey unfolds across seasons and geographies, through meadows, marshes, and ancient coastal lands, as she discovers the mysteries and miracles of the natural world. On the first day of the year, Korsgaard sat at her desk, making a list. It was a typically cold, quiet January day, and the possibility of the new year—of new discoveries and new challenges—reawakened an old dream of hers: to see every Danish butterfly species in one year. At first, the goal felt impossible—Korsgaard knew almost nothing about butterflies—but she persevered, creating a color-coded tracking system that mapped butterfly regions and flight times with meticulous care. As the project developed, what was at first a simple exercise in discovery became an intimate reckoning with transformation and rebirth, the butterfly’s fleeting existence knitting together beginnings, endings, and the life made in between.
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The Ghost of the Mountains: Unraveling the Secrets of the Snow Leopard by Kulbhushansingh SuryawanshiSnow leopards have a special grip on the human imagination, a symbol of the mysteries that still exist on our planet. These elusive predators live solitary lives in the highest reaches of the Himalaya, moving along rock faces like smoke. They are also the flagship species of Himalayan conservation, key to preserving this austere, delicate ecosystem. Kulbhushansingh Suryawanshi is one of the world’s leading snow leopard scientists. In The Ghost of the Mountains, he offers an evocative and personal account of his decades of work in this field, from his exhilarating adventures on the high peaks to his efforts to build a community-based, collaborative model for protecting the snow leopards and their remaining habitat. That habitat is increasingly under threat as encroaching development, ongoing armed conflict, and rapidly intensifying climate change transform this region. Thrilling, illuminating, and filled with transportive storytelling, The Ghost of the Mountains reveals the challenges facing a beautiful, fragile ecosystem in the midst of a major transition. As Suryawanshi describes his crucial work as a conservationist in a rapidly changing world, he also conveys an infectious sense of wonder. For him, every snow leopard encounter is still a transcendent experience, offering a renewed sense of meaning and purpose.
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Nolo's Essential Guide to Child Custody and Support by Emily Doskow When you’re getting divorced, you can make a tough time easier for yourself and your children if you work with the other parent to agree on a custody plan and child support. If you can’t resolve these issues, you’ll have to head to court and ask a judge to decide for you. Either way, Nolo’s Essential Guide to Child Custody & Support can help. You’ll learn how to: - negotiate and use mediation to keep costs down and improve future dealings with your ex
- find your state’s child support guidelines
- advocate for the custody arrangements you want
- enforce and change custody and support orders
- anticipate how your case will be handled by a judge if you go to trial
- recognize the situations where you need a lawyer, and
- work with a lawyer.
You’ll also find information on subjects such as the factors judges consider when they rule on custody arrangements, and what happens when one parent wants to move away with the children.
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The Green Soul: Returning to Our Sacred Belonging in Nature by Lucinda M. Vardey Nature invites all to receive the grand inheritance of the great outdoors, yet modern life estranges us from many of its greatest gifts: sanctuary, superabundance, peace, and belonging. It’s time to end our exile from true flourishing, and take our place in the wisdom of the wild. Modern mystic and pilgrimage guide Lucinda M. Vardey calls what we hunger for the Green Soul—the active participation of one’s being with the larger, living being of all creation. The greening of the soul promises: - the joys of enchantment
- purpose and participation in the world’s deepest aliveness
- authentic embodiment
- and a collective consciousness upon which the healing of our world depends.
Lucinda’s field notes emerge from her own environment: a 500-year-old farmhouse in an ancient valley in Tuscany, neighboring fields of wildflowers, a mountain stream, and an ancient stone barn now dedicated as a chapel for climate care. Saint Francis of Assisi once walked in this very place, calling the earth Mother and praising all its creation. But you don’t have to live on sacred lands to experience the full gifts of the Green Soul. Drawing upon ecological research, awe-evoking narratives of sacred encounter in nature, and spiritual teachers of the ages, Lucinda reveals the modern problem of our exile from spiritual belonging with the earth, as well as a field map for renewing this sacred contact. Consider this your invitation to walk among the wildflowers, rewilding your spirituality and renewing your life.
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This Is the Plan: How to End America's Meltdown and Save Democracy by Ben Wikler If you are looking at the spiraling crisis of American politics in the Trump era and wondering how the hell we get out of this mess, This Is the Plan is the book you’ve been waiting for. Ben Wikler led the Democratic Party of Wisconsin to a string of improbable victories in a state with a political system so rigged that it was dubbed a “democracy desert”―which is, coincidentally, Trump’s goal for the whole country. Now, in This Is the Plan, Wikler distills lessons from the front lines in America’s most closely divided state to map out a comprehensive plan to dictator-proof American government, defeat MAGA at every level of the ballot, and build a future of democracy, opportunity, and freedom for all. It will be a blast. The plan is to, as he writes, “have fun storming the castle―in a civil, metaphorical, and non-January-6th-y way.” Drawing on decades of organizing, from local races (including a race for county coroner that hinged on the issue of zombification) to presidential showdowns, Wikler brings us behind the scenes to explore the hidden structures of power that shape our politics and our lives, and takes us into the art and science of winning elections. As he details a people-powered path out of the political wilderness, Wikler reveals what you personally can do to move the needle. This Is the Plan reveals, year by year and step by step, a vision not only to end America’s collapse into authoritarianism but also to reconnect us to our neighbors―and, fighting side by side for democracy, to build meaning, community, and joy.
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