Getting into non-fiction: where to start and how to read it well
TUREFF• •0
Many keen fiction readers find non-fiction harder to get into. It can feel like homework, or like something you should read rather than want to read. Yet good non-fiction can be as gripping as any novel, and it changes how you see the world. This guide covers how to find a way in and how to get more from what you read.
Non-fiction is not one thing
The shelf covers very different reading experiences:
- Narrative non-fiction tells a true story with characters, tension and pace: a historical event, an expedition, a crime, a medical case.
- Memoir is a personal account of part of the author's life.
- Popular science and history explain a subject for general readers, often through stories and examples.
- Essays explore ideas in shorter pieces, which suits reading in odd moments.
- Ideas books set out an argument about society, the economy or the mind.
- Practical books teach a skill: cooking, gardening, money, fitness.
If you have struggled before, you may simply have started in the wrong section.
Where to start
- Start from curiosity, not duty. Pick a subject you already find yourself reading about online or asking questions about.
- Try narrative non-fiction or memoir first. They work much like novels and are an easy bridge for fiction readers.
- Follow your fiction. Loved a novel set during a war, in a court or on a ship? A non-fiction account of the real thing is a natural next step.
- Choose shorter books. A focused two-hundred-page book is a better first step than a nine-hundred-page history.
- Try audio. Many people find narrative non-fiction and memoir especially good to listen to on walks and commutes.
How to read it well
Non-fiction rewards a slightly more active approach than a novel. The philosopher Mortimer Adler's classic How to Read a Book, first published in 1940, distinguishes skimming a book to understand its shape (inspectional reading) from reading it closely to understand and judge it (analytical reading). You do not need to follow his whole system, but the idea is useful.
Before you start
- Read the contents page, introduction and conclusion first. Knowing the overall argument makes the chapters easier to follow.
- Look at the author's background. What qualifies them to write this, and what perspective might they bring?
While you read
- Ask what the author is trying to show in each chapter. Try to sum it up in a sentence.
- Notice the evidence. Is a claim supported by research, documents, interviews, personal experience or nothing much at all?
- Separate facts from interpretation. Two historians may agree on what happened but disagree about why.
- Use the notes. Endnotes and a bibliography are signs of careful work, and a good place to find your next book.
- Skip freely. Unlike a novel, it is often fine to jump to the chapters that interest you most.
After you finish
- Try explaining the main idea to someone else. If you cannot, skim the key chapters again.
- Ask what you are now unsure about, and what a critic might say.
Read critically, not cynically
Popular non-fiction sometimes simplifies or overstates research to tell a neater story. A book can still be worth reading even if you do not accept all its conclusions. Look up reviews by specialists in the field, and when a book makes a striking claim, see whether other sources agree. Reading two books on the same subject from different angles is one of the best ways to understand it, and was what Adler meant by his highest level, syntopical reading.
Build a habit
- Keep a non-fiction book on the go alongside a novel, so you can choose by mood.
- Read a chapter at a time rather than aiming for the whole book.
- Let one book lead to the next by following references and recommendations inside it.
What non-fiction book first got you hooked, or which would you recommend to a beginner? Share it in the comments.