2024 WDM Public Library Staff Favorites: Adult Nonfiction

The West Des Moines Public Library Staff is sharing their favorite nonfiction picks from the year below! You can put the books on hold by clicking the titles, or you can stop by the display in front of the Accounts and Checkout Desk and see them in-person. 

Check out our other lists! 

Adult Fiction

Juvenile

Young Adult 

 

Title: A face for Picasso: Coming of age with Crouzon Syndrome

Author: Ariel Henley

Recommended By: Courtney

 

Title: The Anxious Generation 

Author: Jonathan Haidt

Recommended By: Jenna

 

Title: Challenger : a true story of heroism and disaster on the edge of space

Author: Adam Higginbotham

Recommended By: Shirley

 

Title: Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives

Author: Siddarth Kara

Recommended By: Andrea 

 

Title: Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair That Changed America

Author: Erik Larson

Recommended By: Maggie

 

Title: Here After

Author: Amy Lin

Recommended By: Andrea 

 

Title: I Love Everybody, and Other Atrocious Lies

Author: Laurie Notaro

Recommended By: Christine

 

Title: Impossible People: A Completely Average Recovery Story

Author: Julia Wertz

Why I loved it: Most of the graphic novels that Julia writes and illustrates tell the story of her – this one is when she decided to go sober – to save her life and start to create the one she really wanted.

Recommended by: Traci

 

Title: Invisible Women - Data Bias in a World Designed for Men

Author: Caroline Criado Perez

Recommended by: Suchitra 

 

Title: King: A Life

Author: Jonathan Eig

Recommended By: Andrea 

 

Title: The Many Lives of Mama Love

Author: Lara Love Hardin

Recommended By: Andrea 

 

Title: Rebel Girl      

Author: Kathleen Hanna

Why I loved it:  I am such a fan of Kathleen Hanna and the music she makes.  Her life story is interesting, engaging, and inspiring.  She’s dealt with a lot in her life, but her joyfulness and creativity have never wavered.

Recommended by: Traci 

 

Title: The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians

Author: James Patterson & Matt Eversmann

Recommended by: Suchitra

 

Title: Star for Jesus (And Other Jobs I Quit) 

Author: Kimberly Stuart

Why I loved it: Funny book about the secret to living a life full of meaning is found in the Giver of endless grace.

Recommended By: Alana

 

Title: Sure, I’ll Join Your Cult: A memoir of mental illness and the quest to belong anywhere

Author: Maria Bamford

Why I loved it: (If you liked Jenny Lawson’s Furiously Happy)

Recommended By: Courtney

 

Title: The kingdom, the power, and the glory : American evangelicals in an age of extremism

Author: Tim Alberta

Recommended by: Jenna

 

Title: The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact, and the Fatal Final Voyage of Captain James Cook

Author: Hampton Sides

Recommended by: Andrea

 

Title: When Women Ran Fifth Avenue

Author: Judie Satow

Recommended by: Suchitra


Posted on December 31, 2024