Top 21 English Book Recommendations

  Hi. I'm Vanessa, What's a great way to remember vocabularywords? Let's talk about it. I get a lot of emails from students that askme, "Vanessa, how can I remember vocabulary? I always watch videos, or podcasts, or movies,and then all of the words just flow right out of my mind. They go in one ear and out the other." One of the keys to remembering vocabulary,or grammar, or really anything in English is to have a lot of input, to use it and hearit in a lot of different situations, or to read. Reading is a fabulous way to remember whatyou're learning. As you're reading, you're going to see realvocabulary, real grammar, beautiful sentences, and you're going to immerse yourself in English. I already have several videos with some easyEnglish book recommendations, more intermediate book recommendations. And today, I would like to share with youmy nonfiction book recommendations for improving your life, expanding your mind, and also learningEnglish. Nonfiction means stories that are real. These are either stories like biographies,memoirs, historical stories, or they could be some type of self-help book helping toimprove various areas of your life. Today, this video is going to be divided intotwo categories. At the beginning, I'm going to be sharingsome nonfiction, memoirs, biographies, historical stories, these books that tell a story. In my mind, these are a little bit simplerbecause you're following a story that's happening. And in the second half of this video, I'mgoing to share some informational books. These books could be self-help books. These books could be helping you in your businesslife, helping you to succeed. But, these are a little more technical, butyou can still use them, even if you're learning English and you aren't so confident aboutreading. These books are a great way to improve yourlife and also improve your English. If you'd like to buy any of these books orif you want to just check out a free sample, you can click on the Amazon link in the descriptionwhere I compiled a list of all of these books, and it will be easy for you to just quicklycheck them out. So, make sure you check out the link in thedescription. All right. Let's get started with my first book recommendationin the story section. These are true stories that happened, butI feel like they're a little bit simpler to read. All right. Let's get started with the first one. My first nonfiction book recommendation isAnne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl. I think everyone knows a little bit aboutthis story, right? Anne Frank's family was in hiding becausethey were Jewish during World War II. They were hiding. They were caught. They were sent to a concentration camp. It's really a tragic ending, but her bookdoesn't really have a tragic feeling. This is the diary of a young girl. It is her growing up, and it really has thisvein of hope throughout this entire book. She has a beautiful and complex outlook onlife. So, I challenge you to read this book in herown words. Don't just read a summary of this book. Read Anne Frank's real words in the story. I'd like to read you a quick sample of thisbook, as well as a sample of some of the others we're going to look at. Let's look at a sample. "Saturday, June 20th, 1942. I haven't written for a few days because Iwanted, first of all, to think about my diary. It's an odd idea for someone like me to keepa diary, not only because I have never done so before, but because it seems to me thatneither I, nor for that matter anyone else, will be interested in unbosomings of a 13-year-oldschool girl. Still, what does it matter? I want to write. But more than that, I want to bring out allkinds of things that lie buried deep in my heart." What a wonderful introduction to her book. All right. Let's go to my second recommendation. My second book recommendation is called Iam Malala by Malala Yousafzai. Malala, when she was a teenager, she was goingto school in a peaceful area of Pakistan. But when Pakistan was taken over, or her regionwas taken over by the Taliban, she ended up getting shot by just going to school as agirl. This seems also, like Anne Frank, a reallytragic story, but hers is also a story of hope because Malala lives, and she goes onto be an advocate for education for girls as a way to lead the world to peace. That when we educate, we are also bringingmore peace to the world. Because her book is written to teens or youngadults, the level of writing is relatively simple and it's a fascinating story. It's a life-changing story, in fact. So, it is a good place to start if you feela little hesitant about starting to read books in English. Let me read you a sample. "When our bus was called, we ran down thesteps. As usual, I don't remember anything afterthat, but here's the story that's been told to me. Two young men in white robes stepped in frontof our truck. 'Is this the Khushal school bus?' one of themasked. The driver laughed. The name of the school was painted in blackletters on the side. The other young man jumped onto the tailboardand leaned into the back where we were all sitting. 'Who is Malala?' he asked. No one said a word, but a few girls lookedin my direction. He raised his arm and pointed at me. Some of the girls screamed, and I squeezedMoniba's hand. Who is Malala? I am Malala, and this is my story." Whew. What a strong beginning to a book. All right. Let's go to our next recommendation. My next book recommendation is Educated byTara Westover. This book is about to Tara's life growingup in an isolated, extremely religious family in the US who never went to school and neversaw a doctor until she became an adult. Yes, this is a story about becoming educatedand how knowledge can change your life. But ultimately, this is a book about family,and belonging, and your sense of home. It's quite complex. Last year, I read this book. My husband, Dan, also read it, and he saidthis was one of the best books that he has ever read, so it has his recommendation aswell. Also, with maybe 22,000 positive reviews onAmazon, maybe you should check it out. Let's read a sample. "My strongest memory is not a memory. It's something I imagined then came to rememberas if it had happened. The memory was formed when I was five, justbefore I turned six, from a story my father told in such detail that I and my brothersand sister had each conjured our own cinematic version with gunfire and shouts. Mine has crickets." Crickets here means silence, quiet. "That's the sound I hear as my family huddlesin the kitchen, lights off hiding from the feds," the fed is the federal government,"who've surrounded the house. A woman reaches for a glass of water, andher silhouette is lighted by the moon. A shot ... echoes like a lash of a whip, andshe falls. In my memory, it's always mother who falls,and she has a baby in her arms. The baby doesn't make any sense. I'm the youngest of my mother's seven children. But like I said, none of this happened." This is a very complex, deep, sad, but alsohopeful story. I hope you'll enjoy it. My next book recommendation is Walking theNile by Levison Wood. Levison is a photographer, an adventurer,and also a writer. He decides to walk 6,500 kilometers alongthe entire Nile River through six African countries and document his journey. You are like his travel partner in this boo.,You learn about the cities that he visits, the history of each area, about how to escapeaggressive hippos, about finding wood, food in the wild. There are a lot of things that happened tohim in this book, but they are all extremely fascinating, and it is also a book about gainingknowledge about a region of the world that maybe you don't know an awful lot about. Let's read a sample. "Bor, South Sudan, April 2014. The moment we entered the compound, I knewthings were bad. The South Sudan hotel had been opened in therun-up to independence in 2011, promoted widely as a safe place for foreign dignitaries tostay while visiting Bor. But as we approached, I saw the hotel minibus sitting gutted on the side of the road riddled with bullet holes." A little ominous start here to his adventure. But, I hope you'll enjoy this book if youenjoy adventure, as well as our next book, which is also about adventure. My next book recommendation is Into Thin Airby Jon Krakauer. One of his most famous books is called Intothe Wild. And while I enjoyed that book, I felt likethis book gripped me in a different way. It's about his adventure, and journey, andreally tragedy hiking Mount Everest, climbing Mount Everest. He was hired as a journalist. His career is a journalist. He was hired to document his experience hikingand climbing up Mount Everest. But what he didn't know is that he would beclimbing Mount Everest during the most deadly spring season in Mount Everest history. When I finished reading this book, my firstthought was, "I'm so glad that no one I love wants to climb Mount Everest. This is crazy. It is way too dangerous. Why would anyone want to do this?" But in the book, he gives some explanationsabout what draws people to these types of extreme adventures. Let's read a sample. "On March 1996, Outside Magazine sent me toNepal to participate in and write about a guided ascent of Mount Everest. I went as one of eight clients on an expeditionled by a well-known guide from New Zealand named Rob Hall. On May 10th, I arrived on the top of the mountain,but the summit came at a terrible cost. Among my five teammates who reached the top,four, including Hall, perished in a rogue storm that blew in without warning while wewere still high on the peak. By the time I descended to base camp, nineclimbers from the four expeditions were dead, and three more lives would be lost beforethe month was out. "Several authors and editors I respect counseledme not to write the book as quickly as I did. Their advice was sound." Sound means good. "Their advice was sound. But in the end, I ignored it, mostly becausewhat happened on the mountain was gnawing my guts out. I thought that writing the book might purgeEverest from my life." Because of the tragedy that he experiencedon Mount Everest, he had this terrible feeling. He uses the word gnawing. Gnawing is when you're eating and biting somethinglike ... It feels terrible inside of you. After he climbed Mount Everest, he had thisterrible feeling inside of him, and he thought that writing this book would help to makehim feel better. He uses the term to purge. This means to get it out of him and make himfeel cleansed. This didn't really happen from writing thisbook, but he hoped it would. And it is quite an interesting read. So if you're interested, hiking, climbing,adventure, check out this one. My next recommendation is Dead Wake by ErikLarson. I've read a couple Erik Larson books, andI've enjoyed them all, so I tried to find my top favorite to recommend to you. But if you like this book, make sure you checkout some of his others. He always takes one specific piece of historyand just makes it come alive. In this book, he's writing about the lastcrossing of the Lusitania. The Lusitania was a huge ocean cruise shipor liner, kind of like the Titanic, that went from the American side of the Atlantic overto the other side to the UK. But when it got closer to the UK, it was sunk,and this spurred a lot of changes, especially the US entering into World War I. So the ship, the Lusitania, is quite key inhistory of the world. I thought that I knew this story because I'dheard a little bit about it in history class, but it turns out I had no clue. And I really blasted through this book andcouldn't stop thinking about it and talking about it with people that were anywhere closeto me, I wanted to share this story with them. So, I would love to share it with you if you'reinterested in history, in human interest, the little human stories that are happeningamongst this bigger story. I hope that you will enjoy it. Let's take a look at a sample. "On the night of May 6th, 1915, as his shipapproached the coast of Ireland, captain William Thomas Turner left the bridge and made hisway to the first class lounge where passengers were taking part in a concert and talent show. Turner revealed to the audience that earlierin the evening the ship had received a warning by wireless of fresh submarine activity offthe Irish coast. He assured the audience there was no needfor alarm. He bade them goodnight and returned to thebridge. The talent show continued. A few passengers slept fully clothed in thedining room for fear of being trapped below decks in their cabins if an attack were tooccur. One especially anxious traveler, a Greek carpetmerchant, put on a life jacket and climbed into a lifeboat to spend the night." There's a sense of something is about to happen. I'll let you find out what happens when youread the book. My final recommendation in this nonfictionhistorical section is one of my favorite books of all time. It is Captured: The True Story of Abductionby Native Americans on the Texas Frontier. This story blew my mind. I couldn't stop thinking about it for months. It is fascinating. There is a certain part in Texas where theEuropean settlers were living in the Native American territory where they were living. But, a lot of these children, some of thesechildren, were kidnapped by the local Native Americans, the Apache tribe who was livingthere. And they were not just kidnapped, but theywere adopted into the tribe, treated as their own, as their own children, and they wereraised as if they were part of the tribe. The author's great-great-great-uncle was oneof these children. He was adopted into the tribe, and he grewup to be a fierce warrior, sometimes raiding and kidnapping other children from his homevillage. Then, after a few years, he was forcibly returnedto his biological family. This cultural shift was shocking for him. He couldn't cope. It's just really interesting to see how somebodycan be completely immersed in a different culture, a culture that is not getting alongwith your home culture, and try to figure out how do you do this type of life. The author here, Scott Zesch, follows eightchildren who were kidnapped by Apache and Comanche. These are the tribe names. These Native American tribes were adoptedinto their tribe and how they turned out, what life was like for them. If you're interested in Native American life,in this type of communication between European settlers and the natives who were living inthe US, interested in this at all, I highly recommend this book. Let's take a look at a quick sample. He's talking about his great-great-great unclewho was one of these kidnapped children. "His story was unusual, but not unique. Dozens of children on the Texas frontier werecaptured by Southern Plains Indians in the 1800s and adopted into the tribe. Many came to prefer the Native American wayof life, resisting attempts to rescue them. Long after they were forced to return to theirformer biological families, they held fast to what they'd learned while they were away. Some anthropologists call these assimilatedchildren white Indians. Not all of the captives were white, though. The Plains American raiders abducted European-Americans,Mexicans, Mexican-Americans, African Americans, and Native Americans from other tribes. They didn't discriminate as to whom they killedor kidnapped or whom they would eventually adopt as their own." I highly recommend this book. Read it now. All right. Let's go to our next category, which is nonfictionbooks that are more informational. My first nonfiction book recommendation thatis informational is The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying up by Marie Kondo. This book is truly life-changing. I got recommended this book by a friend, decidedto read it. And within two weeks, I had gone through myentire house, cleaned everything, tidied up, everything, and it was all of a sudden somuch nicer. This expression to tidy up is related to cleaning,but it has more to do with organization. The way that your house looks reflects howyour mind feels. If your desk is messy, if your house has pilesof clothes and some old dishes sitting around, that reflects how your mind feels. You also feel more cluttered and unorganizedwhen your house is like this. So, putting your house in order will alsohelp your mind feel more calm, and will help you to put your life in order. Let's read a little excerpt. "In this boo,. I have summed up how to put your space inorder in a way that will change your life forever. Impossible? A common response, but not surprising, consideringthat almost everyone has experienced a rebound effect at least once." Rebound means that you clean and then it justgets messy again. And then you clean, and it gets messy again. "Have you ever tidied madly only to find thatall too soon your home and workspace is cluttered again. If so, let me share with you the secret ofsuccess." Well, if your home needs a little bit of tidyingup, I highly recommend this book. You might have seen the Netflix documentarybased on this book, and that's a great starting point. But, you really need to get the book to beable to see step by step her method to helping you declutter your home. So, make sure you check it out and start declutteringtoday. My next recommendation is How to Win friendsand Influence People by Dale Carnegie. The subheading of this book is The Only BookYou'll Need to Lead You to Success. Wow. One of the reviewers on Amazon said, "I'mbeing transformed from a socially awkward, timid, and defensive person to someone whoseems collected and confident." Ooh. If that seems like you, well, you should readthis. Let's check out a sample. "If by the time you have finished readingthe first three chapters of this book, if you aren't then a little better equipped tomeet life situations, then I shall consider this book to be a total failure as far asyou're concerned, for, quote, 'the great aim of education' said Herbert Spencer, 'is notknowledge, but action.' This is an action book. This book will help you to take action andto really change your life so that you can win friends and influence people." All right. Let's go to our next recommendation. The next recommendation is actually a studentrecommendation. I posted here on my YouTube channel in thecommunity section a question about what nonfiction books you all enjoyed, and this was one ofthem that a lot of you mentioned. It is The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. This book was named the number one best businessbook of the 20th century. And with more than 25 million copies sold,do I need to say anymore? You should read it. All right. Let's go to the next one. My next recommendation is Digital Minimalismby Cal Newport. As I was reading this book, I thought, "Thisbook is going to change my life. I need to share this book with as many peopleas I can. How can I share this book? Aha! I should create a movie, a video on YouTubeabout top nonfiction books." So thanks to this book, I'm making this videofor you. Absolutely if you check your phone more thanthree times a day, and most people do, you need to read this book. You need to know about how this is takingover your life. We are getting out of control, and we needto take back control of our own lives in order to be human. Let's take a look at a little sample. "In September 2016, the influential bloggerand commentator Andrew Sullivan wrote a 7,000-word essay for New York Magazine titled I Usedto Be a Human Being. The subtitle was alarming, An Endless Bombardmentof News Gossip and Images has Rendered Us Manic Information Addicts. It Broke Me, and It Might Break You, Too. He sits out a very clear plan about how tobecome less addicted to your phone, how to take control again, and use these servicesin the best way possible." It is also an action book, and I highly recommendit. Let's go to our next one. My next recommendation is Freakonomics bySteven Levitt and Stephen Dubner. The subheading is The Rogue Economists Exploresthe Hidden Side of Everything. After reading this book, you'll have a newway of looking at the world and seeing how everything is connected. He explains that if morality represents howpeople would like the world to work, then economics shows how it actually does work. Let's take a look at a little sample. This is the sample from the description ofthe first chapter in his book. "What do school teachers and sumo wrestlershave in common? In which we explore the beauty of incentives,as well as their dark side, cheating. Who cheats? Just about everyone. Let's talk about how cheaters cheat, how tocatch them, stories from an Israeli daycare center, the sudden disappearance of 7 millionAmerican children, cheating school teachers in Chicago, why cheating to lose is worsethan cheating to win. Could sumo wrestling, the national sport ofJapan, be corrupt? What the bagel man saw. Mankind may be more honest than we think." This is just the description of the firstchapter of his book. This book is absolutely fascinating. If you're interested in reading it, make sureyou check out the link in the description so that you can download it. Let's go to our next. My next recommendation is actually a studentrecommendation, and it is Factfulness by Hans Rosling. The subtitle of this book is 10 Reasons We'reWrong About the World and Why Things are Better Than You Think. Is the world getting better or getting worse? If you would like to look beyond what themedia tells us and find the factfulness, find the facts or the truth about the state ofthe world, about global health, about global violence, these big topics, make sure youcheck out this book to educate yourself. All right. Let's go to our next recommendation. If you have children, are ever around children,or work with children, you need to read How to Talk So Kids Will Listen and How to ListenSo Kids Will Talk. When I read this book, it absolutely shapedthe way that I am as a parent and the way that I talk to my children or other childrenin general, how I view my child's negative feelings, setting limits, setting boundaries,being compassionate, but also having discipline and guidelines. This book really digs down into how a child'spsychology is working and how you as a parent, or as a caregiver, or as a teacher can workwith the child in order to help them be their best self. This is an essential book for anyone aroundchildren. Check it out. My next recommendation is Outliers by MalcolmGladwell, The Story of Success. What makes high achievers different? Well, the Amazon description tells us, "MalcolmGladwell's answer is that we pay too much attention to what successful people are likeand too little attention to where they're from, that is their culture, their family,their generation, and the idiosyncratic experiences of their upbringing." A wonderful quote from this book is, "I wantto convince you that these kinds of personal explanations of success don't work. People don't rise from nothing. It is only by asking where they are from thatwe can unravel the logic behind who succeeds and who doesn't." It is a fascinating story. I actually listened to the audio book of thiswhen I was on a road trip, and it was a wonderful thing to do while you're in the car for acouple hours. I recommend checking it out. My next recommendation is actually a studentrecommendation, and it is Rich Dad, Poor Dad. It is a story of what rich people teach theirchildren about money, but what poor and middle class people don't teach their children aboutmoney. It is the number one personal finance bookof all time. So make sure if you're interested in money,interested in making your money work for you and knowing where every little bit is goingso that you can become wealthy, even if you do not have a high income, this book is foryou. I have another student recommendation, andthat is the book Everything is Figureoutable by Marie Forleo. Marie Forleo has a huge YouTube channel abouthelping people to face their fears and follow their dreams. This book is about her personal story andalso about helping you to achieve your goals. The language is fairly simple. So if you're interested in trying to startyour own business or do something that takes a lot courage, you need to be able to forgetyour fears, to follow your dreams. Check out this book, and you'll be able toget some motivation along the way. If you like English and the history of languages,I absolutely recommend The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got that Way. The author, Bill Bryson, has written so manybooks. In fact, I'm going to give another recommendationof his in just a moment. But, this book focuses on how English gotto be this way. Have you ever wondered why there are sevendifferent pronunciations of O-U-G-H? Though, bough, through, thought, cough, enough,hiccup. How did English get that way? Well, this book is an interesting way to findout. I have another Bill Bryson recommendation. This man is a fabulous writer, and he haswritten about a variety of topics. This time it is A Short History of NearlyEverything. Oh, boy. This is a huge topic. But, he has tackled this topic mastery. You're going to learn about the history ofthe universe and how everything got to be the way it is. Let's check out a little sample. "Welcome, and congratulations. I'm delighted that you could make it. Getting here wasn't easy. I know. In fact, I suspect it was a little tougherthan you realize. To begin with, for you to be here now, trillionsof drifting atoms had somehow to assemble in an intricate and intriguingly obligingmanner to create you. It's an arrangement so specialized and particularthat it has never been tried before, and it will only exist this once. For the next many years, we hope, these tinyparticles will uncomplainingly engage in all of the billions of deft and cooperative effortsnecessary to keep you intact and let you experience the supremely agreeable, but generally underappreciatedstate known as existence." This man is a word smith. He uses a lot of amazing words to craft hisstory, so I hope that you will enjoy A Short History of Nearly Everything. My next recommendation is Sapiens by YuvalHarari. I decided to read this book because withinone week, two separate people recommended it to me. So, I thought, "It's destiny. I have to read it." And somehow, I found out that three of myfriends were also reading it at the same time, so we created a little book club. We all read it, and then talked about it andhad some fascinating discussions. This book is full of what makes humans human. How has our history as homo sapiens affectedwho we are today as a species, as creatures, and then as we interact with the world? It is extremely fascinating. Pretty much everyone who I've talked to who'sread this book said, "Wow. That book had a lot of amazing informationin it." So, I recommend checking it out. My next recommendation deals with food, andit is The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan. If you have ever wondered where your foodcomes from, I highly recommend this book. Michael Pollan decides to take a deep diveinto the different ways that fruit is produced. He buys a cow from a big factory farm andfollows that cow's life. He goes to check out some big organic farmsto see if life is really like the idyllic picture on their logo. Then, he goes to some smaller permaculturefarms to see what it's like. And he also visits some hunter-gatherers whoare trying to forage for their own mushrooms and kill their own pigs, wild pigs, in California. He visits different types of food productionand has his own thoughts about it, but also lets you kind of come to your own conclusionsabout this. It is not a simple answer, it's not a simplequestion, but it is highly fascinating and it affects our lives three times a day. So, make sure you check out this book. My final recommendation, congratulations formaking it this far in this video, is a huge book, Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond. Have you ever wondered why Europeans colonizedNorth America? But have you asked a more interesting question? Why didn't North Americans colonize Europe? Well, you might say, "Oh, it was their culture,their history, their religion." But, why did those things originate in Europe? Why did those things not originate in NorthAmerica? This is a very deep, potentially controversialquestion, but Jared Diamond comes to someone amazing conclusions. You might not agree with his conclusions,maybe you will, but he asks those really deep, hard-hitting questions. I won't lie. This book is quite detailed. When I started reading it, I made a goal formyself that I will finish this book. I know there's a lot of data, a lot of specificthings that he talks about, but it is essential to ask ourselves these questions, especiallywhen you're really curious about the state of the world. So, make sure you check out this book, Guns,Germs, and Steel, if you're ready for a deep dive into why things are the way they are. Congratulations! You have reached the end of this lesson. It was very long, but this is also a passionproject for me because I love to read. I love to share books with other people. So, thank you so much for all of your studentrecommendations. I have a question for you. Can you write a comment below and recommenda book to me? Maybe recommend a nonfiction book, like theones we talked about, these true stories, or recommend a fiction book. I'm always open to reading stories that havebeen made up in our imagination that will lead us into a different world. I love reading about all different types ofthings. So, leave a comment and let me know what booksdo you recommend that I read. And if you would like to have any other bookrecommendations, make sure you check out the other videos that I've made about some fictionbooks so that you can expand your mind and improve your English. Thank you so much for learning English withme. And I'll see you again next Friday for a newlesson here on my YouTube channel. Bye. The next step is to download my free ebook,5 Steps to Becoming a Confident English Speaker. You'll learn what you need to do to speakconfidently and fluently. Thanks so much. Bye.