Worldbuilding Books for Writers (40 books)

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Books that have helped you to build a setting for your book.

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1	Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond 4.04 avg rating — 463,500 ratings score: 197, and 2 people voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
2	Vaka Moana, Voyages of the Ancestors: The Discovery and Settlement of the Pacific by K.R. Howe (Editor) 4.46 avg rating — 52 ratings score: 100, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
2	A Thousand Beginnings and Endings by Ellen Oh (Goodreads Author) 3.77 avg rating — 6,166 ratings score: 100, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
4	Physics of the Impossible by Michio Kaku 4.09 avg rating — 41,754 ratings score: 99, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
4	The World Until Yesterday: What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies? by Jared Diamond 3.78 avg rating — 11,142 ratings score: 99, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
4	Love Beyond Body, Space & Time by Hope Nicholson (Editor) 3.90 avg rating — 1,513 ratings score: 99, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
7	Physics of the Future: How Science Will Shape Human Destiny and Our Daily Lives by the Year 2100 by Michio Kaku really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 18,170 ratings score: 98, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
7	NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity by Steve Silberman 4.28 avg rating — 18,120 ratings score: 98, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
7	The SEA Is Ours: Tales of Steampunk Southeast Asia by Nghi Vo (Goodreads Author) 3.79 avg rating — 369 ratings score: 98, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
10	Everyday Things in Premodern Japan: The Hidden Legacy of Material Culture by Susan B. Hanley 3.85 avg rating — 86 ratings score: 97, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
10	No Man of Woman Born by Ana Mardoll (Goodreads Author) 4.17 avg rating — 704 ratings score: 97, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
12	The Devil and Commodity Fetishism in South America by Michael Taussig 3.95 avg rating — 487 ratings score: 96, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
12	How Long 'til Black Future Month? by N.K. Jemisin (Goodreads Author) 4.27 avg rating — 18,450 ratings score: 96, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
14	Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed by James C. Scott 4.21 avg rating — 7,077 ratings score: 95, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
14	So Long Been Dreaming: Postcolonial Science Fiction & Fantasy by Nalo Hopkinson (Editor) really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 827 ratings score: 95, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
16	God's Chinese Son: The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom of Hong Xiuquan by Jonathan D. Spence 3.94 avg rating — 1,289 ratings score: 94, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
16	The Merry Spinster: Tales of Everyday Horror by Daniel M. Lavery 3.28 avg rating — 6,368 ratings score: 94, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
18	Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom: China, the West, and the Epic Story of the Taiping Civil War by Stephen R. Platt (Goodreads Author) 4.22 avg rating — 2,170 ratings score: 93, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
18	Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer 4.50 avg rating — 179,530 ratings score: 93, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
20	Debt: The First 5,000 Years by David Graeber 4.21 avg rating — 27,518 ratings score: 92, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
20	Sovereign Erotics: A Collection of Two-Spirit Literature (First Peoples: New Directions in Indigenous Studies) by Qwo-Li Driskill (Goodreads Author) (Editor) 4.23 avg rating — 260 ratings score: 92, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
22	House of Cards: A Tale of Hubris and Wretched Excess on Wall Street by William D. Cohan 3.94 avg rating — 7,004 ratings score: 91, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
22	When God Was a Woman by Merlin Stone 3.98 avg rating — 7,279 ratings score: 91, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
24	Universal Empire: A Comparative Approach to Imperial Culture and Representation in Eurasian History by Peter Fibiger Bang (editor) liked it 3.00 avg rating — 11 ratings score: 90, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
24	The Birthday of the World and Other Stories (Hainish Cycle, #9) by Ursula K. Le Guin 4.33 avg rating — 6,287 ratings score: 90, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
26	The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate: Discoveries from a Secret World by Peter Wohlleben 4.06 avg rating — 90,289 ratings score: 89, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
26	Quilombo dos Palmares: Brazil's Lost Nation of Fugitive Slaves by Glenn Alan Cheney (Goodreads Author) 4.28 avg rating — 18 ratings score: 89, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
28	1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann 4.05 avg rating — 96,368 ratings score: 88, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
28	Four Russian Serf Narratives by John Mackay (Editor) 3.65 avg rating — 23 ratings score: 88, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
30	Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari 4.33 avg rating — 1,288,054 ratings score: 87, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
30	Annals of the Former World (#1-4) by John McPhee 4.37 avg rating — 4,404 ratings score: 87, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
32	The Troubled Empire: China in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties (History of Imperial China, #5) by Timothy Brook 3.93 avg rating — 335 ratings score: 86, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
32	Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Ann Jacobs 4.18 avg rating — 58,783 ratings score: 86, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
34	The Silent Steppe: The Memoir of a Kazakh Nomad Under Stalin by Mukhamet Shayakhmetov 4.09 avg rating — 211 ratings score: 85, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
35	Spain in Our Hearts: Americans in the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939 by Adam Hochschild 4.21 avg rating — 3,782 ratings score: 84, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
36	The Secret History of the Mongol Queens: How the Daughters of Genghis Khan Rescued His Empire by Jack Weatherford 3.93 avg rating — 4,785 ratings score: 83, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
37	A Lexicon of Terror: Argentina and the Legacies of Torture by Marguerite Feitlowitz 4.31 avg rating — 419 ratings score: 82, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
38	Universities Under Dictatorship by John Connelly (Editor) 2.83 avg rating — 6 ratings score: 81, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
39	Political Humor Under Stalin: An Anthology of Unofficial Jokes and Anecdotes by David Brandenberger (Editor) 4.20 avg rating — 10 ratings score: 80, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
40	The Djinn Falls in Love & Other Stories by Mahvesh Murad (Editor) 3.65 avg rating — 1,461 ratings score: 79, and 1 person voted	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars