Nonfiction books written before 1950. Yes the date is arbitrary but let's try to stick with it.
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4.16 avg rating — 41,523 ratings
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3.91 avg rating — 48,701 ratings
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4.13 avg rating — 136,911 ratings
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3.92 avg rating — 27,402 ratings
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4.11 avg rating — 8,395 ratings
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3.54 avg rating — 13,585 ratings
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3.44 avg rating — 1,880 ratings
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12

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4.31 avg rating — 45,430 ratings
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12

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4.34 avg rating — 862 ratings
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14

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4.23 avg rating — 125,779 ratings
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14

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3.85 avg rating — 18,004 ratings
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3.93 avg rating — 15,748 ratings
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3.55 avg rating — 3,240 ratings
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17

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4.14 avg rating — 1,703 ratings
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17

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4.22 avg rating — 26,387 ratings
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20

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4.26 avg rating — 81,009 ratings
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21

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4.35 avg rating — 88,364 ratings
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21

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3.79 avg rating — 2,206 ratings
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23

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4.09 avg rating — 14,055 ratings
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23

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4.24 avg rating — 361 ratings
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25

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4.16 avg rating — 22,352 ratings
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26

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4.11 avg rating — 12,572 ratings
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27

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4.06 avg rating — 91,106 ratings
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28

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3.70 avg rating — 2,636 ratings
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29

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3.87 avg rating — 10,389 ratings
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30

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4.12 avg rating — 10,570 ratings
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31

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3.97 avg rating — 3,852 ratings
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32

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3.60 avg rating — 88 ratings
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33

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3.72 avg rating — 2,523 ratings
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33 books · 6 voters · list created March 4th, 2023 by George P. (votes) .
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Comments Showing 1-3 of 3 (3 new)

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message 1: by George P. (last edited Aug 19, 2025 09:19PM) (new)

George P. Most of the nonfiction books I read (I read mostly fiction) are newer ones, but there are some great older ones worth reading, especially memoirs. Some non-memoir classics are very interesting as well, such as Darwin's The Origin of Species, or a philosophy book or Das Kapital. All genres welcome as long as it's not fiction. Mark Twain's "Roughing It" I would call exaggerated nonfiction.
This list started as a challenge to read 20 older nonfiction books in the Catching Up with Classics group.
Remember it has to be first published before 1950.


message 2: by Kimberly (new)

Kimberly Dave, I'm so sorry to have added books published after 1950.


message 3: by George P. (new)

George P. I added a few more books- Horse and Buggy Doctor and Roughing It I read some time ago; Christ Stopped at Eboli and Hiroshima I just read.


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