| 1 |
|
Salt: A World History
by
3.75 avg rating — 77,848 ratings
|
|
| 2 |
|
At Home: A Short History of Private Life
by
3.99 avg rating — 99,278 ratings
|
|
| 3 |
|
THE AMERICAN TRANSLATOR: FROM SAN FRANCISCO TO BATTLEFIELDS IN IRAQ
by
4.83 avg rating — 138 ratings
|
|
| 4 |
|
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
by
4.04 avg rating — 463,958 ratings
|
|
| 5 |
|
A Short History of Nearly Everything
by
4.22 avg rating — 428,146 ratings
|
|
| 6 |
|
The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary
by
3.84 avg rating — 122,738 ratings
|
|
| 7 |
|
A History of the World in 6 Glasses
by
3.81 avg rating — 34,356 ratings
|
|
| 8 |
|
The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way
by
3.91 avg rating — 44,591 ratings
|
|
| 9 |
|
Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World
by
3.92 avg rating — 25,556 ratings
|
|
| 10 |
|
The Book on the Bookshelf
by
3.75 avg rating — 1,504 ratings
|
|
| 11 |
|
A History of the World in 100 Objects
by
4.19 avg rating — 9,467 ratings
|
|
| 12 |
|
The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements
by
3.92 avg rating — 56,992 ratings
|
|
| 13 |
|
Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time
by
3.99 avg rating — 77,047 ratings
|
|
| 14 |
|
Spice: The History of a Temptation
by
3.64 avg rating — 2,578 ratings
|
|
| 15 |
|
The Dirt on Clean: An Unsanitized History
by
3.71 avg rating — 2,543 ratings
|
|
| 16 |
|
Color: A Natural History of the Palette
by
3.79 avg rating — 73,303 ratings
|
|
| 17 |
|
The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World
by
4.06 avg rating — 59,915 ratings
|
|
| 18 |
|
Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World
by
3.81 avg rating — 5,444 ratings
|
|
| 19 |
|
An Edible History of Humanity
by
3.77 avg rating — 6,279 ratings
|
|
| 20 |
|
Home: A Short History of an Idea
by
3.94 avg rating — 1,708 ratings
|
|
| 21 |
|
The Map That Changed the World: William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology
by
3.81 avg rating — 14,219 ratings
|
|
| 22 |
|
Uncommon Grounds: The History of Coffee and How It Transformed Our World
by
3.69 avg rating — 3,082 ratings
|
|
| 23 |
|
Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue: The Untold History of English
by
3.83 avg rating — 7,228 ratings
|
|
| 24 |
|
The Evolution of Useful Things: How Everyday Artifacts-From Forks and Pins to Paper Clips and Zippers-Came to be as They are
by
3.52 avg rating — 1,378 ratings
|
|
| 25 |
|
The Etymologicon: A Circular Stroll through the Hidden Connections of the English Language
by
4.23 avg rating — 12,660 ratings
|
|
| 26 |
|
The Story of English
by
4.09 avg rating — 2,406 ratings
|
|
| 27 |
|
What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew: From Fox Hunting to Whist-The Facts of Daily Life In Nineteenth-Century England
by
3.85 avg rating — 5,794 ratings
|
|
| 28 |
|
A People's History of the United States: Highlights from the Twentieth Century
by
4.11 avg rating — 522 ratings
|
|
| 29 |
|
A History of Reading
by
3.99 avg rating — 5,548 ratings
|
|
| 29 |
|
The Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why It Matters
by
4.02 avg rating — 2,638 ratings
|
|
| 31 |
|
The Pencil: A History of Design and Circumstance
by
3.80 avg rating — 658 ratings
|
|
| 32 |
|
And a Bottle of Rum: A History of the New World in Ten Cocktails
by
4.05 avg rating — 3,121 ratings
|
|
| 33 |
|
Waste and Want: A Social History of Trash
by
3.81 avg rating — 466 ratings
|
|
| 34 |
|
The True History of Chocolate
by
3.79 avg rating — 1,564 ratings
|
|
| 35 |
|
The Ghost Map
by
3.89 avg rating — 56,928 ratings
|
|
| 36 |
|
The Calendar : The 5000 Year Struggle to Align the Clock and the Heavens and What Happened to the Missing Ten Days
by
3.85 avg rating — 1,113 ratings
|
|
| 37 |
|
Rabid: A Cultural History of the World's Most Diabolical Virus
by
3.71 avg rating — 12,869 ratings
|
|
| 38 |
|
The Smithsonian Book of Books
by
4.18 avg rating — 273 ratings
|
|
| 39 |
|
The Story of Tea: A Cultural History and Drinking Guide
by
3.93 avg rating — 674 ratings
|
|
| 40 |
|
Tea: The Drink that Changed the World
by
3.71 avg rating — 585 ratings
|
|
| 41 |
|
The Power of Babel: A Natural History of Language – A Witty Linguistics Guide to How Tongues Mix, Mutate, and Evolve
by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 3,280 ratings
|
|
| 42 |
|
Nathaniel's Nutmeg: How One Man's Courage Changed the Course of History
by
3.82 avg rating — 5,450 ratings
|
|
| 43 |
|
The Library: A World History
by
4.41 avg rating — 476 ratings
|
|
| 44 |
|
The Fruit Hunters: A Story of Nature, Obsession, Commerce, and Adventure
by
3.81 avg rating — 1,143 ratings
|
|
| 45 |
|
The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century
by
4.02 avg rating — 26,852 ratings
|
|
| 46 |
|
The Devil's Cup: A History of the World According to Coffee
by
3.64 avg rating — 2,089 ratings
|
|
| 47 |
|
How We Got to Now: Six Innovations That Made the Modern World
by
4.12 avg rating — 15,782 ratings
|
|
| 48 |
|
Outliers: The Story of Success
by
4.19 avg rating — 877,045 ratings
|
|
| 49 |
|
The Social Life of Coffee: The Emergence of the British Coffeehouse
by
3.79 avg rating — 121 ratings
|
|
| 50 |
|
The Wild Trees: A Story of Passion and Daring
by
4.12 avg rating — 9,145 ratings
|
|
| 51 |
|
The Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain
by
4.17 avg rating — 401 ratings
|
|
| 52 |
|
Books: A Living History
by
3.99 avg rating — 438 ratings
|
|
| 53 |
|
Clay: The History and Evolution of Humankind's Relationship with Earth's Most Primal Element
by
3.69 avg rating — 65 ratings
|
|
| 54 |
|
Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality
by
3.97 avg rating — 31,903 ratings
|
|
| 55 |
|
Curry: A Tale of Cooks and Conquerors
by
3.92 avg rating — 1,263 ratings
|
|
| 56 |
|
Sex in History
by
3.89 avg rating — 1,193 ratings
|
|
| 57 |
|
Food in History
by
3.97 avg rating — 1,613 ratings
|
|
| 58 |
|
One Good Turn: A Natural History of the Screwdriver and the Screw
by
3.69 avg rating — 787 ratings
|
|
| 59 |
|
The Tiger in the House: A Cultural History of the Cat (New York Review Books Classics)
by
3.54 avg rating — 293 ratings
|
|
| 60 |
|
The Discoverers: A History of Man's Search to Know His World and Himself
by
4.11 avg rating — 11,867 ratings
|
|
| 61 |
|
The Battle for Christmas: A Cultural History of America's Most Cherished Holiday
by
3.89 avg rating — 1,253 ratings
|
|
| 61 |
|
Cats are not Peas: A Calico History of Genetics
by
3.80 avg rating — 100 ratings
|
|
| 63 |
|
A Natural History of the Senses
by
4.15 avg rating — 7,950 ratings
|
|
| 64 |
|
Rum: The Epic Story Of The Drink That Conquered The World
by
3.71 avg rating — 85 ratings
|
|
| 65 |
|
Holy Sh*t: A Brief History of Swearing
by
3.87 avg rating — 2,327 ratings
|
|
| 65 |
|
Pizza: A Slice of American History
by
3.51 avg rating — 96 ratings
|
|
| 67 |
|
1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
by
4.05 avg rating — 96,503 ratings
|
|
| 68 |
|
Seeds of Change: Six Plants That Transformed Mankind
by
3.81 avg rating — 631 ratings
|
|
| 69 |
|
Milk: The Surprising Story of Milk Through the Ages
by
3.62 avg rating — 559 ratings
|
|
| 69 |
|
Of Dice and Men: The Story of Dungeons & Dragons and The People Who Play It
by
3.72 avg rating — 5,142 ratings
|
|
| 71 |
|
The Riddle of the Compass: The Invention that Changed the World
by
3.32 avg rating — 514 ratings
|
|
| 72 |
|
The Coffee House: A Cultural History
by
3.66 avg rating — 181 ratings
|
|
| 73 |
|
Origins and Ancient History of Wine
by
4.11 avg rating — 9 ratings
|
|
| 74 |
|
Victorian London: The Tale of a City 1840-1870
by
4.03 avg rating — 1,457 ratings
|
|
| 75 |
|
Liquid Jade: The Story of Tea from East to West
by
3.80 avg rating — 241 ratings
|
|
| 76 |
|
Tastes of Paradise
by
4.07 avg rating — 1,383 ratings
|
|
| 77 |
|
Bittersweet: The Story of Sugar
by
3.50 avg rating — 147 ratings
|
|
| 78 |
|
A Social History of Tea
by
4.02 avg rating — 141 ratings
|
|
| 79 |
|
Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human
by
3.88 avg rating — 4,143 ratings
|
|
| 80 |
|
Alien Earths: The New Science of Planet Hunting in the Cosmos
by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1,684 ratings
|
|
| 81 |
|
A History of the Wife: An Intellectually Vigorous Cultural History of Marriage―From Medieval Europe to Contemporary America
by
3.84 avg rating — 1,659 ratings
|
|
| 82 |
|
Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen
by
4.30 avg rating — 236,663 ratings
|
|
| 83 |
|
The Immortal Game: A History of Chess, or How 32 Carved Pieces on a Board Illuminated Our Understanding of War, Art, Science and the Human Brain
by
4.01 avg rating — 3,073 ratings
|
|
| 84 |
|
The Eye
by
4.02 avg rating — 191 ratings
|
|
| 85 |
|
99 Drams of Whiskey: The Accidental Hedonist's Quest for the Perfect Shot and the History of the Drink
by
3.41 avg rating — 295 ratings
|
|
| 86 |
|
Champagne: How the World's Most Glamorous Wine Triumphed Over War and Hard Times
by
4.06 avg rating — 699 ratings
|
|
| 87 |
|
Pagan Britain
by
4.18 avg rating — 496 ratings
|
|
| 88 |
|
The Zen of Fish: The Story of Sushi, from Samurai to Supermarket
by
3.78 avg rating — 2,610 ratings
|
|
| 89 |
|
Civilization and Capitalism 15th-18th Century, Vol. 1: The Structures of Everyday Life
by
4.36 avg rating — 1,780 ratings
|
|
| 90 |
|
The Ties That Bound: Peasant Families in Medieval England
by
4.06 avg rating — 464 ratings
|
|
| 90 |
|
On Paper: The Everything of Its Two-Thousand-Year History
by
3.92 avg rating — 385 ratings
|
|
| 92 |
|
Coffee: A Dark History
by
3.50 avg rating — 333 ratings
|
|
| 92 |
|
Seeds of Deception: Exposing Industry and Government Lies About the Safety of the Genetically Engineered Foods You're Eating
by
4.18 avg rating — 567 ratings
|
|
| 94 |
|
The Man Who Made Lists: Love, Death, Madness, and the Creation of Roget's Thesaurus
by
3.24 avg rating — 685 ratings
|
|
| 95 |
|
The Mead-Hall: The Feasting Tradition in Anglo-Saxon England
by
4.31 avg rating — 75 ratings
|
|
| 96 |
|
The Time Traveller's Guide to Elizabethan England
by
4.09 avg rating — 5,909 ratings
|
|
| 97 |
|
Flow: The Cultural Story of Menstruation
by
3.71 avg rating — 1,717 ratings
|
|
| 98 |
|
Good Wives: Image and Reality in the Lives of Women in Northern New England, 1650-1750
by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1,850 ratings
|
|
| 99 |
|
Consider the Fork: A History of How We Cook and Eat
by
3.86 avg rating — 10,468 ratings
|
|
| 100 |
|
Napoleon's Buttons: How 17 Molecules Changed History
by
3.98 avg rating — 7,368 ratings
|
|