Top 21 English Book Recommendations

Hi.

I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com.

What's a great way to remember vocabulary words?

Let's talk about it.

I get a lot of emails from students that ask me, "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 hear it in a lot of different situations, or to

read.

Reading is a fabulous way to remember what you're learning.

As you're reading, you're going to see real vocabulary, real grammar, beautiful sentences,

and you're going to immerse yourself in English.

I already have several videos with some easy English book recommendations, more intermediate

book recommendations.

And today, I would like to share with you my nonfiction book recommendations for improving

your life, expanding your mind, and also learning English.

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 to improve various areas of your life.

Today, this video is going to be divided into two categories.

At the beginning, I'm going to be sharing some nonfiction, memoirs, biographies, historical

stories, these books that tell a story.

In my mind, these are a little bit simpler because you're following a story that's happening.

And in the second half of this video, I'm going to share some informational books.

These books could be self-help books.

These books could be helping you in your business life, helping you to succeed.

But, these are a little more technical, but you can still use them, even if you're learning

English and you aren't so confident about reading.

These books are a great way to improve your life and also improve your English.

If you'd like to buy any of these books or if you want to just check out a free sample,

you can click on the Amazon link in the description where I compiled a list of all of these books,

and it will be easy for you to just quickly check them out.

So, make sure you check out the link in the description.

All right.

Let's get started with my first book recommendation in the story section.

These are true stories that happened, but I 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 is Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl.

I think everyone knows a little bit about this story, right?

Anne Frank's family was in hiding because they 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 book doesn't really have a tragic feeling.

This is the diary of a young girl.

It is her growing up, and it really has this vein of hope throughout this entire book.

She has a beautiful and complex outlook on life.

So, I challenge you to read this book in her own 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 this book, 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 I wanted, first of all, to think about my diary.

It's an odd idea for someone like me to keep a diary, not only because I have never done

so before, but because it seems to me that neither I, nor for that matter anyone else,

will be interested in unbosomings of a 13-year-old school girl.

Still, what does it matter?

I want to write.

But more than that, I want to bring out all kinds 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 I am Malala by Malala Yousafzai.

Malala, when she was a teenager, she was going to school in a peaceful area of Pakistan.

But when Pakistan was taken over, or her region was taken over by the Taliban, she ended up

getting shot by just going to school as a girl.

This seems also, like Anne Frank, a really tragic story, but hers is also a story of

hope because Malala lives, and she goes on to be an advocate for education for girls

as a way to lead the world to peace.

That when we educate, we are also bringing more peace to the world.

Because her book is written to teens or young adults, 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 feel a little hesitant about starting to read books

in English.

Let me read you a sample.

"When our bus was called, we ran down the steps.

As usual, I don't remember anything after that, but here's the story that's been told

to me.

Two young men in white robes stepped in front of our truck.

'Is this the Khushal school bus?' one of them asked.

The driver laughed.

The name of the school was painted in black letters on the side.

The other young man jumped onto the tailboard and leaned into the back where we were all

sitting.

'Who is Malala?' he asked.

No one said a word, but a few girls looked in my direction.

He raised his arm and pointed at me.

Some of the girls screamed, and I squeezed Moniba'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 by Tara Westover.

This book is about to Tara's life growing up in an isolated, extremely religious family

in the US who never went to school and never saw a doctor until she became an adult.

Yes, this is a story about becoming educated and 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 said this was one of the best books that he has

ever read, so it has his recommendation as well.

Also, with maybe 22,000 positive reviews on Amazon, 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 remember as if it had happened.

The memory was formed when I was five, just before I turned six, from a story my father

told in such detail that I and my brothers and 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 huddles in 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, and her silhouette is lighted by the moon.

A shot ... echoes like a lash of a whip, and she 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 also hopeful story.

I hope you'll enjoy it.

My next book recommendation is Walking the Nile by Levison Wood.

Levison is a photographer, an adventurer, and also a writer.

He decides to walk 6,500 kilometers along the 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 escape aggressive hippos, about finding wood, food

in the wild.

There are a lot of things that happened to him in this book, but they are all extremely

fascinating, and it is also a book about gaining knowledge 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 knew things were bad.

The South Sudan hotel had been opened in the run-up to independence in 2011, promoted widely

as a safe place for foreign dignitaries to stay while visiting Bor.

But as we approached, I saw the hotel mini bus 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 you enjoy adventure, as well as our next book,

which is also about adventure.

My next book recommendation is Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer.

One of his most famous books is called Into the Wild.

And while I enjoyed that book, I felt like this book gripped me in a different way.

It's about his adventure, and journey, and really 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 hiking and climbing up Mount Everest.

But what he didn't know is that he would be climbing Mount Everest during the most deadly

spring season in Mount Everest history.

When I finished reading this book, my first thought 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 explanations about what draws people to these types of

extreme adventures.

Let's read a sample.

"On March 1996, Outside Magazine sent me to Nepal to participate in and write about a

guided ascent of Mount Everest.

I went as one of eight clients on an expedition led 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 we were still high on the peak.

By the time I descended to base camp, nine climbers from the four expeditions were dead,

and three more lives would be lost before the month was out.

"Several authors and editors I respect counseled me 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 because what happened on the mountain was gnawing

my guts out.

I thought that writing the book might purge Everest from my life."

Because of the tragedy that he experienced on Mount Everest, he had this terrible feeling.

He uses the word gnawing.

Gnawing is when you're eating and biting something like ... It feels terrible inside of you.

After he climbed Mount Everest, he had this terrible feeling inside of him, and he thought

that writing this book would help to make him feel better.

He uses the term to purge.

This means to get it out of him and make him feel cleansed.

This didn't really happen from writing this book, 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 Erik Larson.

I've read a couple Erik Larson books, and I'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 check out some of his others.

He always takes one specific piece of history and just makes it come alive.

In this book, he's writing about the last crossing of the Lusitania.

The Lusitania was a huge ocean cruise ship or liner, kind of like the Titanic, that went

from the American side of the Atlantic over to 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 in history of the world.

I thought that I knew this story because I'd heard a little bit about it in history class,

but it turns out I had no clue.

And I really blasted through this book and couldn't stop thinking about it and talking

about it with people that were anywhere close to me, I wanted to share this story with them.

So, I would love to share it with you if you're interested in history, in human interest,

the little human stories that are happening amongst 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 ship approached the coast of Ireland, captain William

Thomas Turner left the bridge and made his way to the first class lounge where passengers

were taking part in a concert and talent show.

Turner revealed to the audience that earlier in the evening the ship had received a warning

by wireless of fresh submarine activity off the Irish coast.

He assured the audience there was no need for alarm.

He bade them goodnight and returned to the bridge.

The talent show continued.

A few passengers slept fully clothed in the dining room for fear of being trapped below

decks in their cabins if an attack were to occur.

One especially anxious traveler, a Greek carpet merchant, 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 you read the book.

My final recommendation in this nonfiction historical section is one of my favorite books

of all time.

It is Captured: The True Story of Abduction by 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 the European settlers were living in the Native

American territory where they were living.

But, a lot of these children, some of these children, were kidnapped by the local Native

Americans, the Apache tribe who was living there.

And they were not just kidnapped, but they were adopted into the tribe, treated as their

own, as their own children, and they were raised as if they were part of the tribe.

The author's great-great-great-uncle was one of these children.

He was adopted into the tribe, and he grew up to be a fierce warrior, sometimes raiding

and kidnapping other children from his home village.

Then, after a few years, he was forcibly returned to his biological family.

This cultural shift was shocking for him.

He couldn't cope.

It's just really interesting to see how somebody can be completely immersed in a different

culture, a culture that is not getting along with your home culture, and try to figure

out how do you do this type of life.

The author here, Scott Zesch, follows eight children who were kidnapped by Apache and

Comanche.

These are the tribe names.

These Native American tribes were adopted into 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 in the 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 uncle who was one of these kidnapped children.

"His story was unusual, but not unique.

Dozens of children on the Texas frontier were captured by Southern Plains Indians in the

1800s and adopted into the tribe.

Many came to prefer the Native American way of life, resisting attempts to rescue them.

Long after they were forced to return to their former biological families, they held fast

to what they'd learned while they were away.

Some anthropologists call these assimilated children 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 killed or 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 nonfiction books that are more informational.

My first nonfiction book recommendation that is 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, decided to read it.

And within two weeks, I had gone through my entire house, cleaned everything, tidied up,

everything, and it was all of a sudden so much 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 how your mind feels.

If your desk is messy, if your house has piles of clothes and some old dishes sitting around,

that reflects how your mind feels.

You also feel more cluttered and unorganized when your house is like this.

So, putting your house in order will also help 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 in order in a way that will change your life

forever.

Impossible?

A common response, but not surprising, considering that almost everyone has experienced a rebound

effect at least once."

Rebound means that you clean and then it just gets messy again.

And then you clean, and it gets messy again.

"Have you ever tidied madly only to find that all too soon your home and workspace is cluttered

again.

If so, let me share with you the secret of success."

Well, if your home needs a little bit of tidying up, I highly recommend this book.

You might have seen the Netflix documentary based on this book, and that's a great starting

point.

But, you really need to get the book to be able to see step by step her method to helping

you declutter your home.

So, make sure you check it out and start decluttering today.

My next recommendation is How to Win friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie.

The subheading of this book is The Only Book You'll Need to Lead You to Success.

Wow.

One of the reviewers on Amazon said, "I'm being transformed from a socially awkward,

timid, and defensive person to someone who seems collected and confident."

Ooh.

If that seems like you, well, you should read this.

Let's check out a sample.

"If by the time you have finished reading the first three chapters of this book, if

you aren't then a little better equipped to meet life situations, then I shall consider

this book to be a total failure as far as you're concerned, for, quote, 'the great aim

of education' said Herbert Spencer, 'is not knowledge, but action.'

This is an action book.

This book will help you to take action and to 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 student recommendation.

I posted here on my YouTube channel in the community section a question about what nonfiction

books you all enjoyed, and this was one of them that a lot of you mentioned.

It is The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

This book was named the number one best business book 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 Minimalism by Cal Newport.

As I was reading this book, I thought, "This book is going to change my life.

I need to share this book with as many people as I can.

How can I share this book?

Aha!

I should create a movie, a video on YouTube about top nonfiction books."

So thanks to this book, I'm making this video for you.

Absolutely if you check your phone more than three times a day, and most people do, you

need to read this book.

You need to know about how this is taking over your life.

We are getting out of control, and we need to 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 blogger and commentator Andrew Sullivan wrote a 7,000-word

essay for New York Magazine titled I Used to Be a Human Being.

The subtitle was alarming, An Endless Bombardment of 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 to become less addicted to your phone, how to

take control again, and use these services in the best way possible."

It is also an action book, and I highly recommend it.

Let's go to our next one.

My next recommendation is Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner.

The subheading is The Rogue Economists Explores the Hidden Side of Everything.

After reading this book, you'll have a new way of looking at the world and seeing how

everything is connected.

He explains that if morality represents how people 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 of the first chapter in his book.

"What do school teachers and sumo wrestlers have 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 to catch them, stories from an Israeli daycare

center, the sudden disappearance of 7 million American children, cheating school teachers

in Chicago, why cheating to lose is worse than cheating to win.

Could sumo wrestling, the national sport of Japan, be corrupt?

What the bagel man saw.

Mankind may be more honest than we think."

This is just the description of the first chapter of his book.

This book is absolutely fascinating.

If you're interested in reading it, make sure you 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 student recommendation, and it is Factfulness by Hans

Rosling.

The subtitle of this book is 10 Reasons We're Wrong 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 the media tells us and find the factfulness, find

the facts or the truth about the state of the world, about global health, about global

violence, these big topics, make sure you check 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 Listen So Kids Will Talk.

When I read this book, it absolutely shaped the way that I am as a parent and the way

that I talk to my children or other children in 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's psychology is working and how you as a parent,

or as a caregiver, or as a teacher can work with the child in order to help them be their

best self.

This is an essential book for anyone around children.

Check it out.

My next recommendation is Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, The Story of Success.

What makes high achievers different?

Well, the Amazon description tells us, "Malcolm Gladwell's answer is that we pay too much

attention to what successful people are like and 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 want to 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 that we can unravel the logic behind who succeeds

and who doesn't."

It is a fascinating story.

I actually listened to the audio book of this when I was on a road trip, and it was a wonderful

thing to do while you're in the car for a couple hours.

I recommend checking it out.

My next recommendation is actually a student recommendation, and it is Rich Dad, Poor Dad.

It is a story of what rich people teach their children about money, but what poor and middle

class people don't teach their children about money.

It is the number one personal finance book of 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 going so that you can become wealthy, even if you

do not have a high income, this book is for you.

I have another student recommendation, and that is the book Everything is Figureoutable

by Marie Forleo.

Marie Forleo has a huge YouTube channel about helping people to face their fears and follow

their dreams.

This book is about her personal story and also about helping you to achieve your goals.

The language is fairly simple.

So if you're interested in trying to start your own business or do something that takes

a lot courage, you need to be able to forget your fears, to follow your dreams.

Check out this book, and you'll be able to get 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 many books.

In fact, I'm going to give another recommendation of his in just a moment.

But, this book focuses on how English got to be this way.

Have you ever wondered why there are seven different 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 find out.

I have another Bill Bryson recommendation.

This man is a fabulous writer, and he has written about a variety of topics.

This time it is A Short History of Nearly Everything.

Oh, boy.

This is a huge topic.

But, he has tackled this topic mastery.

You're going to learn about the history of the 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 tougher than you realize.

To begin with, for you to be here now, trillions of drifting atoms had somehow to assemble

in an intricate and intriguingly obliging manner to create you.

It's an arrangement so specialized and particular that it has never been tried before, and it

will only exist this once.

For the next many years, we hope, these tiny particles will uncomplainingly engage in all

of the billions of deft and cooperative efforts necessary to keep you intact and let you experience

the supremely agreeable, but generally underappreciated state known as existence."

This man is a word smith.

He uses a lot of amazing words to craft his story, so I hope that you will enjoy A Short

History of Nearly Everything.

My next recommendation is Sapiens by Yuval Harari.

I decided to read this book because within one 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 my friends were also reading it at the same time,

so we created a little book club.

We all read it, and then talked about it and had some fascinating discussions.

This book is full of what makes humans human.

How has our history as homo sapiens affected who 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's read this book said, "Wow.

That book had a lot of amazing information in it."

So, I recommend checking it out.

My next recommendation deals with food, and it is The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan.

If you have ever wondered where your food comes from, I highly recommend this book.

Michael Pollan decides to take a deep dive into the different ways that fruit is produced.

He buys a cow from a big factory farm and follows that cow's life.

He goes to check out some big organic farms to see if life is really like the idyllic

picture on their logo.

Then, he goes to some smaller permaculture farms to see what it's like.

And he also visits some hunter-gatherers who are trying to forage for their own mushrooms

and kill their own pigs, wild pigs, in California.

He visits different types of food production and has his own thoughts about it, but also

lets you kind of come to your own conclusions about this.

It is not a simple answer, it's not a simple question, 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 for making it this far in this video, is a huge

book, Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond.

Have you ever wondered why Europeans colonized North 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 North America?

This is a very deep, potentially controversial question, 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 for myself that I will finish this book.

I know there's a lot of data, a lot of specific things that he talks about, but it is essential

to ask ourselves these questions, especially when 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 passion project for me because I love to read.

I love to share books with other people.

So, thank you so much for all of your student recommendations.

I have a question for you.

Can you write a comment below and recommend a book to me?

Maybe recommend a nonfiction book, like the ones we talked about, these true stories,

or recommend a fiction book.

I'm always open to reading stories that have been made up in our imagination that will

lead us into a different world.

I love reading about all different types of things.

So, leave a comment and let me know what books do you recommend that I read.

And if you would like to have any other book recommendations, make sure you check out the

other videos that I've made about some fiction books so that you can expand your mind and

improve your English.

Thank you so much for learning English with me.

And I'll see you again next Friday for a new lesson 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 speak confidently and fluently.

Don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel for more free lessons.

Thanks so much.

Bye.