20 Books by People Who Actually Know What They’re Talking About

Endurance: A Year in Space, a Lifetime of Discovery, by Scott Kelly
Unless you’ve spent a year in space being studied, you have nothing on Scott Kelly, who holds the current American record for consecutive days in space. As a result, Kelly’s thoughts on our space program—including its necessity and utility—are worth reading, as is his description of the challenges that face anyone intending to spend a long time in space. If you’ve ever wondered what it’s really to head into orbit, Kelly’s book offers the most up-to-date and informative account ever written.

Into Thin Air, by Jon Krakauer
It’s the eternal conflict: you’re curious what it’s like to climb Mount Everest, especially under less-than-ideal conditions, but you just microwaved a burrito and you don’t feel like flying out to Nepal to find out. Read the next best thing: Krakauer’s classic book details a disastrous expedition to the summit of the mountain in 1996—an expedition he experienced firsthand, and one that six experienced climbers didn’t come back from. If this book doesn’t cure you of any lingering curiosity about climbing mountains, you’ll just have to go climb one.

Girl, Interrupted, by Susanna Kaysen
Ever wondered what it’s like to be declared a danger to yourself and placed in a mental hospital? Wonder no more, as Kaysen’s memoir (the basis for the film of the same name) details the events when that precise scenario happened to her in 1967, when she was 18. Although Kaysen committed herself, she describes the bullying techniques of the psychiatrist who pushed her to do so, and explains what life is really like in one of those places.

Adrift: Seventy-Six Days Lost at Sea, by Steve Callahan
The title says it all. While competing in a race across the Atlantic Ocean in 1981, Callahan got caught in a storm and lost his boat. Luckily, he managed to grab his emergency kit and get into the six-person raft he’d taken along as a precaution. For the next 76 days he drifted on the ocean, teaching himself how to catch fish, make repairs, and generally stay alive. If you’ve ever drifted during a stressful meeting and wondered what it might be like to be lost at sea, Callahan’s epic memoir will tell you.

No Easy Day, by Mark Owen
Written by one of the SEAL team members on hand when Osama Bin Laden was killed, you won’t get a clearer idea of what it’s really like to be a member of the elite special forces unit than the one you’ll find in this book. Owen’s career spans many headline-grabbing moments, as well as several that were never publicized. By the end, you’ll understand a bit better what it takes to be a Navy SEAL from someone who’s actually been one.

Blue Latitudes, by Tony Horwitz
What was it like to be an explorer in the age of the sail, out on the ocean in a rickety wooden ship? Horwitz decided to find out. He worked as a crew member on a replica of Captain Cook’s ship as it followed the famous explorer’s route into the unknown. We may not be able to quiz Cook or his crew on what it was really like to sail into the unknown in the 18th century, but Horwitz provides a pretty close account, because he actually did it. Except for the “18th century” part.

Shantaram, by Gregory David Roberts
This is a fictionalized account of real events, and Roberts’ account of his own life is contested by some, but in general, the facts are right: the author was sentenced to prison in Australia, escaped to Bombay, and lived there for a decade. Whether or not every single thing in Shantaram is true doesn’t matter; what you get from it is a sense of what it’s really like to live on the sketchier side of one of the world’s most crowded cities, a view most tourists will never see.

Kon-Tiki, by Thor Heyerdahl
Say you want to know what it might have been like to be ancient Perusians crowding onto balsa wood rafts and sailing west to settle the Polynesian islands. Thor Heyerdahl found out, by building his own raft and sailing from Peru, arriving three months later at Puka Puka. Proving that it was possible for primitive people to travel incredible distances, he also saved you the trouble of building your own flimsy raft and finding out what that adventure might be like.

And the River Flowed as a Raft of Corpses, by Yamaguchi Tsutomu
Ever wonder what it’s like to directly experience an atomic blast? Mr. Tsutomu actually experienced it—twice. He was in Hiroshima when the bomb dropped in 1945, and then in Nagasaki when the second bomb dropped three days later. That kind of luck will kill you, but Tsutomu survived both incidents, and went on to become a writer and poet. While adapting some of those poems, translator Chad Diehl includes a translation of Tsutomu’s account of the bombings as well, so you can scratch “experience atomic destruction (twice)” off your bucket list.

Ice Bound, by Jerri Nielsen
This is a twofer: Dr. Nielsen was both trapped at an isolated South Pole facility and forced to perform surgery on herself and treat herself with chemotherapy when she diagnosed herself with cancer. Unable to be transported out and unable to get anything in, Nielsen—the only doctor on staff—had to perform her own biopsy and then administer her own treatment for four months before weather conditions allowed rescue. So, if you’re wondering what it’s like to be at the South Pole and/or what it’s like to perform surgery on yourself, this is the book for you.

Kitchen Confidential, by Anthony Bourdain
Bourdain offers a surprisingly rare glimpse into the world of restaurant kitchens, both high-end and beyond sketchy. If you’ve ever been curious what it’s like to be a chef or to work in a professional kitchen, prepare to be beyond surprised at what actually goes on in some of the most famous kitchens in the world. Since he’s a world-famous chef who worked in those kitchens, he sure knows what he’s talking about.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, by Jean Dominique Bauby
Wondering what it’s like to be paralyzed may not be on you list of things to do today, but it offers the sort of calibration most of us need—after all, how bad are your troubles if you can still move? Bauby, the hugely successful editor of French Elle, suffered a stroke at the age of 43 that left him completely mute and paralyzed—except for his left eye. He dictated this book by working out a system of blinked code. If you want to gain a new appreciation of simply being in control of your body, read this book.

Twelve Years a Slave, by Solomon Northup
Northup’s famous memoir of slavery in 19th century America lays out the brutality, racism, and insanity of the practice in stark terms. Tricked and kidnapped, Northup’s decade lost in the plantation system will turn stomachs and shame anyone who wants to talk about the Civil War being about “states’ rights.”

Long Way Gone, by Ishmael Beah
Most people in the West are dimly aware of the phenomenon of child soldiers in Africa, but Ishmael Beah was a child soldier, sucked into the army at age 12. His candid depiction of the drug-fueled brutality he was forced to enact is harrowing, and his rescue at age 15 likely saved not just his life, but his soul. As clear a depiction of the evil that men do as you’ll ever read—from someone who was there.

West with the Night, by Beryl Markham
What’s it like to fly solo across the ocean? Beryl Markham can tell you. The first pilot to go nonstop from Europe to America, as well as the first woman to fly alone across the Atlantic, Markham’s memoir describes a life that was pretty fascinating even before she got into the cockpit. These days it might seem as if there are no new worlds to explore and no new records to set, but reading Markham’s book will at least let you know what it was like when an individual could just decide to do both.

Night, by Eli Wiesel
With fascism somehow back in the air like a virus, this is the ideal time to learn what experiencing the final destination of such thinking is like. Wiesel’s firsthand account of surviving the Nazi Holocaust is not easy reading. It is disturbing, and frightening, and necessary, because Wiesel was there, and he tells you in unflinching terms what it was like to survive a genocide.

The Story of My Life, by Helen Keller
Most of us take our senses for granted, and we live in a world designed around our ability to see and hear. Keller, rendered deaf and blind before she was two years old, managed to communicate somewhat with her family. At the age of six she began working with Anne Sullivan, who patiently broke through Keller’s isolation, teaching her how to interact with the world. Keller’s autobiography is a remarkable glimpse into what it’s like to exist without the basic senses most of us use to navigate our world.

New Jack: Guarding Sing Sing, by Ted Conover
What’s it like to be a prison guard? If you think you know from TV shows, you’ll be surprised to find out what it’s really like from Ted Conover. A journalist, Conover tried to shadow guards but was denied permission, and so he simply applied for a job, then spent a year working at the prison. His account is eye-opening, showing how the brutality of our prison system affects not just the prisoners, but the guards as well.

Monster: The Autobiography of an L.A. Gang Member, by Sanyika Shakur
Shakur, formerly Kody Scott, was so brutal as a member of the Crips, he earned the nickname Monster—this from his fellow gang members, who weren’t exactly gentle themselves. Locked up in solitary confinement for his crimes, Scott became Shakur, a convert to Islam and a reformed human being. His account of what it’s like to be in the L.A. gangs so often depicted in movies is sobering, as is his exploration of the societal failures that drove him into that life in the first place.

When Breath becomes Air, by Paul Kalanithi
What’s it like to die? We can’t know, Kalanithi’s memoir describing his terminal diagnosis and final years of life is a firsthand account of living with the sure knowledge that your time on Earth is limited. Our mortality is something we often avoid contemplating, but Kalanithi had no choice. His memoir should be required reading, if only for the perspective it offers.