Best Non-Fiction Books

Before The Alchemist, there was the pilgrimage. Paulo Coelho's account of walking the Road to Santiago de Compostela — the ancient Spanish pilgrimage route — and the spiritual lessons his guide Petrus taught him along the way. Part memoir, part spiritual manual, part adventure, this is the book that made Coelho a writer.

Ariely's follow-up to Predictably Irrational examines how our systematic cognitive quirks can work in our favour — in relationships, at work, and in how we adapt to adversity. The irrational behaviours that hurt us in markets can help us in life.

Mark Adams travels the world in search of the lost city of Atlantis — interviewing scholars, crackpots, archaeologists, and believers — in a witty and surprisingly serious investigation of one of history's most persistent myths.

Andrew Kilpatrick's sprawling, encyclopedic biography of Warren Buffett chronicles the investor's life from childhood in Omaha through the building of Berkshire Hathaway into one of the world's most valuable companies. Updated across multiple editions, it serves as the most comprehensive single-volume reference on Buffett's personal and professional history.