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Nonfiction Faves
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Nonfiction Faves

We created this playlist for all the cool nonfiction both the Red Balloon Staff is reading and the nonfiction our supporters are buying as a way to highlight the amazing research and important topics we are all learning about!

Quietly Hostile

Essays

By: Samantha Irby
Narrated by: Samantha Irby
Length: 9 hours 31 minutes

“I'm obsessed with Samantha Irby (in a cute way, not a dangerous way). Her books are hilarious, endearing, and a little gross. Walking around the neighborhood listening to this audiobook got me a lot of weird looks as I gasped, gagged, talked back to her (she narrates all of her audiobooks!), and laughed with wild abandon. Read more

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Book and Dagger

How Scholars and Librarians Became the Unlikely Spies of World War II

By: Elyse Graham
Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
Length: 10 hours 54 minutes

“Elyse Graham looks less to well-documented World War II spy-craft exploits than to the context that they sprang from—a country without an intelligence service; libraries of information, historic and fictional; and a world thrust back into war. Introducing indelible characters and events both ridiculous and harrowing, Graham deftly and... Read more

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Somehow

Thoughts on Love

By: Anne Lamott
Narrated by: Anne Lamott
Length: 4 hours 16 minutes

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

One of Publishers Weekly’s Best Religion Books of 2024

“Anne Lamott is my Oprah.” —Chicago Tribune

From the bestselling author of Dusk, Night, Dawn and Help, Thanks, Wow, a joyful celebration of love


“Love is our only hope,” Anne Lamott writes in this perceptive new book. “It is not always the easiest choice, but it is... Read more

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The Emerald Mile

The Epic Story of the Fastest Ride in History Through the Heart of the Grand Canyon

By: Kevin Fedarko
Narrated by: Kevin Fedarko
Length: 17 hours 40 minutes

From one of Outside magazine’s “Literary All-Stars” comes the thrilling true tale of the fastest boat ride ever through the Grand Canyon, atop the legendary Colorado River flood of 1983.

In the spring of 1983, massive flooding along the length of the Colorado River confronted a team of engineers at the Glen Canyon Dam with an unprecedented... Read more

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Bad Vibes Only

(and Other Things I Bring to the Table)

By: Nora McInerny
Narrated by: Nora McInerny
Length: 5 hours 21 minutes

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

From the host of the podcast Terrible, Thanks for Asking—called “a gift” by The New York Times—a raw and humorous essay collection in the spirit of Jenny Lawson and Samantha Irby.

Nora McInerny does not dance like no one is watching. In fact, she dances like everyone is watching, which is to say, she does not dance at all. A... Read more

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No Happy Endings

A Memoir

By: Nora McInerny
Narrated by: Nora McInerny
Length: 7 hours 58 minutes

“I love Nora McInerny's podcast TERRIBLE, THANKS FOR ASKING and was so bummed to find out that she would be the keynote speaker at a conference I attend every year--except for this year. Despite having missed a chance to meet Nora in person, I still got my hands on a copy of Nora's book and devoured it. She masterfully captures what it is like to... Read more

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It's Okay to Laugh

(Crying is Cool Too)

By: Nora McInerny Purmort
Narrated by: Nora McInerny Purmort
Length: 6 hours 31 minutes

NATIONAL BESTSELLER“Thank you for the perfect blend of nostalgia-drenched humor, wit, and heartbreak, Nora.” — Mandy MooreJoining the ranks of Let’s Pretend This Never Happened and Carry On, Warrior, a fierce, hysterically funny memoir that reminds us that comedy equals tragedy plus time.Twentysomething Nora McInerny Purmort bounced from... Read more

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Abundance

By: Ezra Klein & Derek Thompson
Narrated by: Ezra Klein & Derek Thompson
Length: 7 hours 14 minutes

“This is THE next current issues book that every citizen should read—right before calling their state & local reps. There is enough to go around, as long as we embrace this plentiful ideology right away. Read more

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Columbine 25th Anniversary Memorial Edition

By: Dave Cullen
Narrated by: Don Leslie & Dave Cullen
Length: 16 hours 9 minutes

In remembrance of the 25th anniversary, this definitive account of Columbine examines the aftermath and significance of the massacre: "a staggering work of journalism" (Washington Post).

So begins a new preface, illustrating how Columbine became the template for nearly two decades of "spectacle murders." It is a false script, seized upon by a... Read more

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The Wager

A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder

By: David Grann
Narrated by: Dion Graham & David Grann
Length: 8 hours 28 minutes

“Since a lot of the book is drawn from actual sailor's diaries, listening to it feels like you're hearing a salty sea dog's confessional! Apart from that it's got everything you'd want in a swashbuckling adventure: mutiny, shipwreck, scurvy and colonialist criticism. Read more

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Careless People

A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism

By: Sarah Wynn-Williams
Narrated by: Sarah Wynn-Williams
Length: 13 hours 15 minutes

“An explosive memoir charting one woman’s career at the heart of one of the most influential companies on the planet, Careless People gives you a front-row seat to Facebook, the decisions that have shaped world events in recent decades, and the people who made them. Publisher Flatiron Books says that Sarah Wynn-Williams’ Careless People sold... Read more

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Into Thin Air

A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster

By: Jon Krakauer
Narrated by: Philip Franklin
Length: 9 hours 9 minutes

“This is the book that began my fascination with epic disasters in cold, icy places. I guess I wanted to understand why people risk their lives for adventure or exploration, which I admit I still don’t understand after reading dozens of books like this. But I keep reading them, just as drawn into the snowy, freezing landscapes as the mindset of... Read more

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I'm Glad My Mom Died

By: Jennette McCurdy
Narrated by: Jennette McCurdy
Length: 6 hours 25 minutes

“A Nickelodeon child star, Jennette McCurdy was raised by a mother desperate to live out her show-business dreams through her daughter. That pressure to succeed--and to please her mother--sent McCurdy into a downward spiral of eating disorders, drug addiction, and destructive relationships from which she is only beginning to recover....Most of... Read more

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Braiding Sweetgrass

Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants

By: Robin Wall Kimmerer
Narrated by: Robin Wall Kimmerer
Length: 16 hours 44 minutes

“A Native American botanist shares indigenous wisdom and scientific facts blended with her own narrative. A beautiful way to learn what the earth has to tell us, and the narration is sublime. Read more

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The Serviceberry

By: Robin Wall Kimmerer
Narrated by: Robin Wall Kimmerer
Length: 1 hour 56 minutes

“Can a book be cozy, loving, encouraging, compassionate AND a threat to the brutal and cutthroat consumer capitalism of our era? I present to you Robin Wall Kimmerer’s first book since her surprise mega bestselling sleeper hit Braiding Sweetgrass. The Serviceberry is a bushy, under appreciated fruit tree native to Eastern North America that... Read more

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The Children's Blizzard

By: David Laskin
Narrated by: Paul Woodson
Length: 9 hours 34 minutes

January 12, 1888, began as an unseasonably warm morning across Nebraska, the Dakotas, and Minnesota, the weather so mild that children walked to school without coats and gloves. But that afternoon, without warning, the atmosphere suddenly, violently changed. One moment the air was calm; the next the sky exploded in a raging chaos of horizontal... Read more

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How We Learn to Be Brave

Decisive Moments in Life and Faith

By: Mariann Edgar Budde
Narrated by: Mariann Edgar Budde
Length: 6 hours 50 minutes

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

How We Learn to Be Brave is an inspirational guide to the key junctures in life that, if navigated with faith and discernment, pave the way for us to become our most courageous selves, by the bishop of the famed Episcopal Diocese of Washington, D.C.

On January 21, 2025, many Americans were introduced to Bishop Mariann... Read more

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Revenge of the Tipping Point

Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering

By: Malcolm Gladwell
Narrated by: Malcolm Gladwell
Length: 8 hours 25 minutes

“Fun return to the Tipping Point. The audio version is great and includes some interesting interviews. Read more

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The Anxious Generation

How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness

By: Jonathan Haidt
Narrated by: Sean Pratt & Jonathan Haidt
Length: 10 hours 32 minutes

“Amazing read. A must read for all parents. Gives you so much insight into our current reality and some real life things we can do about it. Read more

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The House of My Mother

A Daughter's Quest for Freedom

By: Shari Franke
Narrated by: Shari Franke
Length: 7 hours 8 minutes

INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

“Heart-wrenchingly personal…dizzying.” —Rolling Stone

From eldest daughter Shari Franke, the shocking true story behind the viral 8 Passengers family vlog—now the subject of a new Hulu docuseries—and the hidden abuse she suffered at the hands of her mother, and how, in the face of unimaginable pain, she... Read more

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