Whether you’re busy with an internship or have the summer to yourself, something about warm nights and the utter lack of tests to study for has always put me in the mood to get lost in a good book.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I love a great work of fiction. But there’s something about reading a great non-fiction that leaves me feeling smarter, more worldly, and eager to work an interesting piece of trivia I learned from it into conversation.

Here are 10 of my favorite non-fiction books that I thought you girls would enjoy. Be sure to leave a comment at the end and tell me about your favorite non-fiction books! I’d love to hear your suggestions – I’m always looking for something great to read.

Let’s go!

Table of Contents

1. Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

Buy here.

You probably remember seeing this book in every airport terminal, on the front display of every book store, and on the coffee table of many-a living room almost ten years ago. Well, there’s a reason why this book was a best seller – it’s insanely interesting!In fact, this book helped me decide to be an economics major in college.

Freakonomics is a crazy mergence of statistics, pop culture, psychology, and social problems and policies. It uses inconspicuous factors to answer questions or make predictions, and traces back phenomenons to very simplistic factors that (for some reason) no one thought to consider before. The book teaches you to analyze from a different angle, discussing everything from political policies and education reform to using drugs and alcohol and how the name your parents gave you has shaped your life.