Happy Tuesday, readers! Today’s Top Ten topic is “Genre Freebie,” so I decided to feature some of my favorite (aka weirdest) books I’ve used for research when writing my novels. It was actually really difficult to narrow this down to only ten! Authors have to research some really bizarre stuff sometimes. Maybe next time I’ll make a list of my favorite historical dictionaries and legal texts (Yes, those are things us authors also get excited about. As I said, we’re weird.)
- Advice to a Mother on the Management of Her Children: And on the Treatment on the Moment of Some of Their More Pressing Illnesses and Accidents by Pye Henry Chavasse
- Special Forces Survival Guide by Chris McNab
- Fire, Pestilence, and Death: St. Louis, 1849 by Christopher Alan Gordon
- Cascadia’s Fault: The Coming Earthquake and Tsunami That Could Devastate North America by Jerry Thompson
- Dreadful Diseases and Terrible Treatments by Jonathan J. Moore
- Near-Death Experiences by Scott L. Smith Jr.
- Last Rites: The Evolution of the American Funeral by Todd Harra
- Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach
- Missouri’s Mad Doctor McDowell: Confederates, Cadavers and Macabre Medicine by Victoria Cosner and Lorelei Shannon
- Ten Days in a Mad-house by Nellie Bly
Have you read any of these? Are there any weird non-fiction books that you would recommend?
*Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly blog challenge hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl.*
COPYRIGHT © KELSEY GIETL 2025
Yes, that should totally be a topic for a future freebie post of yours. I love this kind of stuff.
It must be an author thing. 😂
LikeLiked by 1 person
It absolutely is!
LikeLike
I have read a lot of nonfiction on sleep, allergies, raising dogs, etc…everything specific to different time periods of my life, LOL! But, nothing quite like the list you have here.
LikeLike
This is a new take on the list! Some of them sound pretty intriguing to me. Do you read the full book or just skim until you find the information you need? Does AI help you cut down on this type of research (or make it worse because you have to fact check)? I have so many questions!
LikeLike
Lots of great questions! Most of my research books, I use the table of contents and index to mark the sections that I know I need to read in full then I skim the rest of the book. There are some that I read the entire book either because I find the topic interesting or because when I start reading it, the writing style makes it a quick and interesting read. Although his books aren’t on this list, Erik Larson is one author who does a great job of making historical non-fiction read like fiction. Of the books listed, I read in full “Deadly Diseases and Terrible Treatments,” “Near Death Experiences,” “Missouri’s Mad Doctor McDowell,” “Ten Days in a Madhouse,” and “Stiff.” Highly recommend the last one, it was really eye opening.
As for AI, I don’t ever use it. We could spend a long time discussing why, but one of the main reasons is what you mentioned. I’ve found too many errors in AI overviews, even before I start fact checking. I’ve built a good repository of sources that I use such as libraries, museums, and universities along with other trusted sites, but I still find physical books (or scanned-in historical books) to still be the best method of research. I get most of my research books from the library but have found some for cheap at Thriftbooks.com.
LikeLike
Thank you for answering my questions, Kelsey! Of the books on your post, the ones that stood out to me were the ones you just said you read in full. I can see them being great reads given the subject matter.
LikeLiked by 1 person