8 must-read nonfiction books like We Are Here: An Atlas of Aotearoa by Chris McDowall

Cover of We Are Here: An Atlas of Aotearoa by Chris McDowall

We Are Here: An Atlas of Aotearoa

By: Chris McDowall

4.75

Format: 240 pages, Hardcover

An extraordinary visual data book like no other. Clustered yet scattered, we New Zealanders live…

If you liked the nonfiction plot in We Are Here: An Atlas of Aotearoa by Chris McDowall , here is a list of 8 books like this:

Cover of Red Mars (Mars Trilogy, #1) by Kim Stanley Robinson

1. Red Mars (Mars Trilogy, #1)

By: Kim Stanley Robinson

3.86

Format: 572 pages, Mass Market Paperback

In his most ambitious project to date, award-winning author Kim Stanley Robinson utilizes years of … read more

Similar categories in Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars (Mars Trilogy, #1) book and Chris McDowall's We Are Here: An Atlas of Aotearoa

"Why should I discuss it with you?"

-Kim Stanley Robinson, Red Mars (Mars Trilogy, #1)

"It's the love of right lures men to wrong."

-Kim Stanley Robinson, Red Mars (Mars Trilogy, #1)

"The beauty of Mars exists in the human mind,"

-Kim Stanley Robinson, Red Mars (Mars Trilogy, #1)

"In games there are rules, but in life the rules keep changing."

-Kim Stanley Robinson, Red Mars (Mars Trilogy, #1)

Cover of Diary of a Madman and Other Stories by Nikolai Gogol

2. Diary of a Madman and Other Stories

By: Nikolai Gogol

4.35

Format: 26 pages, Paperback

Hailed by Nabokov as "the greatest artist that Russia has yet produced," Nikolai Gogol (1809-1852) … read more

Similar categories in Nikolai Gogol's Diary of a Madman and Other Stories book and Chris McDowall's We Are Here: An Atlas of Aotearoa

Cover of Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin

3. Go Tell It on the Mountain

By: James Baldwin

4.35

Format: None pages, Paperback

Go Tell It On The Mountain, first published in 1953, is Baldwin's first major work, a semi-autobiog… read more

Similar categories in James Baldwin's Go Tell It on the Mountain book and Chris McDowall's We Are Here: An Atlas of Aotearoa

Cover of The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins

4. The Selfish Gene

By: Richard Dawkins

4.16

Format: 360 pages, Paperback

"The Selfish Gene" caused a wave of excitement among biologists and the general public when it was … read more

Similar categories in Richard Dawkins's The Selfish Gene book and Chris McDowall's We Are Here: An Atlas of Aotearoa

  • nonfiction
  • science
"Chance" is just a word expressing ignorance"

-Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene

"What shall it profit a male if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his immortal genes?"

-Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene

"I am an enthusiastic Darwinian, but I think Darwinism is too big a theory to be confined to the narrow context of the gene."

-Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene

"The meme for blind faith secures its own perpetuation by the simple unconscious expedient of discouraging rational inquiry."

-Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene

Cover of The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality by Brian Greene

5. The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality

By: Brian Greene

4.13

Format: 569 pages, Paperback

The fabric of the cosmos read more

Similar categories in Brian Greene's The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality book and Chris McDowall's We Are Here: An Atlas of Aotearoa

  • nonfiction
  • science
"life"

-Brian Greene, The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality

"Understanding requires insight. Insight must be anchored."

-Brian Greene, The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality

"наша история прошлого часто лишь информирует о наших переживаниях в настоящем."

-Brian Greene, The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality

"полная скорость движения любого объекта в пространстве и во времени всегда в точности равна скорости света."

-Brian Greene, The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time, and the Texture of Reality

Cover of As the Earth Turns Silver by Alison Wong

6. As the Earth Turns Silver

By: Alison Wong

3.78

Format: 377 pages, Paperback

This title is winner of the Janet Frame Fiction Award 2009. It is the early 1900s and brothers Yung… read more

Similar categories in Alison Wong's As the Earth Turns Silver book and Chris McDowall's We Are Here: An Atlas of Aotearoa

Cover of Rendezvous with Rama (Rama, #1) by Arthur C. Clarke

7. Rendezvous with Rama (Rama, #1)

By: Arthur C. Clarke

4.12

Format: 243 pages, Paperback

At first, only a few things are known about the celestial object that astronomers dub Rama. It is h… read more

Similar categories in Arthur C. Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama (Rama, #1) book and Chris McDowall's We Are Here: An Atlas of Aotearoa

"He had a suspicion of plausible answers; they were so often wrong."

-Arthur C. Clarke, Rendezvous with Rama (Rama, #1)

"In these latter days, knighthood was an honor few Englishmen escaped."

-Arthur C. Clarke, Rendezvous with Rama (Rama, #1)

"If such a thing had happened once, it must surely have happened many times in this galaxy of a hundred billion suns."

-Arthur C. Clarke, Rendezvous with Rama (Rama, #1)

"Yes, it made sense, and was so absurdly simple that it would take a genius to think of it. And, perhaps, someone who did not expect to do it himself."

-Arthur C. Clarke, Rendezvous with Rama (Rama, #1)

8. The Silk Roads: A New History of the World

By: Peter Frankopan

3.77

Format: None pages,

From the rise and fall of empires in China, Persia, and Rome itself to the spread of Buddhism and a… read more

Similar categories in Peter Frankopan's The Silk Roads: A New History of the World book and Chris McDowall's We Are Here: An Atlas of Aotearoa

Cover of White Cat, Black Dog: Stories by Kelly Link

9. White Cat, Black Dog: Stories

By: Kelly Link

3.84

Format: 272 pages, Hardcover

Seven ingeniously reinvented fairy tales that play out with astonishing consequences in the modern … read more

Similar categories in Kelly Link's White Cat, Black Dog: Stories book and Chris McDowall's We Are Here: An Atlas of Aotearoa

"Pity the introvert with the face of a therapist or a kindergarten teacher. Like the werewolf, we are uneasy in human spaces and human company, though we wear a human skin."

-Kelly Link, White Cat, Black Dog: Stories

"And so, some think it may be possible to survive their presence if only one can enter into a state in which one is not afraid. Only we are so very afraid of them. How could we not be? They are monste…"

-Kelly Link, White Cat, Black Dog: Stories

Cover of Roman Stories by Jhumpa Lahiri

10. Roman Stories

By: Jhumpa Lahiri

3.80

Format: 224 pages, Hardcover

Rome—metropolis and monument, suspended between past and future, multi-faceted and metaphysical—is … read more

Similar categories in Jhumpa Lahiri's Roman Stories book and Chris McDowall's We Are Here: An Atlas of Aotearoa

Cover of Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress by Steven Pinker

11. Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress

By: Steven Pinker

4.20

Format: 576 pages, Hardcover

If you think the world is coming to an end, think again: people are living longer, healthier, freer… read more

Similar categories in Steven Pinker's Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress book and Chris McDowall's We Are Here: An Atlas of Aotearoa

  • nonfiction
  • science
"There is no law of complex systems that says that intelligent agents must turn into ruthless conquistadors. Indeed, we know of one highly advanced form of intelligence that evolved without this defec…"

-Steven Pinker, Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress

"Enlightenment humanism, then, is far from being a crowd-pleaser. The idea that the ultimate good is to use knowledge to enhance human welfare leaves people cold. Deep explanations of the universe, th…"

-Steven Pinker, Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress

"This heroic story is not just another myth. Myths are fictions, but this one is true-true to the best of our knowledge, which is the only truth we can have. We believe it because we have reasons to b…"

-Steven Pinker, Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress

"Our understanding of who we are, where we came from, how the world works, and what matters in life depends on partaking of the vast and ever-expanding store of knowledge. Though unlettered hunters, h…"

-Steven Pinker, Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress

Cover of The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk

12. The Books of Jacob

By: Olga Tokarczuk

4.02

Format: 965 pages, Hardcover

The Nobel Prize-winner's richest, most sweeping and ambitious novel yet follows the comet-like rise… read more

Similar categories in Olga Tokarczuk's The Books of Jacob book and Chris McDowall's We Are Here: An Atlas of Aotearoa

"A thing that is not talked about ceases to exist."

-Olga Tokarczuk, The Books of Jacob

"Literatura to szczególny rodzaj wiedzy, to... (...) ... doskonałość form nieprecyzyjnych."

-Olga Tokarczuk, The Books of Jacob

"Gdy przepisujemy i cytujemy, budujemy gmach wiedzy i rozmnażamy ją jak moje warzywa czy jabłonki. Przepisywanie jest jak szczepienie drzewa; cytowanie – jak wysiewanie nasion."

-Olga Tokarczuk, The Books of Jacob

"If human beings had only known how to truly preserve their knowledge of the world, if they had just engraved it into rock, into crystals, into diamond and in so doing, passed it on to their descendan…"

-Olga Tokarczuk, The Books of Jacob

Cover of Life Ceremony by Sayaka Murata

13. Life Ceremony

By: Sayaka Murata

3.75

Format: 256 pages, Hardcover

With Life Ceremony, the incomparable Sayaka Murata is back with her first collection of short stori… read more

Similar categories in Sayaka Murata's Life Ceremony book and Chris McDowall's We Are Here: An Atlas of Aotearoa

"Nowadays, your partner is not necessarily a sex object - this is a wonderful advancement."

-Sayaka Murata, Life Ceremony

"I'm seeking an amicable daily routine with someone I get along well with, like brother and sister, without being a slave to sex"

-Sayaka Murata, Life Ceremony

"Walking like this, feeling like a feral human, even machines and buildings were warm to the touch, and some emitted sounds and vibrations. Their presence was similar to the sounds emitted by life-for…"

-Sayaka Murata, Life Ceremony

"If they tried it, the memories of the wild rooted in their flesh would come back to them, and they would discover that eating the city like this would connect the earth between the gaps in the concre…"

-Sayaka Murata, Life Ceremony

Cover of Pet by Catherine Chidgey

14. Pet

By: Catherine Chidgey

4.06

Format: 352 pages, Paperback

Like every other girl in her class, twelve-year-old Justine is drawn to her glamorous, charismatic … read more

Similar categories in Catherine Chidgey's Pet book and Chris McDowall's We Are Here: An Atlas of Aotearoa

Cover of Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton

15. Birnam Wood

By: Eleanor Catton

3.82

Format: 432 pages, Hardcover

Birnam Wood is on the move . . . Five years ago, Mira Bunting founded a guerrilla gardening gro… read more

Similar categories in Eleanor Catton's Birnam Wood book and Chris McDowall's We Are Here: An Atlas of Aotearoa

"...wondering, not for the first time, when exactly she had become so technologically dependent that her first instinct in every unpredicted circumstance was to outsource her imagination to her phone."

-Eleanor Catton, Birnam Wood

"Not at all,’ he said. ‘I was just going to remark that being a cliche can be very useful. You ought to consider it some time.’ ’Oh yeah?’ ’Yeah,’ he said. ‘It means people underestimate you. They thi…"

-Eleanor Catton, Birnam Wood

"As his rhetoric and reading life matured, he grew intensely scornful of what passed at his high school for 'education' - the mania for testing; the intolerance of real dissent; and the conformist cel…"

-Eleanor Catton, Birnam Wood

"... his future, had either been sold or laid to waste by his parents' generation, trapping him in a perpetual adolescence that was further heightened by the infantilising unreality of the Internet as…"

-Eleanor Catton, Birnam Wood

Cover of The Bee Sting by Paul Murray

16. The Bee Sting

By: Paul Murray

3.96

Format: 656 pages, Hardcover

From the author of Skippy Dies comes Paul Murray's The Bee Sting, an irresistibly funny, wise, and … read more

Similar categories in Paul Murray's The Bee Sting book and Chris McDowall's We Are Here: An Atlas of Aotearoa

"It is for love. You are doing this for love."

-Paul Murray, The Bee Sting

"We all have problems. But often instead of accepting the truth about ourselves, we cover it up. We try to make ourselves the way we think we’re expected to be."

-Paul Murray, The Bee Sting

"Maybe every era has an atrocity woven into its fabric. Maybe every society is complicit in terrible things and only afterwards gets around to pretending they didn’t know. When the kids ask, tell them…"

-Paul Murray, The Bee Sting

"Maybe that’s how it will go – instead of one definitive cataclysm, a series of ‘anomalies’, each time lasting longer, with the stretches of what you call normal life becoming further and further apar…"

-Paul Murray, The Bee Sting

Cover of Termination Shock by Neal Stephenson

17. Termination Shock

By: Neal Stephenson

3.83

Format: 708 pages, Hardcover

A visionary technothriller about climate change. Neal Stephenson's sweeping, prescient new nove… read more

Similar categories in Neal Stephenson's Termination Shock book and Chris McDowall's We Are Here: An Atlas of Aotearoa

Cover of The Kamogawa Food Detectives (Kamogawa Food Detectives, #1) by Hisashi Kashiwai

18. The Kamogawa Food Detectives (Kamogawa Food Detectives, #1)

By: Hisashi Kashiwai

3.70

Format: 201 pages, Hardcover

The Kamogawa Food Detectives is the first book in the bestselling, mouth-watering Japanese series f… read more

Similar categories in Hisashi Kashiwai's The Kamogawa Food Detectives (Kamogawa Food Detectives, #1) book and Chris McDowall's We Are Here: An Atlas of Aotearoa

"Ah, Setchubai. "Plum Blossoms in the Snow." Perfect, and not just because of the name. It's a little sweet, but it'll go very well with the hotpot."

-Hisashi Kashiwai, The Kamogawa Food Detectives (Kamogawa Food Detectives, #1)

"We get used to things too easily. You think something's tasty the first time you eat it, but then you start taking it for granted. Never forget your first impressions."

-Hisashi Kashiwai, The Kamogawa Food Detectives (Kamogawa Food Detectives, #1)

"It's Swatow lace, I believe-- beautiful, isn't it? The design is titled "The Disc of the Moon"-- apparently it was inspired by the poem "Midnight Song" by the Tang-era poet Li Bai. I looked it up, an…"

-Hisashi Kashiwai, The Kamogawa Food Detectives (Kamogawa Food Detectives, #1)

"Miyajima oysters, simmered Kurama-style, miso-glazed baked butterburs with millet cake, bracken and bamboo shoot stew, chargrilled moroko, breast of Kyoto-reared chicken with a wasabi dressing, and v…"

-Hisashi Kashiwai, The Kamogawa Food Detectives (Kamogawa Food Detectives, #1)

Cover of The Bookseller at the End of the World by Ruth Shaw

19. The Bookseller at the End of the World

By: Ruth Shaw

4.25

Format: 320 pages, Hardcover

A rich, immersive, funny and heartbreaking memoir of the charming bookseller who runs two tiny book… read more

Similar categories in Ruth Shaw's The Bookseller at the End of the World book and Chris McDowall's We Are Here: An Atlas of Aotearoa

  • nonfiction
"My mother, more than anyone, knew why I lived such a high-risk life. She gave me the freedom to run."

-Ruth Shaw, The Bookseller at the End of the World

Cover of There’s a Cure for This: A Memoir by Emma Espiner

20. There’s a Cure for This: A Memoir

By: Emma Espiner

4.31

Format: 202 pages, Kindle Edition

“I don’t know why medicine felt like coming home but, for some reason, it fits. I keep thinking abo… read more

Similar categories in Emma Espiner's There’s a Cure for This: A Memoir book and Chris McDowall's We Are Here: An Atlas of Aotearoa

  • nonfiction
Cover of How to Loiter in a Turf War by Coco Solid

21. How to Loiter in a Turf War

By: Coco Solid

4.23

Format: 176 pages, Paperback

A genre-bending work of autobiographical fiction from one of Aotearoa’s fiercest and most versatile… read more

Similar categories in Coco Solid's How to Loiter in a Turf War book and Chris McDowall's We Are Here: An Atlas of Aotearoa

"She gives him a hurled brick wrapped up in a smile"

-Coco Solid, How to Loiter in a Turf War

"Māoridom in Aotearoa dictates that we generate prestige from manaakitanga. It is the connection and hospitality we express for those in our care but also to show all that they are our equal, they too…"

-Coco Solid, How to Loiter in a Turf War

Cover of Lioness by Emily Perkins

22. Lioness

By: Emily Perkins

3.43

Format: 352 pages, Hardcover

You know how we say we devoured a story, and also that we were consumed by it? Eating and being eat… read more

Similar categories in Emily Perkins's Lioness book and Chris McDowall's We Are Here: An Atlas of Aotearoa

Cover of Rental Person Who Does Nothing by Shoji Morimoto

23. Rental Person Who Does Nothing

By: Shoji Morimoto

3.34

Format: 160 pages, ebook

Need a rental person who does nothing? Shoji Morimoto provides a fascinating service to the lone… read more

Similar categories in Shoji Morimoto's Rental Person Who Does Nothing book and Chris McDowall's We Are Here: An Atlas of Aotearoa

  • nonfiction
"– that people have a value even if they do nothing."

-Shoji Morimoto, Rental Person Who Does Nothing

"I felt comfortable in a community that existed just for the moment, with simple, temporary relationships uncomplicated by past or future."

-Shoji Morimoto, Rental Person Who Does Nothing

Cover of Pure Colour by Sheila Heti

24. Pure Colour

By: Sheila Heti

3.46

Format: 224 pages, Hardcover

Pure Colour is a galaxy of a novel: explosive, celestially bright, huge, and streaked with beauty. … read more

Similar categories in Sheila Heti's Pure Colour book and Chris McDowall's We Are Here: An Atlas of Aotearoa

"And what opens one heart opens many."

-Sheila Heti, Pure Colour

"The body becomes a woman and it cannot turn back."

-Sheila Heti, Pure Colour

"And a glimpse into one heart is a glimpse into many."

-Sheila Heti, Pure Colour

"Why did it seem like the only way to live-was to disobey?"

-Sheila Heti, Pure Colour

Cover of Everything Is Beautiful and Everything Hurts by Josie Shapiro

25. Everything Is Beautiful and Everything Hurts

By: Josie Shapiro

4.21

Format: 288 pages, Paperback

The stunning debut novel by the winner of the Allen & Unwin Commercial Fiction Prize. If you loved … read more

Similar categories in Josie Shapiro's Everything Is Beautiful and Everything Hurts book and Chris McDowall's We Are Here: An Atlas of Aotearoa

Cover of The Axeman's Carnival by Catherine Chidgey

26. The Axeman's Carnival

By: Catherine Chidgey

4.37

Format: 350 pages, Paperback

Everywhere, the birds: sparrows and skylarks and thrushes, starlings and bellbirds, fantails and pi… read more

Similar categories in Catherine Chidgey's The Axeman's Carnival book and Chris McDowall's We Are Here: An Atlas of Aotearoa

Cover of The Book of Love by Kelly Link

27. The Book of Love

By: Kelly Link

3.50

Format: 628 pages, Hardcover

The Book of Love showcases Kelly Link at the height of her powers, channeling potent magic and attu… read more

Similar categories in Kelly Link's The Book of Love book and Chris McDowall's We Are Here: An Atlas of Aotearoa

Cover of Tokyo Ueno Station by Yū Miri

28. Tokyo Ueno Station

By: Yū Miri

3.47

Format: 168 pages, Paperback

Born in Fukushima in 1933, the same year as the Emperor, Kazu’s life is tied by a series of coincid… read more

Similar categories in Yū Miri's Tokyo Ueno Station book and Chris McDowall's We Are Here: An Atlas of Aotearoa

"There’s that sound again."

-Yū Miri, Tokyo Ueno Station

"To speak is to stumble, to hesitate, to detour and hit dead ends. To listen is straightforward. You can always just listen."

-Yū Miri, Tokyo Ueno Station

"I was always tired. There was never a time I was not tired. Not when life had its claws in me, and not when I escaped from it. I did not live with intent, I only lived. But that’s all over now."

-Yū Miri, Tokyo Ueno Station

"I used to think life was like a book: you turn the first page, and there’s the next, and as you go on turning page after page, eventually you reach the last one. But life is nothing like a story in a…"

-Yū Miri, Tokyo Ueno Station

Cover of Audition by Pip Adam

29. Audition

By: Pip Adam

3.64

Format: 224 pages, Paperback

A spaceship called Audition is hurtling through the cosmos. Squashed immobile into its largest room… read more

Similar categories in Pip Adam's Audition book and Chris McDowall's We Are Here: An Atlas of Aotearoa

Cover of We Are Here: An Atlas of Aotearoa by Chris McDowall

30. We Are Here: An Atlas of Aotearoa

By: Chris McDowall

4.75

Format: 240 pages, Hardcover

An extraordinary visual data book like no other. Clustered yet scattered, we New Zealanders live… read more

Similar categories in Chris McDowall's We Are Here: An Atlas of Aotearoa book and Chris McDowall's We Are Here: An Atlas of Aotearoa

  • atlases
  • nonfiction
  • design
  • science
Cover of Mophead (Mophead #1) by Selina Tusitala Marsh

31. Mophead (Mophead #1)

By: Selina Tusitala Marsh

4.51

Format: 84 pages, Hardcover

An inspirational graphic memoir of growing up Pasifika in New Zealand, written and illustrated by o… read more

Similar categories in Selina Tusitala Marsh's Mophead (Mophead #1) book and Chris McDowall's We Are Here: An Atlas of Aotearoa

  • nonfiction

17 Top fiction books like The Axeman's Carnival by Catherine Chidgey

Transform Your Habits

Lola in the Mirror

Trent Dalton

4.41

Transform Your Habits

How to Loiter in a Turf War

Coco Solid

4.23

Transform Your Habits

Return to Blood (Hana Westerman Thriller, #2)

Michael Bennett

3.94

Transform Your Habits

Lioness

Emily Perkins

3.43

View all the books

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