Recommendations based on The Last American Manby Elizabeth Gilbert

* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans

  1. Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage

    by Elizabeth Gilbert
    A candid exploration of marriage, examining its ups and downs with a humorous and skeptical eye.

    At the end of her bestselling memoir Eat, Pray, Love , Elizabeth Gilbert fell in love with Felipe, a Brazilian-born man of Australian citizenship who'd been living in Indonesia when they met. ... (Goodreads)

  2. A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail

    by Bill Bryson
    A humorous account of a man's attempt to hike the Appalachian Trail, reflecting on the beauty and history of the American wilderness.

    The book starts with Bryson explaining his curiosity about the Appalachian Trail near his house. He and his old friend Stephen Katz start hiking the trail from Georgia in the South , and stumble in ... (Wikipedia)

  3. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life

    by Barbara Kingsolver
    A family's journey to eat locally grown, sustainable food.

    Author Barbara Kingsolver and her family abandoned the industrial-food pipeline to live a rural life—vowing that, for one year, they'd only buy food raised in their own neighborhood, grow it ... (Goodreads)

  4. Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide

    by Nicholas D. Kristof
    Examining the global struggle of women and how to empower them in the face of oppression.

    From two of our most fiercely moral voices, a passionate call to arms against our era’s most pervasive human rights violation: the oppression of women and girls in the developing world. With Pulitzer ... (Goodreads)

  5. Half Broke Horses

    by Jeannette Walls
    A novel based on the life of the author's grandmother, Lily Casey Smith, a resilient and adventurous woman who overcomes numerous obstacles in the American West.

    Jeannette Walls's memoir The Glass Castle was "nothing short of spectacular" (Entertainment Weekly). Now, in Half Broke Horses, she brings us the story of her grandmother, told in a first-person ... (Goodreads)

  6. Marley and Me: Life and Love With the World's Worst Dog

    by John Grogan
    A heartfelt journey of a family and their beloved, but mischievous, dog.

    John and Jenny were just beginning their life together. They were young and in love, with a perfect little house and not a care in the world. Then they brought home Marley, a wiggly yellow furball of ... (Goodreads)

  7. Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith

    by Anne Lamott
    A memoir of the author's journey towards faith, filled with humor, honesty, and raw emotion.

    Despite–or because of--her irreverence, faith is a natural subject for Anne Lamott. Since Operating Instructions and Bird by Bird , her fans have been waiting for her to write the book that explained ... (Goodreads)

  8. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

    by Annie Dillard
    A reflective journey through nature, exploring the mysteries of the natural world.

    An exhilarating meditation on nature and its seasons—a personal narrative highlighting one year's exploration on foot in the author's own neighborhood in Tinker Creek, Virginia. In the summer, ... (Goodreads)

  9. Zeitoun

    by Dave Eggers
    A man's struggle to survive and reunite with his family amidst the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

    Abdulrahman Zeitoun grew up in Syria. After a few years of apprenticeship in the Syrian port city of Jableh , Zeitoun spent twenty years working at sea as a muscleman, engineer and fisherman. During ... (Wikipedia)

  10. Undaunted Courage: The Pioneering First Mission to Explore America's Wild Frontier

    by Stephen E. Ambrose
    Epic tale of exploration and adventure as Lewis and Clark traverse the American wilderness.

    'This was much more than a bunch of guys out on an exploring and collecting expedition. This was a military expedition into hostile territory'. In 1803 President Thomas Jefferson selected his ... (Goodreads)

  11. A Short History of Nearly Everything

    by Bill Bryson
    A captivating overview of the natural sciences, spanning the history of the universe.

    In Bryson's biggest book, he confronts his greatest challenge: to understand—and, if possible, answer—the oldest, biggest questions we have posed about the universe and ourselves. Taking as territory ... (Goodreads)

  12. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures

    by Anne Fadiman
    Exploring the cultural divide between the Hmong people and the medical establishment.

    Lia Lee was born in 1982 to a family of recent Hmong immigrants, and soon developed symptoms of epilepsy. By 1988 she was living at home but was brain dead after a tragic cycle of misunderstanding, ... (Goodreads)

  13. The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals

    by Michael Pollan
    Exploration of the modern food chain, examining the impact of food choices on our health and the environment.

    What should we have for dinner? The question has confronted us since man discovered fire, but according to Michael Pollan, the bestselling author of The Botany of Desire , how we answer it today, at ... (Goodreads)

  14. On Death and Dying

    by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross
    A look into the stages of grief, exploring the emotion and physical impacts of death.

    One of the most important psychological studies of the late twentieth century, On Death and Dying grew out of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's famous interdisciplinary seminar on death, life, and ... (Goodreads)

  15. The Tao of Pooh

    by Benjamin Hoff
    A whimsical exploration of Taoism through the beloved characters of Winnie the Pooh.

    The Wisdom of Pooh. Is there such thing as a Western Taoist? Benjamin Hoff says there is, and this Taoist's favorite food is honey. Through brilliant and witty dialogue with the beloved Pooh-bear and ... (Goodreads)

  16. Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World

    by Tracy Kidder
    A story of one man's journey to fight poverty, illness, and injustice around the world.

    At the center of Mountains Beyond Mountains stands Paul Farmer. Doctor, Harvard professor, renowned infectious-disease specialist, anthropologist, the recipient of a MacArthur "genius" grant, ... (Goodreads)

  17. Seabiscuit: An American Legend

    by Laura Hillenbrand
    An inspiring story of the rise of champion racehorse Seabiscuit and his unlikely jockey.

    There's an alternate cover edition, here, Seabiscuit was one of the most electrifying and popular attractions in sports history and the single biggest newsmaker in the world in 1938, receiving more ... (Goodreads)

  18. Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us

    by Daniel H. Pink
    A thought-provoking analysis of what truly motivates people, challenging traditional notions of rewards and punishments.

    The, New York Times, bestseller that gives readers a paradigm-shattering new way to think about motivation Most people believe that the best way to motivate is with rewards like money—the ... (Goodreads)

  19. Between a Rock and a Hard Place

    by Aron Ralston
    A harrowing true story of one man's fight for survival after being trapped in a canyon.

    A brilliantly written, funny, honest, inspiring, and downright astonishing report from the line where death meets life which will surely take its place in the annals of classic adventure stories. One ... (Goodreads)

  20. Grandma Gatewood's Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail

    by Ben Montgomery
    The true story of Emma Gatewood's record-breaking hike of the entire Appalachian Trail.

    2014 National Outdoor Book Award Winner in History / Biography Emma Gatewood told her family she was going on a walk and left her small Ohio hometown with a change of clothes and less than two ... (Barnes & Noble)

  21. When You Are Engulfed in Flames

    by David Sedaris
    Humorous reflections on everyday life, navigating the absurdities of the human condition.

    It's early autumn 1964. Two straight-A students head off to school, and when only one of them returns home Chesney Yelverton is coaxed from retirement and assigned to what proves to be the most ... (Goodreads)

  22. New and Selected Poems, Volume One

    by Mary Oliver
    A collection of nature-inspired poetry exploring life, death, and love.

    Features previously published and new poems that explore the natural world and how it is connected to human beings and spirituality. ... (Goodreads)

  23. Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong

    by James W. Loewen
    Exposing the inaccuracies in American history textbooks and exploring the forces that shaped them.

    “Every teacher, every student of history, every citizen should read this book. It is both a refreshing antidote to what has passed for history in our educational system and a one-volume education in ... (Barnes & Noble)

  24. A Girl Named Zippy

    by Haven Kimmel
    A charming account of growing up in rural Indiana, exploring the joys and hardships of life.

    When Haven Kimmel was born in 1965 in Mooreland, Indiana, it was a sleepy little hamlet of three hundred people. Nicknamed "Zippy" for the way she would bolt around the house, this small girl was ... (Goodreads)

  25. Assassination Vacation

    by Sarah Vowell
    A comedic travelogue exploring the history of presidential assassinations in the United States.

    Sarah Vowell exposes the glorious conundrums of American history and culture with wit, probity, and an irreverent sense of humor. With Assassination Vacation, she takes us on a road trip like no ... (Goodreads)

  26. The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible

    by A.J. Jacobs
    An exploration of faith and morality through the lens of the Bible.

    From the bestselling author of "The Know-It-All" comes a fascinating and timely exploration of religion and the Bible. Raised in a secular family but increasingly interested in the relevance of faith ... (Goodreads)

  27. Slouching Towards Bethlehem

    by Joan Didion
    Collection of essays exploring the cultural landscape of 1960s America.

    The first nonfiction work by one of the most distinctive prose stylists of our era, Joan Didion's Slouching Towards Bethlehem remains, decades after its first publication, the essential portrait of ... (Goodreads)

  28. Walden

    by Henry David Thoreau
    A reflective journey into nature, exploring the power of contemplation and simplicity.

    Originally published in 1854, Walden; or, Life in the Woods, is a vivid account of the time that Henry D. Thoreau lived alone in a secluded cabin at Walden Pond. It is one of the most influential and ... (Goodreads)

  29. Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex

    by Mary Roach
    A humorous exploration of the science and research behind sex and human sexuality.

    In Bonk, the best-selling author of Stiff turns her outrageous curiosity and insight on the most alluring scientific subject of all: sex. Can a person think herself to orgasm? Why doesn't Viagra help ... (Goodreads)

  30. A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There

    by Aldo Leopold
    A reflection on nature, paying homage to the beauty of the Wisconsin countryside.

    First published in 1949, A Sand County Almanac combines some of the finest nature writing since Thoreau with an outspoken and highly ethical regard for America's relationship to the land. Written ... (Goodreads)