The Nonfiction Files 4: Nonfiction Matrix

All the 2025 nonfiction books I've read this year plotted on the new Nonfiction Matrix!

We’re basically at the halfway point of the year and I thought it might be fun to check in on my nonfiction reading so far. Allow me to introduce you to my nonfiction reading matrix. A visual way to think about nonfiction books in relationship to one another.

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But before we get to the matrix, you might have noticed there was no Nonfiction Files last month, that’s because I dropped my Nonfiction Reading Guide instead. Which is a PDF that includes 30 unputdownable nonfiction reads. If you’re looking for propulsive, engaging, and fascinating books to get lost in this summer and all year long, I think you should check it out.

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What Is this Matrix?

Ok, so, back to it. The matrix. It is a way to organize and visualize nonfiction books in relationship to one another. It is easy for me to know if I liked a book or not, but harder to know who to recommend certain titles to, because you might not like what I like. As a professional book recommender, finding ways to talk about and catalog books that are less focused on “good” and “bad” and more about what the book is doing and how, is extremely useful. Enter the matrix. I came up with some axes, plotted the 2025 nonfiction books I’ve read this year, and voila!

The better you know your own taste, the better you’ll know if any of these books are right for you. If you want more help defining the kinds of nonfiction books out there, and thinking about what you’re drawn to in nonfiction, check out the taxonomy I made in the first Nonfiction Files. It breaks down the world of nonfiction books in genre, subject, style, and more.

The Nonfiction Files 1: Nonfiction Taxonomy

The Axes.

I plan to come back to this matrix format for future conversations around nonfiction books. It was important to me that the axes be connected to the same language I use to talk about nonfiction (both in the the files and in life), and that they clearly communicate information to you about what a book is like. That ultimately led me to organizing the matrix axes by pace and style¹.

A quick note on language: When I talk about style I am using it as an indicator of tone (or vibe, if you will), not the literal writing style. Reported doesn’t necessarily mean a piece of journalism. It could mean that. It could also mean a memoir that is detailed in its recounting of events without much literary flair.

X-Axis: Pacing

How fast or slow is the book? A fully propulsive book is one you can’t put down because you must know what happens and how. An edge of your seat reading experience. At the other end of the spectrum you have your lyrical books, that captivate with language. These are the books you want to ruminate on, a book to slowdown and savor.

Y-Axis: Style

This axis refers to the books style or tone. Creative nonfiction books are not constrained by narrative arc and can explore and experiment with form, time, and place. Whereas reported books are more straightforward in approach, laying out detailed information and storytelling.

One More Thing.

Because I don’t assume you’re familiar with every book I have read this year. I’ve listed them for you below in the order in which I read them. The books in bold are the books I highly recommend². Any book that has been featured on The Stacks is also noted for your listening pleasure.

• In Open Contempt: Confronting White Supremacy in Art and Public Space by Irivin Weathersby (Episode)

• The Secret History of the Rape Kit: A True Crime Story by Pagan Kennedy
  One Day Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad (Episode)

• Pure Innocent Fun: Essays by Ira Madison III (Episode)

• Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People by Imani Perry

• Original Sins: The (Mis)education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism by Eve L. Ewing (Episode)

• Disposable: America's Contempt for the Underclass by Sarah Jones
  Abundance by Derek Thompson & Ezra Klein

• A Better Ending: A Brother's Twenty-Year Quest to Uncover the Truth About His Sister's Death by James Whitfield Thomson

• There Is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America by Brian Goldstone (Episode)

• Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism by Sarah Wynn-Williams

• I'll Love You Forever: Notes from a K-Pop Fan by Giaae Kwon (Episode)
  The Trouble of Color: An American Family Memoir by Martha S. Jones

• Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection by John Green

• Who Is Government?: The Untold Story of Public Service edited by Michael Lewis

• On My Honor: The Secret History of the Boy Scouts of America by Kim Christensen

• Of My Own Making: A Memoir by Daria Burke (Episode)

• Things in Nature Merely Grow by Yiyun Li

• A Marriage at Sea by Sophie Elmhirst

• No More Tears: The Dark Secrets of Johnson & Johnson by Gardiner Harris
  Murder in the Dollhouse: The Jennifer Dulos Story by Rich Cohen

• They Poisoned the World: Life and Death in the Age of Forever Chemicals by Mariah Blake

• No Holes Barred: A Dual Manifesto of Sexual Exploration and Power by Mandii B & WeezyWTF with Tempest X.

• Toni at Random: The Iconic Writer's Legendary Editorship by Dana A. Williams

And Now, The Matrix!

When I look at this I see that almost all of my favorite books so far this year fall in one of two quadrants; propulsive reported (Q4) or lyrical creative (Q1). At first I thought that was odd, but I realized it is because I don’t like my reported fiction to feel slow or meandering, nor do I want beautiful prose meditations to be rushed. And as an extreme person seeing that almost all of my favorites are in the extremes feels correct.

I want to hear from you on which quadrants speak to you most. Anything surprise you? Any books I’ve plotted you think I got wrong? Or just general questions on this matrix. Sound off in the comments.

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1. Again, I talk a lot more about style in the first Nonfiction Files and you should check that out for a refresher.

2. That is not to say I don’t recommend the others, I just know you all are going to ask me which ones I liked the most, so I am giving you want you want preemptively.