On Friday, we drew attention to a few new fiction titles that have recently arrived in the library. Today we’ll look at a few nonfiction titles.

More and more, nonfiction is reading that people do for fun, not just for information gathering. All of these new titles tackle interesting factual topics, but with a flair that you might associate more with fiction.

The Secret Lives of Buildings: from the ruins of the Parthenon to the Vegas Strip in thirteen stories by Edward Hollis will be of interest to those who are curious about architecture or social history. Library Journal said “Hollis … uses a dramatic storytelling technique to provide a new and entertaining view of the context in which historic structures have existed” while Booklist magazine said “Hollis writes history eclectically, informatively, and entertainingly.”

I have always heard that things come in threes – and sure enough, three books (two new, one recently republished) on three very quirky travel adventures proved the adage right for me this week. If you like a good travel adventure, but have an open mind when exploring your means of transportation, one (or all three!) of these might interest you:

Crossing the Swell: an Atlantic journey
by Rowboat by Tori Holmes and Paul Gleeson
All At Sea: one man. one bathtub. one very bad idea
by Tim FitzHigham.
Running Away to Sea: round the world on a tramp freighter
by George Fetherling

And finally, a book that is actually a couple of years old, just came to my attention here when a new copy arrived in the branch. Alex & Me: how a scientist and a parrot uncovered a hidden world of animal intelligence and formed a deep bond in the process by Irene Pepperberg has already been a New York Times bestseller, in large part because its story of a researcher and her subject is “equally a landmark of scientific achievement and of an unforgettable human-animal bond.” Great reading for animal lovers and armchair scientists.