{"id":47,"date":"2026-02-23T19:34:22","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T19:34:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digitalwriting.cornellcollege.edu\/onemorechapter\/?p=47"},"modified":"2026-03-02T20:43:47","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T20:43:47","slug":"nonfiction-reading-an-introduction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digitalwriting.cornellcollege.edu\/onemorechapter\/2026\/02\/23\/nonfiction-reading-an-introduction\/","title":{"rendered":"An Introduction to Nonfiction Reading"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ah, nonfiction. The often forgotten side of reading. But, why? Not because there is any less that readers can gain from it. While fiction may teach vague yet powerful lessons that may be applicable at one point in time or many, rarely do they have the specificity and nuanced understanding of the world that they inhabit that comes with living in that world all one’s life. A fictional world might captivate a reader, but when the reader inevitably wants to know more about it, all they can do is imagine. But when something is left out of a story about an existing culture, they can turn to more stories and other writings on that culture. They can always learn more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nonfiction reading is simply an intimidating venture. I would be willing to bet that most of us did not grow up reading nonfiction as we read fiction, and I would bet that those who did did so in a manner similar to yours truly, limited to simply flipping through travel guides looking at maps and pictures of far-off landscapes and cityscapes. The type of readings that will get focus in this article will be more akin to traditional novels. However, even these types of more heady and dense nonfiction reading need not be so intimidating. This article will give you several ways to view nonfiction reading as it is, which is simply more reading!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before we get into some recommendations, I think it is important to define the two types of nonfiction readings that this article will focus on by both their structure and their goals as pieces of literature. These are; expository nonfiction and narrative nonfiction. If you\u2019re looking to start in someplace more familiar, narrative nonfiction will be just the place. It has many of the same trappings as traditional fiction, including narrative direction (as the name suggests), character development, order of events, and story structure, with little of the dry presentation of something like a textbook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Narrative Nonfiction:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We can separate narrative nonfiction even further into three groups. These groups can be quite similar but still have their important differences. Memoirs focus on a certain time within the writer’s life, usually one of particular note in the context of the rest of their life, whereas autobiographies will chart the course of the writer\u2019s life up to the point at which they wrote the story, and (this part can get confusing, so pay close attention) biographies are a study by the author of someone else\u2019s life. Here are some recommendations:<\/p>\n\n\n\n