Friday Five: Signs of a good book (non-fiction)

 -1-  

One more page, becomes one more chapter. Repeatedly. 

This often happens to me. I get to where I want to stop and then 'sneakily' check where the chapter ends or how long the next chapter is. I put sneakily in inverted commas, because it's only myself that I'm trying to hide this from - and I fall for it every time!

-2-

Dozens of tabs and/or notes

For me, a good book will intrigue you about a topic - or often a particular plant - that you just need to find out more. This might be just to look at a photo, or it might be to consume whole Wikipedia pages about this new awesome thing. I tend to leave this until I've finished the book, so I don't disrupt the flow of the book and this tends to lead to dozens of sticky tabs littering the edges of the book pages.

-3-

You Tell Everyone

You just have to tell everyone about it. Even if you're not even half way through! I rate books on Goodreads and write reviews here to temper my enthusiasm - otherwise people would think I'm more of a pain than they do already!

-4-

The best books lead to other books.

As a reader of a lot of non-fiction, I'm always on the look out for new and awesome books (for me, primarily, about plants). So, I keep an eye out for the names of books in the main text, but also the references or recommended reading at the end of the chapter or book. I've found that this has led to many new great books.

-5-

You have to OWN the book!

The best books consume my mind throughout the reading process to the point that I need to have the book (or at the very least know that there are multiple copies available at the library). I envision where it will live on the shelf and how it will be used for blog posts or general reference.
I often pull out good books from my shelves just to flick through or to rediscover a piece of forgotten knowledge. A good day is on spent with a bunch of books circled around me.

-Bonus-

This is normally where I embed a video that adds a bit extra to the topic at hand. I couldn't think of a video for this, so instead, I'm going to give you my 10 favourite non-fiction books according to the star rating I've given on Goodreads (descending from 5 stars):

1. Tracing Your Ancestors Using the Census by Emma Jolly
2. Seeing Seeds by Teri Dunn Chace (Author) and Robert Llewellyn (Photographer)
3. The Cabaret of Plants by Richard Mabey
4. Botany by James D Mauseth (the only book I regret selling)
5. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo
6. James Wong's Homegrown Revolution by James Wong
7. Wiltshire Folk Tales by Kirsty Hartsiotis
8. What a Plant Knows by Daniel Chamivitz
9. Foundation: The History of England by Peter Ackroyd
10. Solving Genealogy Problems by Graeme Davis

So, that's my list and the ways I know I'm reading a good book. What about you? What books are your favourites?


(Note: I wrote this post during January 2016, but it's been sat in my drafts. Finally got around to posting it!)