12 thinkers, books, and ideas connected to this field.
American journalist and author — author of Endurance — who interviewed surviving crew members of the Shackleton expedition to write the definitive survival narrative.
American author and former National Geographic editor — author of The River of Doubt, Destiny of the Republic, and Hero of the Empire — who writes narrative history about extraordinary people in extreme circumstances.
Alfred Lansing's 1959 account of Ernest Shackleton's 1914–16 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition — where his ship was crushed by ice and the entire crew survived through extraordinary leadership — the definitive account of survival leadership.
Canadian author — author of The Tiger, The Golden Spruce, and Fire Weather — who writes narrative nonfiction about humans at the extremes of the natural world — among the most celebrated Canadian nonfiction writers.
Eric Berger's 2021 narrative account of SpaceX's first four Falcon 1 rocket launches — the do-or-die period from 2006 to 2008 when three consecutive failures nearly destroyed the company before a fourth successful launch saved it.
American author — author of Liar's Poker, Moneyball, The Big Short, Flash Boys, and The Undoing Project — the most commercially successful business and finance narrative nonfiction writer of his generation.
American financial writer and partner at the Collaborative Fund, best known for The Psychology of Money and for translating behavioral finance into accessible narrative essays.
American journalist and author — author of Shadow Divers, Crashing Through, and Pirate Hunters — who writes obsessive-quest narrative nonfiction.
Robert Kurson's 2004 account of two New Jersey divers who discovered a WWII German U-boat 60 miles off the American coast in 1991 — their obsessive quest to identify it — one of the most gripping narrative nonfiction books.
Michael Lewis's 2006 book tracing the evolution of the left tackle position in American football through the story of Michael Oher, linking market dynamics to an individual human life.
Candice Millard's 2005 account of Theodore Roosevelt's near-fatal Amazon expedition in 1913 — mapping an uncharted tributary (the River of Doubt, later renamed Rio Roosevelt) — a gripping account of one of the most dangerous presidential adventures.
John Vaillant's 2010 account of a man-eating Amur tiger's rampage through the Russian Far East and the rangers who hunted it — combining natural history, Russian culture, and ecological science.