The Empreror of All Maladies [0]
    Guns Germs and Steel [1]
    The Price of Inequality [2]
    Inventing Money [3]

0: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7170627-the-emperor-of-al...

1: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1842.Guns_Germs_and_Steel

2: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13698866-the-price-of-ine...

3: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/249231.Inventing_Money

You might enjoy Last Chance to See, from Douglas Adams.

It is a tells how he traveled searching for near extinct species. It is non-technical and non-fiction, but it is a Douglas Adams book, so he explains a lot of things and makes up stories a long the way. That is his style.

Flight From The Reich, Dwork, D. 2009

Personal histories of Jews successfully escaping Nazis and not. Remember December, 1939, the border closes, and in that foul month, crossing the Georgia Straight can be hazardous.