Every writer knows that the key to honing their craft is to read, read, and then read some more. After all, the only way to know what good writing looks like is to study the works of good writers.

So, in order to find out where our writers get their inspiration, I sat down with some of the team from The Writers For Hire, to find out what nonfiction books are on their “must reads” list.  Here’s what they said:

Barbara Adams:

Rust by Jonathan Waldman

The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

The Big Sea by Langston Hughes

Stacy Clifford:

A Land So Strange: The Epic Journey of Cabeza de Vaca by Andrés Reséndez

Thunderstruck by Erik Larson

Stephanie Hashagen:

Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl by Carrie Brownstein

Girl in a Band by Kim Gordon

I’ll be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara

Suzanne Kearns:

Four Letters of Love by Niall Williams

Erin Larson:

Road Fever by Tim Cahill

Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer

Flori Meeks:

Century by Bruce Bernard

Wintress Odom:

Darkness Visible by William Styron

As the Future Catches You by Juan Enriquez

Freakonomics by Stephen J. Dubner and Steven Levitt

How to Stop Worrying and Start Living by Dale Carnegie

Douglas Paton:

A River Never Sleeps by Roderick Haig-Brown

Kathy Rinchiuso

Lucky Man by Michael J. Fox

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

Death in Yellowstone by Lee H Whittlesey

Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

Jennifer Rizzo

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

The Glass Castle and Half Broke Horses by Jeanette Wells

A Million Little Pieces by James Frey

Dana Robinson

Educated by Tara Westover

Jessica Stautberg              :

Being Mortal by Atul Gawande

Bad Blood by John Carreyrou