The Independent Press Top 40 Bestsellers: Nonfiction

Here are this week’s Independent Press Top 40 Bestsellers for nonfiction, based on sales in hundreds of independent bookstores nationwide, generously provided by the American Booksellers Association. Compiled, designed, and distributed by The Independent Publishers Caucus.

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1. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer (Milkweed Editions)
2. The Gales of November: The Untold Story of the Edmund Fitzgerald by John U. Bacon (Liveright)
3. The Beginning Comes After the End: Notes on a World of Change by Rebecca Solnit (Haymarket Books)
4. Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During This Crisis (and the Next) by Dean Spade (Verso)
5. The Glorians: Visitations from the Holy Ordinary by Terry Tempest Williams (Grove Press)
6. The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate–Discoveries from a Secret World by Peter Wohlleben (Greystone Books)
7. Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl (Beacon Press)
8. A Philosophy of Walking by Frédéric Gros, John Howe (Transl.) (Verso)
9. I’m Just a Little Guy: How to Escape the Horrors and Get Back to Dillydallying by Charlie James, Paige Tompkins (Illus.) (Quirk Books)
10. Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses by Robin Wall Kimmerer (Oregon State University Press)
11. How to Resist Amazon and Why: The Fight for Local Economics, Data Privacy, Fair Labor, Independent Bookstores, and a People-Powered Future! by Danny Caine (Microcosm Publishing)
12. On Democracy by Walt Whitman (Library of America)
13. Guinness World Records 2026 by Guinness World Records (Guinness World Records)
14. Thirty-Two Words for Field: Lost Words of the Irish Landscape by Manchán Magan (Chelsea Green)
15. The Beginning Comes After the End: Notes on a World of Change by Rebecca Solnit (Haymarket Books)
16. Ursula K. Le Guin’s Book of Cats by Ursula K. Le Guin (Library of America)
17. Forest Euphoria: The Abounding Queerness of Nature by Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian (Spiegel & Grau)
18. Concrete Botany: The Ecology of Plants in the Age of Human Disturbance by Joey Santore (Cool Springs Press)
19. Once upon a Time There Was Truth: or, Why We Need Fairy Tales by Jack Zipes (Yale University Press)
20. Another Kind of Freedom by Pema Chodron (Shambhala)
21. Stuff Every Bird Lover Should Know (Stuff You Should Know #32) by Alice Sun (Quirk Books)
22. A Brief History of the World in 47 Borders: Surprising Stories Behind the Lines on Our Maps by John Elledge (The Experiment)
23. S.P.Q.R.: A History of Ancient Rome by Mary Beard (Liveright)
24. The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon (Grove Press)
25. On Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau, Hannah Arendt (Library of America)
26. We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution by Jill Lepore (Liveright)
27. No!: The Art and Activism of Complaining by Sara Ahmed (Feminist Press)
28. 52 Weekends in the Pacific Northwest: A Local’s Curated Guide to Year-Round Getaways by Kara Patajo (Sasquatch Books)
29. The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year by Margaret Renkl (Spiegel and Grau)
30. The Secret Life of a Cemetery: The Wild Nature and Enchanting Lore of Père-Lachaise by Benoît Gallot, Daniel Casanave (Illus.) (Greystone Books)
31. Read This When Things Fall Apart: Letters to Activists in Crisis ed. by Kelly Hayes (AK Press)
32. The Company of Owls: A Memoir by Polly Atkin (Milkweed Editions)
33. The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein (Liveright)
34. Dress Your Baby In Sage and Taupe: A Handbook for the Sad Beige Parent by Hayley DeRoche (Countryman Press)
35. How to Dream (Mindfulness Essentials #12) by Thich Nhat Hanh (Parallax Press)
36. How to Focus (Mindfulness Essentials #9) by Thich Nhat Hanh, Jason DeAntonis (Illus.) (Parallax Press)
37. An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz (Beacon Press)
38. On Bullshit: Anniversary Edition by Harry G. Frankfurt (Princeton University Press)
39. Darkology: Blackface and the American Way of Entertainment by Rhae Lynn Barnes (Liveright)
40. How to Relax (Mindfulness Essentials #5) by Thich Nhat Hanh (Parallax Press)

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