Non-Fiction Highlights: 400th Anniversary of Shakespeare’s First Folio

There’s nothing like the experience of reading a fascinating non-fiction book: having your curiosity teased, assumptions challenged, knowledge nourished. The only thing better is reading a few of them. Entirely new things are created in the bright and lively disco-temple of your head; knowledge and ideas meet and discreetly procreate, and something vital and original comes into being.

Mr B’s Non-Fiction Highlights are curated lists of books designed to speak to one another. They are at once a collection of individual voices-each title comes as a recommended read for its subject-and a great choir: in combination, you get a fuller, more grounded and satisfyingly interconnected reading experience.

“Thou sodden-witted lord! thou hast no more brain than I have in mine elbows” (Troilus and Cressida-Act 2, Scene 1). If you frequently hear this, then perhaps you need to read more non-fiction books. Here’s an interesting topic: The First Folio is one of the great wonders of the literary world. Published in 1623, seven years after the death of its author, it was the first printed edition of Shakespeare’s collected plays. Without this achievement, we would have lost half of his dramatic work. These books explore the history of the first folio, as well as Shakespeare’s modern legacy.