Around the reference desk, one of our favorite genres of books is what’s known as “microhistories.” These books are nonfiction, meaning they are meant to inform, persuade or explain an idea; they are not made-up stories, though some nonfiction is more or less true. Microhistories are pretty much just what they sound like - the history of something small. Now don’t be misled, these small things usually have a huge impact on the world around them.

For instance, one of the most interesting microhistories I have personally read is called Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky. As you can tell from the title, it is about that ordinary, everyday mineral, salt: where it comes from, how it is mined, wars that have been fought over it, the impact it had and continues to have on humankind. You’d be surprised how much history has been shaped by the pursuit of this mineral. The author tells a really good tale, too. There is enough intrigue and adventure to make you feel like you’re reading a novel, not just a history book!

Another good microhistory is The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester. I know, I’m a librarian, and you wouldn’t be surprised to learn that I enjoy a really good reference book like the largest English Dictionary, but truly, this is a good read! Did you know that the writers asked for help gathering all the words in the English language from the general public? They even had a jailed man sending words and definitions. It really is an exciting story.

Here are a couple more, you may find something great in one of these:

Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World by Dan Koeppel

A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage

Mendeleyev’s Dream: The Quest for the Elements by Paul Strathern

Type: The Secret History of Letters by Simon Loxley

The Book on the Bookshelf by Henry Petroski

Library: An Unquiet History by Matthew Battles

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach

Mauve: How One Man Invented a Color That Changed the World by Simon Garfield

One Good Turn: A Natural History of the Screwdriver and the Screw by Witold Rybczynski

Jewels: A Secret History by Victoria Finlay

Tobacco: The Story of How Tobacco Seduced the World by Iain Gately

As a follow-up post on Scrabble, here are some additional resources. To get down to the very basics about words, here’s a book that explains the origins of the alphabet, and how it influenced civilization and the world. Alpha Beta by John Man is a quick read that makes the complicated, convoluted history of letters accessible. It traces the development of the alphabet from ancient Egypt through the Phoenicians and on to the Soviets. Somehow, it packs in a lot of history without getting too stuffy.

Another of those little histories of little things that changed the world, The Professor and the Madman is the story of the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary. I never would have believed something as mundane as a dictionary could have such a riveting book written about it, but this book is amazing! The OED took over 70 years to write, and there are so many stories about the dedicated contributors and how the dictionary was developed. Simon Winchester actually found so much to write about the development of the OED that he wrote a second book, The Meaning of Everything, after he finished The Professor and the Madman, with even more stories behind the creation of the largest dictionary ever made.

On a slightly different, though related topic, Lynne Truss’s Eats, Shoots, and Leaves, must be mentioned in any post about words and language. This book was a best seller for years and on many reading lists. If you haven’t had time to read it, yet, why don’t you check it out now?