Desperate for nuance, no wonder we are turning to the nonfiction shelves | Stephanie Merritt | Opinion | The Guardian

Personal stories have tended to dominate popular nonfiction in recent years; in 2014, 2016 and 2017, three out of the four shortlisted titles for the Costa Biography prize each year were memoirs that explored wider cultural themes rather than traditional biographies. The unstoppable rise of the TED talk culture has also had a double-edged impact on nonfiction writing; on the plus side, it has helped to feed an appetite among a young, educated demographic for enthusiastic, well-qualified experts sharing cross-disciplinary ideas in easily digestible and accessible chunks.