Off the top of my head - good books on niche topics

Concrete Planet

Sand Talk

Ancient Brews

H2O a biography of water

Food of the Gods: The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge : a Radical History of Plants, Drugs and Human Evolution

Pihkal

The book of dead philosophers

Anything by Michael Pollen but perhaps especially the Omnivores Dilemma

If you like architecture I feel that the Fountainhead by Ayn Rand is a must read. Rand gets a lot of hate, perhaps deservedly but this book is a solid novel and mysteriously intriguing.

I’ve been reading Against the Gods, the Remarkable Story of Risk for 25 years. The only book guaranteed to beat my insomnia with one page.