Microhistories
I'm not completely sure, but I think there's been a trend towards microhistories and single-subject books over the past few years. If I recall correctly, this trend has been blamed on the success of the book Longitude. A while ago, I wondered how far this trend had gone. This is the list I produced after a small amount of sifting through Amazon:
There are books about numbers:
e: The Story of a Number
The History of Pi
An Imaginary Tale: The Story of i
Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea
The Nothing That Is: A Natural History of Zero
To Infinity and Beyond
The Golden Ratio
I would definitely put these three next to each other:
Oxygen: The Molecule That Made the World
Hydrogen: The Essential Element
Water: A Natural History
Some of them concern mundane objects:
The Pencil: A History of Design and Circumstance
The Chair: Rethinking Culture, Body, and Design
A Brief Illustrated History of the Bookshelf
The Measure of All Things: The Seven-Year Odyssey and Hidden Error That Transformed the World [This a book about the metric system.]
One Good Turn: A Natural History of the Screwdriver and the Screw
There are two biology ones!
In the Beginning Was the Worm: Finding the Secrets of Life in a Tiny Hermaphrodite
Fly: The Unsung Hero of Twentieth Century Science
And quite a lot about food:
Salt: A World History
Bittersweet: The Story of Sugar
Vanilla: The Cultural History of the World's Favorite Flavor and Fragrance
The True History of Chocolate
Spice: The History of a Temptation
The Potato: How the Humble Spud Rescued the Western World
Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World
Bananas: An American History
Tobacco: A Cultural History of How an Exotic Plant Seduced Civilization
Several of these I really don't quite understand:
Color: A Natural History of the Palette
Mauve: How One Man Invented a Color That Changed the World
The Devil's Cloth: A History of Stripes
A Perfect Red: Empire, Espionage, and the Quest for the Color of Desire
Blue: The History of a Color
Coal: A Human History
There are books about numbers:
e: The Story of a Number
The History of Pi
An Imaginary Tale: The Story of i
Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea
The Nothing That Is: A Natural History of Zero
To Infinity and Beyond
The Golden Ratio
I would definitely put these three next to each other:
Oxygen: The Molecule That Made the World
Hydrogen: The Essential Element
Water: A Natural History
Some of them concern mundane objects:
The Pencil: A History of Design and Circumstance
The Chair: Rethinking Culture, Body, and Design
A Brief Illustrated History of the Bookshelf
The Measure of All Things: The Seven-Year Odyssey and Hidden Error That Transformed the World [This a book about the metric system.]
One Good Turn: A Natural History of the Screwdriver and the Screw
There are two biology ones!
In the Beginning Was the Worm: Finding the Secrets of Life in a Tiny Hermaphrodite
Fly: The Unsung Hero of Twentieth Century Science
And quite a lot about food:
Salt: A World History
Bittersweet: The Story of Sugar
Vanilla: The Cultural History of the World's Favorite Flavor and Fragrance
The True History of Chocolate
Spice: The History of a Temptation
The Potato: How the Humble Spud Rescued the Western World
Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World
Bananas: An American History
Tobacco: A Cultural History of How an Exotic Plant Seduced Civilization
Several of these I really don't quite understand:
Color: A Natural History of the Palette
Mauve: How One Man Invented a Color That Changed the World
The Devil's Cloth: A History of Stripes
A Perfect Red: Empire, Espionage, and the Quest for the Color of Desire
Blue: The History of a Color
Coal: A Human History