As a general presumption, avoiding anything on the non-fiction bestseller list is a good idea. Those books are generally aimed at the lowest common denominator

As a general presumption, avoiding anything on the non-fiction bestseller list is a good idea. Those books are generally aimed at the lowest common denominator that reads so you probably won't get anything of value out of them. There are rare exceptions that prove the rule and you'll generally know them when you see them. People who tried reading the non-fiction bestsellers and then equated them with "books" are pretty much always the ones saying dumb things like "reading books is a waste of time" or "every book could just be a blog post". And of course people who denigrate "books" should be treated with suspicion because they're usually shallow thinkers. I'd also advise against letting friends and family recommend books to you. They're generally going to recommend books they like or they're going to get what you like subtly wrong. A corollary of that is that you probably shouldn't buy books as gifts. If you're looking to discover books, go to a bookstore and look around. Maybe read the descriptions on the dust jacket or back cover. If you do that a few times a year, you'll probably have more books than you can read. Other great sources of books to read are the footnotes of books you liked or the Twitter feeds of authors that you liked. Either of these methods allows authors you already like to recommend other books.