Well-written nonfiction has a narrative curve and takes you on as much of a journey as fiction. Popular nonfiction often reads like an essay (Malcolm Gladwell’s ideas are interesting but his writing is rigidly formulaic) and it can be difficult to see that there is a bit of a curve to it (okay there’s no narrative curve to Gladwells book as a whole, but his essays are usually structured according to an intro-body-conclusion formula) That said, nonfiction, like food, is of different nutritive value. Some is both nourishing and entertaining. Much of it is not. The problem is that when nonfiction is not entertaining it tends to be mind-numbing in a way that fiction doesn’t.

Admittedly, I have a similar bias to you, op, and would rather spend my time with historical fiction than nonfiction. It feels to me like nonfiction, for those who are not drawn to it by nature, is like a plane ride: when it goes well, it is titillating and time passes quickly; when it fails, it fails colossally.