I found history class really boring at school, I'm not sure why, maybe just because of how it was taught. I sort of always assumed I wouldn't be interested in it, and would just tune out when it was ever a topic of conversation. As such I have reached a point in my adult life where I know embarrassingly little about any events that happened outside of my lifetime.
I've started to read some stuff here and there, some youtube videos about world war I and some stuff about the aztecs. I'm finding it fascinating and was wondering if you guys have any recommendations for books or documentaries that would be good for people like me who know next to nothing. Or even historical fiction that's more on the accurate side? I feel like I lack an understanding of the "big picture" so when I'm reading things about a specific point in history I find it hard to put it into context if that makes sense.
I think a really useful place to start is an "Atlas of World History"--looking at Amazon (US)/Abebooks right now, Patrick O'Brien's Atlas of World History and John Haywood's New Atlas of World History are both relatively affordable straight-up (and then there's always the library!)
Why? These are graphically-oriented overviews of history that place major events and civilizations "spatially"--both in terms of mapping into geographic space on the surface of the Earth (where was the Ottoman Empire in relation to the earlier Byzantine Empire and Mamluk Empire?) and in terms of time (the rise of Mississippean urbanism in North America coincides with which parallel civilizational shifts in West Africa and western Europe?). In addition to being a great resource to consult for later, a historical atlas like one of these is a great, sort of, cubbycase. You can then read more focused books--on a given era, or on a given topic across several areas--and sort of "slot" into that information into the atlas' outline.
Once you get there, I'd recommend starting with topics where you have vague visual idea--even if stereotypical and flawed--of what the period looked like. "Castles and plate armour" might be shorthand for medieval western Europe, or "those pictures of Aztec Tenochtitlan I saw at the museum" for postclassical Mesoamerica. That can be an incredibly useful anchor for diving into a new topic or time period.
A good place to start with actual books, then, is: (1) historical investigations by journalists, who typically write more lively and engaging prose than historians and who aim their books at a wider audience, and (2) the rare well-written "textbook" or serious history book aimed at an audience who doesn't know the topic.
A few that come up in recommendations on AskHistorians:
If there are particular time periods you're interested in, we can help with more specific recommendations as well. Or individual topics, like history of comic books and superheroes, food/alcohol history, African diaspora history (including but not only African-American), history of science. But those books might be fun places to start!
Is there a time in history that interest you more than others?