Here we go again… You can imagine that as weakly or as enthuastically as you like.

I’m actually kind of surprised that this is already the ninth version of this list.

First
Second
Third
Fourth
Fifth
Sixth (the Finnish edition)
Seventh
Eighth

E.N. Anderson – Everyone Eats

This book is kind of fragmented and all over the place, but it is also very interesting. It is largely about the culture around food and could be very helpful in bringing those kinds of details to an RPG.

David Mitchell – Unruly

Mitchell is often referred to be best known from Peep Show, but it seems to me that these days he is better known for all the memes spawned by that series, especially the “Are we the baddies?” one… at least for me. Of course, he has had a very distinguished career in British television. This book is about the history of British monarchs and is as dry in its humor as he usually is. But since he is very interested in history, it is also informative.

Toni Mount – Medieval Medicine

I was pretty sure I added this to the previous installment, but couldn’t find it, so here we are.

It is exactly what it says on the tin, except that it is so much more than just bleeding people to balance their humors. It talks a lot about how medical knowledge was spread, for example.

Emma Southon – A History of the Roman Empire in 21 Women

You know, woke-history. I love it. From a DMing point of view, its about how people who can’t have official power find it from unofficial sources.

Owen Davies – Art of the Grimoire

Well, history of magic books, basically. This talks about where and how they came from, including materials and weird designs, some of which might feel too out there for the people who expect a huge tome in their fantasy game, but that is in many ways a very modern way to approach the topic.

Adam Grant – Originals: How Non-Conformists Change the World

I have heard the worst people recommmend this book way too many times and I disagree with a lot of the message, because it kind of feels like the book is giving a permission to certain leaders to make problematic decisions in their position. At the same time, it can also be seen as a guide to building specific kinds of characters.

Frank McDonough – Gestapo

Weirdly, this is kind of a defense of Gestapo, BUT and I must emphasize this, it is not a defense of Nazis in general and the books posits that it was actually Kripo that did most of the crimes Gestapo has been accused of, so there is no denial of Nazi atrocities. However, if you want a lower tech surveillance society, this can act as a basis for that.

Stephen Greenblatt – Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare

The Finnish translation of the book is simply titled “Shakespeare”.

Greenblatt had written a lot of books on Shakespeare before this one and wrote a lot more after it, so he is a real expert on the topic. The book does make assumptions, but at least it is open about it, unlike many other writers who just seem to throw various conspiracy theories around for attention.

Carl Chinn – Peaky Blinders: The Real Story

This feels like its more about the working class people and their challanges around this time, which I don’t mind at all. This is the situation where this kind of crime is born.

Marion Gibson – Witchcraft: A History in 13 Trials

Who’s interest isn’t immediately peaked with this title? With the last one being Stormy Daniels, these get quite metaphorical and of course this emphasizes the inherent misogyny of witchhunts (although, we here in Finland used to execute more men on these charges then women, weren’t we progressive). Anyhow, each story gives interesting points of view on this phenomenon that can easily be utilized in various ways. Sometimes they can be directly adapted into a one-shot.