1001 Nonfiction Books That D&Ders will want to read.

The Farmer's Almanac
Hiking Trails of...
Europe of $5 a day
How to Build a Better Mousetrap
The Handyman's Handbook
The Declaration of Independence
The Constitution of the United States of America
The Koran
The Torah
 

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233-6

The four volume set entitled History of the Art of War, by Hans Delbruck, consisting of:

233: Warfare in Antiquity.
224: The Barbarian Invasions.
225: Medieval Warfare.
226: The Dawn of Modern Warfare.
 

D&D is more than combat.

you need books on Religion

Government

Health Care

Ecomonics

Arts

Languages

History or Ancient Civilization

etc...basically everything in the Real World can be used for D&D.
 

227. geography behind history by Gordon East. very handy for world building
228. The influence of Sea power on Ancient history by Chester Starr
229. Ancient Engineers by L. Spraugue DeCamp (nonfiction!!!)
230. Dictionary of Fabulous beasts by Richard Barber
231. Icelandic folktales and legends by Jacqueline Simpson.
 

Originally posted by diaglo
Gray's Anatomy

That's a great one! Wish I'd thought of it!

Warrior Poet

P.S. Thanks to everyone for the great suggestions in this thread. My reading list didn't need to get any bigger, but it just did ... by a lot ... thanks again! :)
 

232: ABCs of the Human Mind by Readers Digest Books - A book about the mind is a terrible thing to waste.
233: Readers Digest Book Of Facts by Readers Digest Books - Facts on all sorts of things throughout history.
234: How In The World? by Readers Digest Books - Tells how a lot of things were/are done and how they work, from ancient to modern times.
235: The Ultimate Encyclopedia Of Mythology by Arthur Cotterell & Rachel Storm - Maybe not the pinnacle of mythology books, but it covers a lot of ground, if briefly.
236: Time Life Mysteries of the Unknown Series by Time Life Books - This should be obvious. Inspiration for campaigns with hauntings, mysterious creatures, secret societies, lost worlds, witchcraft, psionics... I wish I had a set, or even one book.
 
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1) This is my first (and possibly last) post on these boards (I'm more of a lurker) and 2) Rats, someone took 4 of my big ones ( Musashi, Sun-Tzu, Diagram and Stone), I'll have to use lots of others (and hope that I didn't miss any duplications):


237: Man, Myth and Magic- An Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Supernatural, Vols 1-24, Richard Cavendish, Editor

238: Knights by Andrea Hopkins

239: The Encyclopedia of Prehistoric Life, Rodney Steel & Anthony Harvey, Editors

240: Ancient Inventions by Peter James and Nick Thorpe

241: The Craft of The Japanese Sword by Leon & Hiroko Kapp and Yoshindo Yoshihara

242: Anathema! Medieval Scribes and the History of Book Curses by Marc Drogin

243: The Discovery of King Arthur by Geoffry Ashe


244: The Complete Wilderness Training Book by Hugh McManners


245: America B.C. by Barry Fell

246: The Twelfth Planet by Zecharia Sitchin

247: The Vampire by Montague Summers

248: The Dinosaur Heresies by Robert Bakker

249: Superstition and Force: Torture, Ordeal, and Trial by Combat in Medieval Law by Henry C. Lea

250: The Timetables of History by Bernard Grun

251: The Book of Woodcraft by Ernest Thompson Seton

252: The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft and Demonology by Rossel Hope Robbins

253: Designer's Guide to Samurai Patterns by Jeanne Allen

254: Lost Continents -- The Atlantis Theme in History, Science, and Literature by L. Sprague de Camp

255: Medieval Warfare by Terrance Wise

256: Mysteries of the Past by Lionel Casson, Robert Claiborne, Brian Fagan and Walter Karp

257: A Guide to the Gods (An Essential Guide to World Mythology) by Richard Carlyon

[Edited because I'm a big dummy.]
 
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I'll add one to the list

Here is my unique suggestion.

A Practical Handbook for the Actor (Bruder, Cohn, et al).

The reason for this recommendation is it is
#1 Small. 94 pages - probably the shortest book on this list. You should be able to go through it in a single sitting.

#2 Unique. This book is an actor's manual that is mostly devoid of the jargon that preforates similar books on the topic. No matter what your level of experience with acting/roleplaying this book WILL help you improve it.

What are you waiting for? Check it out.
 


260-6

These are less generally useful, but good for certain PC Classes:

260. Methods of Disguise, Second Edition, by John Sample.
261. The S.A.S. Escape, Evasion, and Survival Manual, by Barry Davies.
262. S.A.S. Survival Guide, by Collins Gem.
263. Tactical Tracking Operations, by David Scott-Donelan.
264. Tracking: A Blueprint for Learning How, by Jack Kearney.
265. Fight at Night, by Andy Stanford.
266. Escape from Controlled Custody, by Tony Lescoe.
 

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