What's your #1 book that you think every tabletop gamer should read? And why?

[Ulrick]

The only requirement is:

The book can't be gaming-related.

That is, what book would you recommend that every tabletop gamer should read that isn't a rulebook? Why?

Anything from literature, history or other non-fiction is fair game.

This is just an experiment. I'd like to see people's answers to see if I'm on the right track for a book I'm working on.

Thank you.

 

[TrippyHippy]

Lord of the Rings is an obvious candidate - as it largely informed the world about how to build a fantasy world before rpgs came about.

 

[Wild Gazebo]

Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

Rich setting, different dialects, strong quick character description, humour, spirit and a motivation to experience things.

 

[Jacob Marley]

It's hard to pick a #1 book that every gamer should read. And since many books I would recommend will be addressed by other posters (as is the case with [MENTION=27252]TrippyHippy[/MENTION] and the Lord of the Rings), I'll nominate something a little more obscure: The Historical Atlas of Knights & Castles: The Rise and Fall of the Age of Chivalry by Dr. Ian Barnes.

 

[TrippyHippy]

I s’pose the obligatory mention of The Bible and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare ought to be done. A good encyclopaedia is pretty useful too.

That said, it may depend on what type of game you want to run: The complete works of H.P. Lovecraft may be more useful if you want to run a Call of Cthulhu game, of course!

 

[trancejeremy]

3 Hearts and 3 Lions by Poul Anderson. Probably the biggest single influence on D&D.

 

[delericho]

"The DC Comics Guide to Writing Comics". I got this after a recommendation from Monte Cook, and it's actually surprisingly good, with an awful lot to say about the storytelling aspects of being a GM.

 

[Jhaelen]

I'm drawing a blank. I can't think of just one book that I'd actually recommend to _every_ table-top gamer. There's just too many different table-top games of too many vastly different genres. Maybe Homer's Odyssey? Although I'm unsure about it's usefulness for non-Fantasy settings.

 

[Mishihari Lord]

The Black Company by Glen Cook. Besides the characters, setting, and magic, which are all cool, it really teaches the idea of "fight smart, not fair," which should be axiom #1 for a D&D PC.

 

[Wednesday Boy]

The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell. It's a great read about heroic stories and mythology.