Book Recommendations for Each Class in Dungeons and Dragons—Part 2

Welcome back fellow adventurers! Last month we shared our recommendations for about half of the classes in Dungeons & Dragons, and now we’re here to share the rest of them. Whether you’re a noble paladin laying down the law or a raffish rogue on the run from it, we have books that are sure to educate and inspire.

Monk
While you may or may not be associated with a particular deity, as a monk you nonetheless strive for spiritual perfection. You are not quite alone, however—many scientists have also delved deep into questions of philosophy and spirituality. We hope these recommendations will provide you with ample food for thought on your journey.

In this book by cognitive scientist and philosopher of the mind Evan Thompson, “Contemplative experience comes to illuminate scientific findings, and scientific evidence enriches the vast knowledge acquired by contemplatives.” A key resource for anyone interested in contemplative spiritual practice, this book “combines the latest neuroscience research on sleep, dreaming, and meditation with Indian and Western philosophy of mind, casting new light on the self and its relation to the brain.” Perhaps you have engaged in meditative practices for years—with this book, we hope you’ll be able to understand the science behind what is going on when you do so.

The first third or so of this book describes Albert Einstein’s views on the development of religions, about how they start with “the religion of fear,” that is, a reflection of humanity’s fear of that which they cannot explain such as the natural elements, death, etc., and evolve to “social-moral religion” which is a more organized structure which binds societies and dictates moralities. He argues that a few people manage to reach a third level of “cosmic religion,” in which the morality of humanity need not be dictated by a “fear of punishment and hope of rewards after death” but rather is “based on sympathy, education, and social relationships.” Furthermore, he argues about the necessary love for and wonder of the universe that a scientist in particular would possess:

Perhaps the next time you are contemplating the cosmos yourself, you will keep these scientists in mind.

Physicists are typically known for trying to make sense of the world, to figure out the underlying order of the universe and in doing so, bring a sense of order to our own existence. In this book, however, UC Riverside professor of philosophy Eric Schwitzgebel challenges us to think differently, describing “How all philosophical explanations of human consciousness and the fundamental structure of the cosmos are bizarre—and why that’s a good thing.” Asking questions ranging from “Do we live inside a simulated reality or a pocket universe embedded in a larger structure about which we know virtually nothing?” all the way to wondering what it would be like to be a garden snail, Schwitzgebel invites readers to ponder the most bizarre philosophical possibilities of the cosmos and consciousness. Perhaps it will provide an interesting starting point for your next meditation.

Paladin
Ah, the paladin, the knight in shining armor devoted to the endless pursuit of justice, of right over wrong, good over evil. You will find yourself in good company with the following books. Whether you’re more interested in fighting dastardly villains head-on or empowering others in your community, we think you’ll love our recommendations.

Superheroes are basically paladins from an alternate universe, aren’t they? At least the traditionally righteous ones like Superman are (Iron Man is obviously an artificer though). Regardless, dear paladin, we believe you will find this book both informative and inspiring, providing examples of heroic escapades and such useful lessons as how not to accidentally kill Gwen Stacey when you catch her after she falls from a building towards certain death in a river (a lesson Spider-Man unfortunately learned the hard way).

Not all heroes wear capes or fight evil in shining plate armor like you, but that doesn’t make them any less inspirational. Seeing that America’s education system was failing poor students of color, Robert “Bob” Moses founded the Algebra Project in 1982. From the publisher: “Founded on the belief that math-science literacy is a prerequisite for full citizenship in society, the Project works with entire communities-parents, teachers, and especially students-to create a culture of literacy around algebra, a crucial stepping-stone to college math and opportunity.” Written nearly twenty years after its founding, Moses tells the story of the Project as it was at the time. Reflecting on his experience organizing voter registration campaigns in the South in the 1960s, Moses notes, “Everyone said sharecroppers didn’t want to vote. It wasn’t until we got them demanding to vote that we got attention. Today, when kids are falling wholesale through the cracks, people say they don’t want to learn. We have to get the kids themselves to demand what everyone says they don’t want.” While today Bob Moses is no longer with us, his legacy lives on in the Algebra Project, which is still going strong today .

Sometimes heroism isn’t about hefting the biggest sword and slaying the fiercest dragon. Sometimes it’s about standing up for what is right and just when few others will. Astrophysicist Fang Lizhi wrote this autobiography while he was feeling the consequences of doing just that: it was written during the year he spent taking refuge in Beijing’s US embassy after being labelled a public enemy following the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. He was largely blamed by the government for inspiring the protests, though he did not participate directly in them. Having been a star in China’s early physics scene, including as one of the youngest people ever appointed to China’s Academy of Sciences, Fang started drawing the ire of the Chinese government when he began criticizing their policies and speaking to his students about human rights. Notably, it was his work as a devoted scientist that often inspired his activism. Translator Perry Link writes in the preface of this volume of Fang:

*Book was originally written in 1989. Our copy is a later edition with a new preface by the translator.

Ranger
If you’re a ranger, you’re likely also an explorer, always looking for the next frontier and at home in the wilderness among a multitude of plants and animals while hunting down your next target. These books will give you a greater understanding of the natural world you inhabit while also providing inspirational tales of pioneers exploring not only our world, but worlds beyond.

Just like you, Miss Pickerell is known for her curiosity, her ability to keep cool in a crisis, and her animal friend that she tries to go everywhere with (in this case, a cow). Indeed, in this book all she wants to do is spend time with her bovine companion and her rock collection at her remote homestead on Square Toe Mountain, but instead discovers some intrepid scientists have set up a spaceship in her yard! She finds herself accidentally onboard said spaceship with the crew of scientists on their way to Mars. Stuck with a bunch of brainiacs, Miss Pickerell is the one to make sure they remember basic things like feeding themselves (you know how it is with those high-intelligence versus high-wisdom characters). While she is quite cross at first, she eventually finds herself caught up in the thrill of exploration and adventure, and her quick wits help the crew figure out how to land on Mars’s surface, as the guy with the landing know-how was accidentally left behind on Earth. Though originally an unwanted stowaway, Miss Pickerell proves herself to the crew when her bravery helps save one of their lives. Eventually she returns to Earth with wonderful stories for her nieces and nephews, as well as several Mars-rocks to add to her collection!

Every ranger knows the importance of understanding the natural world around them, whether it be tracking a deer from a trail of broken branches or detecting threats by the scents on the wind. But what if you could go even deeper in your understanding? This book will show you the basics for exploring the natural world that you cannot see with your eyes, even if you have Darkvision (yes we know you can see in the dark, now let the Dungeon Master finish describing the cave).

You’ve probably hunted all kinds of beasts—maybe owlbears, trolls, or even wyverns. But have you ever hunted for beings beyond this world? Well now you can learn from someone who has. In this book, Senior Astronomer for the SETI Institute (SETI being “search for extraterrestrial intelligence”) Seth Shostak shares the past, present, and future of humanity’s search for extraterrestrial intelligence and offers a view of what we might expect to find. Perhaps after reading this, you’ll have the knowledge to finally be the top predator going after the rarest prey in the galaxy...a kind of predator versus alien situation, if you will.

Rogue
You probably have a penchant for larceny—don’t try to deny it. But hey, whatever mischief you get up to outside the library is your business, just don’t steal any of our books while you’re here. We certainly won’t condone your behavior, but we will provide you with books all about crime and uncovering the unseen. But remember, these books discuss not only the crimes, but also the consequences. Take heed!

Why limit yourself to pickpocketing in the local tavern when you could be doing crimes in space? Part of the Palgrave Studies in Green Criminology, this book is one of the first of its kind to discuss the emerging field of criminology related to extraterrestrial crime, space law, and criminal justice, with a particular focus on environmental crimes. As an emerging field of study, this book seeks to begin the conversation on space-related harms before they start to significantly increase. Not that you would ever contribute to that problem, of course.

Perhaps you’re no common pickpocket but rather a professional spy or saboteur. This book provides an account of the US Department of Defense’s efforts to curb the Soviet Union’s campaign to illicitly acquire American technologies during the Cold War, including accounts of black-market dealings, spies both official and unofficial, KGB agents, and more. Perhaps you can learn a thing or two for your next big heist.

You’re probably an expert at finding hidden things. Trinkets stashed away, pressure plates on dungeon floors, hidden passages behind bookcases—if there’s something hidden that needs to be found, you’re the first one your party calls. But how about finding hidden planets? In this book, author Donald Goldsmith reveals the science behind uncovering planets beyond our solar system in an approachable manner that you don’t have to be an astronomer to enjoy. Perhaps you can find and claim a planet as your own—after all, if Gru and his Minions can steal the moon, why can’t you steal a planet? Finders keepers, baby.

Sorcerer
You never had to do much for your magic, it’s simply in you. Likely you were born with it, a natural gift coursing through your veins. Perhaps you love your magic, perhaps it has brought you only chaos. You’re untraditional, unlike those stuffy wizards, so we have some recommendations that we hope will be both thought-provoking and relatable.

Maybe you were struck by lightning out at sea and miraculously survived, only to find that now you’re shooting lightning bolts out of your hands. Maybe you were born with electricity in your veins. Either way, for those sorcerers whose magic is a raging tempest, this volume from our rare book collection is sure to intrigue. An important work of early meteorology, James Espy presents in The Philosophy of Storms his convection theory of storms, positing that storms are formed through the upward movement of heated air. Having taught classics in Philadelphia for nearly 20 years, in 1828 he turned his attention to the natural sciences, specifically the formation of storms. He eventually became one of the foremost meteorologists in the United States and one of the first people to establish scientific weather forecasting across the country. Who knows, with enough books like this maybe you could usurp Espy’s unofficial title of “the Storm King!”

Ok, I know this has the word “wizard” in the title, but hear me out. Unlike a wizard who spends all day buried in academic texts, your literary tastes are probably far more fun. Things like popular fantasy and science fiction. Delving into the math and physics behind a variety of popular sci-fi/fantasy titles, Charles Adler discusses the feasibility and impossibility of such phenomena as teleportation, time warps, shape-changing, and more. It is an entertaining and informative read that is sure to give you a greater appreciation of these novels, and perhaps some inspiration on how you can break the laws of math and physics yourself! You were never really one for rules anyway, were you?

You were never one to get involved in the magical establishment, and these scientists likewise diverted away from the scientific establishment. Many scientists in the 60s and 70s were struggling with the ideas of quantum mechanics, but where other scientists took the more “normal” route and started calculating, these scientists turned to psychedelics and magicians, or tried to communicate with ghosts through atomic decay or with each other through telepathy. We at NBLA thought it was such a fascinating subject that we dedicated an entire podcast episode to it—check out Initial Conditions episode 4 to learn more!

Warlock
You’re probably into some weird stuff. Maybe you were that kid back in school who was always overly interested in aliens and the occult. Well fear not, for whether you have already delved deep into the dark arts or are still trying to make contact with otherworldly beings, we’ve got books for you.

You aren’t the only one who likes to dabble beyond what some might consider “appropriate scholarship.” Indeed, the line between science and the occult has not always been as clear as it seems to be today. In this book, Professor Wayne Shumaker provides an analysis of the five schools of thought in the occult sciences during the Renaissance era: astrology, witchcraft, white magic, alchemy, and Hermetic writings. With its wide breadth of scholarship, it should be the perfect starting place on your witchy journey.

This book continues a century or two after the previous one left off, analyzing the relationship between the physical sciences and psychical research conducted in Britain from 1870-1930, a key period in the modern spiritualist moment. In it, author Richard Noakes argues that that the study of psychic phenomena occupied an important role in late nineteenth and early twentieth century physical science research, and that the interaction between the two sparked important developments in physical science theory and experimental methodology. Including such delights as Victorian scientists observing seances (albeit usually more with the aim of discrediting them than actually studying them objectively) to studies of animal magnetism and the opening of psychical laboratories, it provides an insightful view as to the interconnectedness between science and the occult.

Perhaps you haven’t yet found a patron, but you’re looking to contact some otherworldly being to make a bargain with. But where to start? It turns out many scientists have also been trying to make contact with beings beyond our world, starting with author and astrophysicist Frank Drake, who in 1960 tuned the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank, West Virginia, to attempt to detect radio signals from extraterrestrial intelligence. Calling his work Project Ozma, it became a lifelong endeavor that came to include scientists and facilities around the globe to answer the age-old question: are we alone in the universe?
We would be remiss if we did not also mention that Drake’s co-author Dava Sobel is a prolific author on the history of science, whose works have been translated into several different languages. You can read an interview we conducted with her in this post from earlier this month!

Wizard
You’re the quintessential magic user and the quintessential nerd. We know just as well as you do that you’re the most excited member of your party to visit a library. Some might say magic and science are opposites, but that hasn’t always necessarily been the case—indeed, we have many books to demonstrate that the line between magic and science has often been rather blurry. We hope you find our recommendations absolutely captivating, or dare we say, spellbinding?

Wizards are all about books, so of course we thought an entire 8-volume set would be just the thing for any self-respecting spell-slinger. While many books listed so far discuss magic and/or the paranormal with relation to science in a specific time period, this set aims to provide a comprehensive overview of magic and experimental science and their relation to Christian thought from the first century, including the earlier origins of magic in the Western world in Egypt, Babylon, and Greece, all the way to the seventeenth century. For the dedicated student of history and the mystical arts it is sure to provide hours of enlightened study.

You come from a long lineage of magical practitioners, so if you want to understand your craft now, you should understand those who came before you. In this book, Anthony Grafton presents the Magus as a distinct archetype in the intellectual ecosystem of sixteenth-century Europe alongside the engineer, the artist, the Christian humanist, and the religious reformer. Rather than being a quirky outlier, he argues that the Magus, or learned magician, was a key figure in the intellectual developments of the time, exploring the limits of society, the self, and the cosmos alike. Indeed, in his praise for the book Christopher Howse writes: “...Grafton suggests that the mathematical and mechanical magic that allowed Agrippa and Dee to send artificial birds or insects flying over a stage set would develop into the science that produced the machinery of the Industrial Revolution.”

Reimagining space and time is what wizards are all about, isn’t it? Much of what we now understand through science seemed to our predecessors to be magical, but such yet-unexplained things are not confined to the past. In this book, George Musser discusses the phenomenon of nonlocality—the ability of two particles to act in harmony with each other, no matter how far apart in space they are—and the scientists who are trying to explain it. Unable to explain it himself, Einstein referred to this phenomenon as “spooky action at a distance,” and since his time even more forms of nonlocality have been discovered. Should the mystery (or more likely, mysteries) be solved, it could fundamentally alter our understanding of space, time, and the origin of the universe.

And thus we reach the end of our recommendations, but hopefully the beginning of your literary journey. Be you orc, elf, gnome, kobold, or anyone else, we hope you will give us a visit and that these books help in your next adventure!