The Quizbowl Resource Center

physicsnerd wrote:For mythology, all of Rick Riordan's books. It may seem nuts, but if you like reading fiction, it's got all the greek, egyptian, and norse myth you'll need to start out with (for the most part, anyway). Pretty much all the points from mythology I've gotten are from those.

physicsnerd wrote:I saw there was a comment up above on studying for biblical questions - I would read the gospels, Acts, and Revelation (though if you're short on time, pick one gospel, they do overlap quite a bit) from the New Testament and Genesis, Exodus, and 1st Samuel through 2nd Chronicles. If you do this and also read through summaries of some other biblical stories (Daniel, Ruth, Esther, a short summary of which churches Paul sent letters to, Joshua, Sampson) you'll be, I think, more than good for most of the questions I've heard come up.

iarehavethestupid wrote: ↑Fri Nov 09, 2018 8:28 pm Asking for a teammate, would Campbell’s textbook be a bit much for a 7th grader to take in? He has a decent understanding of physics and chem, it’s just his bio that’s weak.If it makes a difference, he already has it at his house (sibling)

iarehavethestupid wrote: ↑Tue Nov 13, 2018 10:30 pm Can somebody give me a recommendation for something that covers specifically European History? (And not just Britain)

UlyssesInvictus wrote: ↑Tue Nov 13, 2018 11:12 pm Any recommendations for good page turner art books? Non-fiction preferred, but if it's a good novelization (like the suggested Agony and Ecstasy upthread), I would give it a go.

It doesn't have to be a survey book. For reference, I liked the Art of Rivalry, which covered four notable two-wise relationships in modern art.

vinteuil wrote: ↑Wed Nov 14, 2018 12:52 am

UlyssesInvictus wrote: ↑Tue Nov 13, 2018 11:12 pm Any recommendations for good page turner art books? Non-fiction preferred, but if it's a good novelization (like the suggested Agony and Ecstasy upthread), I would give it a go.

It doesn't have to be a survey book. For reference, I liked the Art of Rivalry, which covered four notable two-wise relationships in modern art.

You might like Svetlana Alpers's The Vexations of Art, which does a great job of telling her own story (of getting to know the art) along with profound and detailed discussions of some magnificent paintings.

Skepticism and Animal Feed wrote: ↑Tue Mar 05, 2019 12:46 pm Wanted to bump this thread to make two recs for Eastern European history:

God's Playground, Volume 1 by Norman Davies.. This is a history of Poland from its beginning to the partitions in 1792. It's famous outside of quizbowl and the author is super famous. I have actually not read it, but one of my friends just read it, and while he was reading it he would not stop Facebook messaging me with amusing anecdotes and details he learned from the book. This makes it seem perfect for quizbowl.

The Realm of St. Stephen by Pal Engel. This is a history of Hungary from its beginning until the Ottoman conquest in 1526. I am in the process of reading it and can already recommend it for quizbowl purposes because the amount of names, details, etc. the author drops.

I'm not actually sure that these books will get you lots of points at anything below the ACF Nationals level, because I imagine most Poland and Hungary tossups heavily favor 20th century knowledge, but they seem clue-dense and thus "for quizbowl".

iarehavethestupid wrote: ↑Tue Mar 05, 2019 1:27 pm Are all/most of Norman Davies's books good for quizbowl?

Rocket21 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 12, 2019 9:08 pm Can someone recommend me books on Hinduism/other world religions (Voodoo, Rastafari, Buddhism, Bahai, Jainism, Shinto, Sikhism, etc)?

CaptainNoBeard wrote: ↑Mon Apr 08, 2019 11:39 am Not sure if it's already been mentioned here, but for Greek myth I prefer Gantz's massive tome, "Early Greek Myth," recommended to me by my Greek and Roman Epic professor. It's 737 pages of in-depth descriptions of individual characters, myths, and families, including deviant versions of all the aforementioned things, drawing on oral traditions, art, history, written works, and just about everything under the sun; a 48 page full catalogue of artistic representations of various figures, and the pages on which those artworks were cited in the text; 18 pages of in-depth genealogies; and another 50 pages of author's notes. I am not even *close* to done with it, but it's already gotten me a bunch of points.
Also read the Iliad, Odyssey, and Aeneid lol

Adding on to what some others have said, for Norse myth just read the Eddas. I found a good free version of the poetic edda online somewhere.

George Hart's Egyptian Myths is a pretty good medium-level work on the subject.

Read the Epic of Gilgamesh. A few times. It's not that long.

I am completely out of my depth when it comes to Hinduism, but I have copies of the Ramayana, Bhagavad Gita, and Rig Veda that I'm planning on reading.

The Kalevala is boring as hell but worth it. Ugh that reminds me I need to make cards

I don't have any one recommendation for Aztec or Mayan myth; there are a couple of books I have but none of them really stand out.

Hope this was at all helpful to someone out there.

Teddymons123 wrote: ↑Mon Apr 08, 2019 10:08 pm
For Sumerian/ Babylonian, would you recommend The Epic of Gilgamesh or the Enûma Eliš more?

On the topic of Mayan, the Popol Vuh will get you every HS Mayan question. I don’t know anything about Aztec however.