The two I would recommend are both centered around GM prep:

• The Lazy Dungeon Master by Mike Shea (@[email protected] , @[email protected] )
• Never Unprepared by Phil Vecchione (@[email protected])

I don’t think either of these are perfect, but they both offer really good, actionable advice. The philosophies/systems described in these two don’t naturally mesh, and I think that’s a plus. Every GM needs to figure out for themselves how to prepare to run a game, because the things each GM needs are unique. I think having two books outline pretty drastically different approaches can help you triangulate your own needs and methods

Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master has already been mentioned a ton. It’s amazing to give you a framework for session prep to build upon.

So let me add The Monsters Know what they are Doing. It’s about giving enemies more tactics which are tailored to their stats and abilities. The book contains dnd 5e monsters but once you read it, you can apply the idea to any enemy on any game. I noticed I look at stat blocks differently after reading this book.

Lastly Blades in the Dark. Imo every GM should at some point run a short, several session adventure of this system. It’s improv heavy and gives a lot of narrative control to the players. It changed my view on how to run several types of scenarios. And my ideas of what and how to prep. It’s amazing how much I can leave to my players now in other systems too. Plus it’s super fun.

Anthropology books taught me that humanity is more fantastic than all the fantasy races.

• The Mbuti sang and danced as they walked, to scare away snakes. They had no words for ‘good’, and ‘bad’, so Christian missionaries couldn’t translate their teachings.
• The Azande believed in a predictable universe, and ascribed all misfortune (including death), to magical bad intentions (translated as ‘witchcraft’, but I’m not sure that’s a great translation)
• The Piraha language needed you to say how you learnt something inside the verb, so rumours are grammatically impossible. Their language had four modes, including ‘whistling’.

I’m putting everything in the past tense as my info is about 50 years out of date.