Book Review: Every Thing I Need to Know I Learned from D&D

"Don't tell mom" is the mantra among my siblings and I.  There are aspects of our lives we'd rather not have our mother know about, so when we confide in each other, we always insert the mantra-phrase at some point in our conversation.

What does my mommy issues have to do with Shelley Mazzanoble's latest book Everything I Need to Know I Learned from Dungeons & Dragons?

Plenty.

You see, Shelly's mom, Judy, continually bombards her darling daughter with well-meaning advice and self-help books.  Said darling daughter, has other ideas on what's best for her.

So the book is a humorous quest for knowledge and enlightenment our hapless author can relate to and more importantly, use.  Topics such as spirituality, travel, fitness, cooperating with others, romance and even child-raising, are related to corresponding game techniques.

There are seven other reviews for Everything I Need to Know, 3 x 5-stars, 3 x 4-stars and one 2-star rating.  The disappointed raters thought the book was more about the game D&D, rather than about associating gaming experiences with real-life and searching for solutions.

I must admit that my own 5-star rating is somewhat biased.  Shelly and I come from the same hometown and we're both now living in the Seattle-Tacoma area.  So it was very entertaining for me to read about familiar sites and places.

If you're a gamer, especially a D&D player, you should be able to relate to some of Life's dilemmas Shelly finds herself in.