A Game of Birds and Wolves: the Ingenious Young Women Whose Secret Board Game Helped Win World War II, by Simon Parkin is one of those history books I enjoy so much. Churchill believed that the outcome of the war depended on the battle for the Atlantic. Germany was having great success with Uboats, which needed to be stopped! For the purpose of strategy, a board game was developed. Played on the floor, (and sometimes walls) by the women of the Wrens, it would prove invaluable. It got better as the war went on, especially once German messages could be intercepted and used. I think the section I liked best was where veteran captains, who at first were insulted by anyone thinking that 'girls' (they were very young) who had never been to sea (they weren't allowed on ships) or in battle could tell them what to do, realized that what they were saying worked!

Reading Hermit With Dog