But in Half-Arsed History podcast host Riley Knight’s debut book History’s Strangest Deaths, this flaw of history is instead an asset. History’s Strangest Deaths: inventions that kill their inventorsThe victims of these strange deaths range from a jockey, a painter and a scientist, to an abundance of emperors and kings. History’s Strangest Deaths. The chapters are fast-paced and concise, which makes for easily digestible history; this is not a dense history book. History’s Strangest Deaths by Riley Knight is published by Allen & Unwin.