Every subject, written or not.

Sports

Baseball

A sport defined by arguments and statistics

20 chapters · 1845–now

The chapters

1. Where baseball came from
2. How the game works
3. How it spread, 1860 to 1930
4. Seven eras of the sport
5. Moments everyone references
6. Names and numbers every fan knows
7. Ballparks worth knowing
8. Words and unwritten rules
9. Arguments that never close
10. Baseball outside America
11. Where the game is now
12. How to argue about baseball

Deep dives, with Versed+

1. Babe Ruth3 chapters
2. The 1919 Black Sox2 chapters
3. Sabermetrics2 chapters
4. The Negro Leagues1 chapters

Sports

Basketball

Invented in fourteen days

11 chapters · 1891–now

The chapters

1. How basketball was invented
2. How the game works
3. The early league, 1946 to 1976
4. The modern game, 1979 to now
5. Moments people still argue about
6. The names that carry the sport
7. Courts worth knowing
8. Words the broadcast assumes you know
9. Superstitions and the hot hand
10. Where the game is now
11. How to argue about basketball

Sports

Soccer

The world’s default sport

11 chapters · 1863–now

The chapters

1. How the game works
2. Leagues, cups and the World Cup
3. How it started and spread
4. The World Cup age, 1930 to 1989
5. Television, the Premier League and money
6. Finals and goals people still argue about
7. The names you need to know
8. Grounds worth knowing
9. Curses, shirts and rituals
10. Where soccer is now
11. Words to know and what to say

Sports

Formula 1

Engineering as spectacle

11 chapters · 1950–now

The chapters

1. What it is and how it works
2. The teams and the money
3. The first decades, 1906 to 1967
4. Wings, turbos and danger, 1968 to 1988
5. Senna, Schumacher and the safety rebuild
6. Vettel, hybrids and the Netflix boom
7. Moments people still argue about
8. The names you need to know
9. Circuits worth knowing
10. Where Formula 1 is now
11. Words, fights and what to say

Sports

Tennis

Four tournaments that matter

12 chapters · 1877–now

The chapters

1. How the game works
2. The four majors and three surfaces
3. How it started, 1874 to 1905
4. Amateurs and professionals, 1919 to 1969
5. The players take over, 1973 to 1981
6. Graf, Serena and the Big Three
7. The players worth knowing
8. Numbers worth holding
9. Fights over pay, race and dress
10. A deportation and three doping cases
11. Where tennis is now
12. What to say at the table

Sports

The Olympics

Politics wearing a tracksuit

11 chapters · 1896–now

The chapters

1. What the Games are, how they work
2. The ancient Games at Olympia
3. The revival, 1894 to 1912
4. Propaganda and war, 1920 to 1948
5. The Cold War Games, 1952 to 1984
6. The television Games, 1984 to now
7. The moments everyone remembers
8. The athletes you need to know
9. What hosting costs, and what remains
10. Traditions younger than they look
11. How to talk about the Olympics

Money

Money

Debt came before coins

10 chapters · Ancient–now

The chapters

1. What money actually is
2. How banks create money
3. Central banks and interest rates
4. From clay tablets to paper money
5. The gold standard and its end
6. Five crashes and the rules they left
7. Six numbers in the news
8. Words people use loosely
9. What everyone gets wrong
10. How to talk about money

Money

Inflation

A rate, not a level

10 chapters · 1900–now

The chapters

1. What inflation actually is
2. What makes prices rise
3. How central banks fight it
4. The great inflation, 1965 to 1982
5. The quiet decades, 1983 to 2020
6. The surge of 2021 to 2023
7. Four hyperinflations
8. Six people to know
9. What people get wrong
10. How to talk about inflation

Money

The 2008 crash

Correlated bets called diversified

10 chapters · 2007–09

The chapters

1. What happened, in one page
2. How the mortgage system worked
3. The boom and the first cracks
4. Lehman weekend, September 2008
5. TARP and the bailouts
6. The Great Recession and the recovery
7. Who was in the room
8. The fights that never ended
9. What it left behind
10. How to talk about 2008

Money

The stock market

What a share actually is

11 chapters · 1602–now

The chapters

1. What a share actually is
2. How a trade actually works
3. Amsterdam to Wall Street, 1602 to 1896
4. The 1907 panic and the 1929 crash
5. Crashes and comebacks since 1987
6. The index fund, 1974 to now
7. Ten people to know
8. The numbers worth carrying
9. Three arguments that never end
10. Where it stands now
11. How to talk about the stock market

Money

Crypto

Money without a bank, still looking for a use

9 chapters · 2008–now

The chapters

1. What crypto is
2. How a blockchain works
3. Satoshi’s paper, 2008 to 2010
4. Mt. Gox and the ICO boom
5. El Salvador, FTX and the ETFs
6. Who built it, who went to prison
7. The words, from HODL to rug pull
8. Digital gold, casino or Ponzi
9. How to talk about crypto

History

The Roman Empire

Kingdom, republic, empire

12 chapters · 753 BC–476 AD

The chapters

1. The founding and the kings
2. How the republic worked
3. Conquests and civil wars
4. Augustus and the first emperors
5. The high empire, 96 to 180 AD
6. Crisis and Constantine, 193 to 395
7. The fall of the west, and Byzantium
8. Eight names worth knowing
9. Words Rome left behind
10. Myths people still repeat
11. What is still Roman today
12. How to talk about Rome

History

World War II

The event every subject references

13 chapters · 1939–45

The chapters

1. How the war started
2. Europe falls, 1939 to 1941
3. Pearl Harbor to Midway, 1941 to 1942
4. The tide turns, 1942 to 1943
5. How it ended, 1944 to 1945
6. Who ran the war
7. How many died, and who counted
8. Places worth knowing
9. Words the war gave us
10. Myths and famous pictures
11. The two big arguments
12. What the war left behind
13. Talking about the war

History

Ancient Egypt

Three thousand years of the same country

12 chapters · 3100–30 BC

The chapters

1. The river and the first kings
2. The pyramid age
3. The first collapse and the Middle Kingdom
4. The Hyksos and the New Kingdom empire
5. Akhenaten, Tutankhamun and Ramesses
6. The long decline, 1069 to 332 BC
7. Alexander, the Ptolemies and Cleopatra
8. The people who dug it up
9. Words, and where they came from
10. What everyone gets wrong
11. Ancient Egypt today
12. Talking about Egypt

History

The Cold War

Forty years of not quite fighting

12 chapters · 1947–91

The chapters

1. How it started, 1945 to 1947
2. Berlin, Korea and the Red Scare
3. Khrushchev and the brink, 1953 to 1961
4. The Cuban missile crisis, 1962
5. Détente, 1963 to 1979
6. The second Cold War, 1979 to 1985
7. How it ended, 1985 to 1991
8. The leaders and the spies
9. Words the Cold War gave us
10. What everyone gets wrong
11. Where it stands now
12. How to talk about the Cold War

History

Ancient Greece

Where the arguments started

12 chapters · 800–146 BC

The chapters

1. The collapse and the alphabet
2. City-states, colonies and the first laws
3. The Persian wars, 490 to 479 BC
4. Athens at its height
5. The Peloponnesian War, 431 to 404 BC
6. Sparta, Thebes and the rise of Macedon
7. The Hellenistic world, 323 to 146 BC
8. Twelve people worth knowing
9. Words we still use
10. What everyone gets wrong
11. Greece now, and the Marbles
12. How to talk about Greece

Music

Hip-hop

From one rec room outward

11 chapters · 1973–now

The chapters

1. What hip-hop is
2. The Bronx party, 1973
3. The golden age, 1984 to 1991
4. East Coast against West Coast
5. The South takes over
6. The streaming era, 2013 to now
7. Eight people who changed it
8. What people still fight about
9. Who owns the music
10. Hip-hop in 2026
11. Holding your own on hip-hop

Music

Classic rock

The album as a format

10 chapters · 1955–80

The chapters

1. What classic rock is
2. The first wave, 1951 to 1959
3. The British Invasion, 1964 to 1966
4. The album era, 1967 to 1973
5. Arena rock and punk, 1975 to 1980
6. Sixteen stars and the builders
7. The records, in numbers
8. What people still fight about
9. The catalog business, 2020 to now
10. Holding your own on classic rock

Music

The Beatles

Eight years, thirteen albums

10 chapters · 1960–70

The chapters

1. What the Beatles were
2. Liverpool and Hamburg, 1957 to 1962
3. Beatlemania, 1963 to 1966
4. The studio years, 1966 to 1968
5. The breakup, 1967 to 1970
6. The four, and the two behind them
7. The records, in numbers
8. Paul is dead, and other myths
9. What they left behind
10. Holding your own on the Beatles

Music

Taylor Swift

She fought to own her songs

10 chapters · 2006–now

The chapters

1. What Taylor Swift is
2. The Nashville years, 2001 to 2008
3. From country to pop, 2008 to 2014
4. Reputation to Midnights, 2016 to 2022
5. The fight over her masters
6. The Eras Tour, 2023 to 2024
7. The records, in numbers
8. What people still argue about
9. Where she is now, 2025 to 2026
10. Holding your own on Taylor Swift

Music

K-pop

A trainee system as an industry

10 chapters · 1996–now

The chapters

1. What K-pop is
2. How the trainee system works
3. Where it started, 1992 to 1999
4. How it spread, 2003 to 2020
5. The groups and the founders
6. What people fight about
7. BTS and military service
8. K-pop in 2025 and 2026
9. Words fans and contracts use
10. Holding your own on K-pop

Movies & TV

’90s movies

The video store decade

10 chapters · 1990–99

The chapters

1. What the decade was
2. How the indie wave started
3. How Miramax sold indie film
4. The blockbuster machine
5. How home video funded the decade
6. The crowded year of 1999
7. The people who defined it
8. What people get wrong
9. How you watched it, then and now
10. How to argue the nineties

Movies & TV

Horror

The cheapest genre to make

11 chapters · 1816–now

The chapters

1. Where it began, 1816 to 1925
2. The Universal monsters, 1931 to 1948
3. Lewton, Hammer and Psycho, 1942 to 1960
4. Romero to Halloween, 1968 to 1980
5. Slashers and video nasties, 1980 to 1989
6. Scream to Paranormal Activity, 1996 to 2009
7. Elevated horror and the 2020s
8. Why horror pays back
9. The people who made it
10. The fights over respectability
11. How to talk about horror

Movies & TV

Superhero movies

The genre Hollywood bet the house on

10 chapters · 1978–now

The chapters

1. What a superhero film is
2. The serials and Superman, 1978
3. Batmania and the bust, 1989 to 1997
4. From Blade to The Dark Knight
5. Marvel builds a universe, 2005 to 2019
6. The people who built it
7. The numbers worth knowing
8. The fights over art, labor and fans
9. After Endgame, 2019 to now
10. How to talk about superhero films

Movies & TV

Anime

A medium that gets mistaken for a genre

10 chapters · 1963–now

The chapters

1. What anime is
2. How it started, 1958 to 1963
3. Robots and the bubble, 1974 to 1995
4. Evangelion to Spirited Away, 1995 to 2012
5. How it reached the world
6. Where it is now, 2013 to 2026
7. The people who made it
8. The words fans use
9. The fights fans keep having
10. How to talk about anime

Movies & TV

Star Wars

How one space movie changed Hollywood

11 chapters · 1977–now

The chapters

1. How Star Wars got made
2. The original trilogy, 1977 to 1983
3. The dark years, 1984 to 1998
4. The prequels, 1999 to 2005
5. The Disney era, 2012 to now
6. What it cost and what it made
7. The people who made it
8. Words the films gave English
9. What everyone gets wrong
10. The fights fans keep having
11. How to talk about Star Wars

Science

Space exploration

Missiles with a view

12 chapters · 1957–now

The chapters

1. How a rocket reaches orbit
2. Sputnik and Gagarin, 1957 to 1961
3. The Moon race, 1961 to 1972
4. Shuttle and station, 1981 to 2011
5. How launch got cheap
6. The people who got it done
7. Where rockets leave from
8. The numbers worth holding
9. The hoax, the pen and the rituals
10. Who owns the Moon and the sky
11. The new Moon race
12. How to talk about space

Science

Evolution

The idea that reorganised biology

12 chapters · 1859–now

The chapters

1. What evolution is
2. How natural selection works
3. Darwin and Wallace, 1831 to 1859
4. Mendel and the modern synthesis
5. The evidence, four ways
6. The public fights, 1860 to 2005
7. Darwin, Wallace, Mendel, Huxley, Anning
8. Where biologists still disagree
9. Myths, from lemmings to deathbeds
10. Twelve true things about evolution
11. Evolution you can watch
12. How to talk about evolution

Tech & internet

The internet

Built to survive, not to sell

11 chapters · 1969–now

The chapters

1. What it is and how it works
2. ARPANET, 1958 to 1985
3. The web, 1989 to 1995
4. Browser wars and the dot-com bubble
5. Social, phones and platforms, 2004 to now
6. The people who built it
7. Net neutrality, Section 230 and encryption
8. Myths and misquotes
9. The cables and the buildings
10. Where it stands now
11. How to talk about the internet

Tech & internet

AI

Seventy years of nearly there

11 chapters · 1956–now

The chapters

1. What counts as AI
2. How a language model works
3. Turing and the Dartmouth summer
4. Two winters and a quiet comeback
5. Deep learning wins, 2012
6. The transformer and the chatbots
7. The people who kept going
8. The arguments still open
9. Chips, power bills and lawsuits
10. Words you will hear
11. How to sound sane about AI

Tech & internet

Video games

From arcade coin box to living room

11 chapters · 1972–now

The chapters

1. What it is and how it works
2. Arcades and Atari, 1971 to 1982
3. The 1983 crash and Nintendo
4. The console wars, 1989 to 2000
5. PC gaming and going online
6. Phones and free-to-play, 2008 to now
7. The people who made it
8. Words players use
9. Violence, crunch and review scores
10. Where it stands now
11. How to talk about video games

Tech & internet

The iPhone

A demo that only worked in one order

12 chapters · 2007–now

The chapters

1. Project Purple, 2004 to 2006
2. The keynote and the launch, 2007
3. The App Store Jobs did not want
4. The camera and the yearly cycle
5. How an iPhone gets built
6. The moments people still bring up
7. The people who built it
8. Half of Apple’s money
9. The fights over who owns it
10. Who was first
11. The fold, a new CEO and Gemini
12. How to talk about the iPhone

Tech & internet

Memes & internet culture

Jokes that spread by being copied

10 chapters · 1996–now

The chapters

1. What a meme is
2. How a meme spreads
3. The word and the early web
4. Forums to TikTok, 1982 to now
5. Memes that moved the real world
6. The people behind the jokes
7. Words people use online
8. Who owns a meme
9. Where memes are now
10. How to talk about memes

Big ideas

Philosophy

The questions that will not close

12 chapters · Ancient–now

The chapters

1. What philosophy is
2. How a philosophical argument works
3. Socrates, Plato and Aristotle
4. Diogenes, the Stoics and Rome
5. Descartes, Hume and Kant, 1619 to 1804
6. Nietzsche to Rawls, 1882 to 1974
7. The people and their one idea
8. Words that mean more in the seminar
9. Free will and the hard problem
10. Four ways to judge right and wrong
11. Where philosophy is now
12. How to talk about philosophy