Shock is the first thing you experience when reading this book. One can only wonder how rich human imagination is when inventing executions and tortures of their own kind. The rack, the Spanish boot, the chair of the Jews, torture by water, torture by fire, torture by hanging, torture by insects, torture by sound, torture by tickle, heretic's fork, skull crusher, castration and sterilization, punishment with a whip - this is not a complete list of tortures and executions described in detail on these pages. A large number of historical facts are described, which makes reading fascinating and not so shocking. After reading this book, I caught myself thinking that many “inventors” of various tortures and executions eventually died from their inventions... Don’t dig a hole for others...