Creative Christmas Gifts & Gift Ideas

For most people, buying a book for a Christmas present is a last minute gift idea.  It's a cop out.  They run to the local book store at 9 pm on December 23rd and pick up a few best-sellers and a calendar, escaping into the darkness more relieved than a three year old in a sandbox.

I know the feeling because I'm always running to the book store for last minute presents.  Over the years, I've learned what types of books people like and which ones get used to start fires.

There's nothing wrong with buying books at the last minute for family members, but you've got to keep two important ground rules in mind:

1.  Don't buy fiction.  Unless you live with someone who reads everything they can get their hands on, it's best to stay away from novels when buying books for gifts for family members.  If you know that someone loves Haruki Murakami novels, you could pick up one of his lesser known titles.  However, it's possible that the Murakami lover has already the title you're buying.

2. Don't buy nonfiction.  You might think your Dad cares about JFK, and you'd be partially right.  He cares enough to watch 45 minutes of a History Channel show on JFK and then doze off.  He almost certainly does not care enough to read 450 pages about JFK, though.

Where does this leave us?  We're left with the undisputed best gift ideas for books for Christmas: artsy coffee table books and hilarious, captivating toilet readers.  

10. When Ninja's Attack by Sam Kaplan, Keith Riegert, and Phoebe Bronstein

This book is flat out hilarious.  It's the sort of book that you can just pick up, flip to any page, read two sentences, and start cracking up.  Chapter 7, "Buying Time: Negotiating with and Befriending your Ninja Assassin" should probably be made into a movie.  

9. What's Your Poo Telling You? by Dr. Anish Sheth and Josh Richman

Caution: If you decide to read this book while sitting on the toilet, you'll probably be in the bathroom laughing hysterically for at least 45 minutes.  Writing in a smooth, irreverent style, Sheth and Richman answer all of the questions about poo that you were too afraid to ask and too ashamed to Google.  

8. Massive Change by Bruce Mau

In this thick coffee table book, Bruce Mau provides hundreds of fascinating photos and short descriptions of ways to better design the planet.  Featuring beautiful photography and crisp copy, Massive Change is a prodigious conversation starter.

7. Annie Leibowitz: At Work by Annie Leibowitz

While not exactly a coffee table book, this big book by the master of portrait photography features excellent pictures accompanied by very interesting narratives.  Leibowitz, who has photographed everybody from OJ Simpson to The Queen of England (not to mention virtually ever president, actor, musician you can name), tells some very interesting tales about her exciting life and the character's she met.  Give this book 15 minutes and you'll find it hard to put down.

6. Nufonia Must Fall by Kid Koala

Here's a comic book with no words, designed to be read while the accompanying CD plays in the background.  The end of each track by Kid Koala, one of the most innovative DJ's in the world, coincides with the end of each chapter.  The combination of the artwork, music and the story warps you into another dimension.  This gift idea is perfect for any college student or art junkie.  

5. Wall & Piece by Banksy

For the angst-filled teenager is your family, an introduction to Banksy's work makes a great gift idea.  In this excellent coffee table book, Banksy shows us how to use the maligned art of graffiti in beautiful ways to make statements about society and humanity. The zeitgeist of the latter part of this decade, Banksy's work has been so influential that many companies have embraced his methods of artwork as guerilla advertising (which is either a compliment or a sign of the end of days).

4. The Americans by Robert Frank

An expansive photographic history, Robert Frank's Americans shows us the hopes, dreams, and failures of the American people during the 20th century.  Because much of Frank's work shows New Yorkers in the late 1950's and early 1960's, this book makes a great gift idea for anyone in advertising or anyone who's obsessed with AMC's hit show, Mad Men.

3. Andy Warhol: Giant Size by the Editors of Phaidon Press

A huge book that features the work of the most influential American artist ever, this Phaidon press behemoth is sure to amaze your visitors (and the people across the street).

2. Edward Weston: A Legacy by Jennifer Watts, et al

One of Ansel Adam's contemporaries whose work is often overshadowed by Adams' mountain of popularity, Edward Weston took equally impressive photographs of landscapes and also some amazing black and white portraits set in the rolling dunes of Monterey, California.  This book includes hundreds of 8' x 10' Weston's photos and makes for a great coffee table book.

1. The Complete Worst Case Survival Handbook by Joshua Piven

Unlike most bathroom readers, which are so obsessed with having zillions of tiny anecdotes and facts that they forget to make the writing interesting, the Complete Worst Case Survival Handbook gives you fascinating copy that might save your life someday.  How many other books can say that?

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Creative Christmas Gift Ideas by admin