Anyone know of any good books for Christmas presents?

[atari]

can be of any topic/genre and has to be in an adult age group (ie; no childrens books).

thanks :)

[Cincinatus]

I've only read Quicksilver and I certainly do recommmend it. I assume that the other two books are equally interesting, but cannot attest to that as fact yet.

[MacArthur]

Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
George Washington by Joseph Ellis
Mr. Clemens and Mark Twain by Justin Kaplan
The Epic Adventure of Stanley and Livingston by Martin
Dugard
Mussolini by R.J.B.Bosworth

[Darlin']

Some recent purchases, some I've already read and enjoyed, the others are in the stack to read.

The Case For Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and Terror, by Natan Sharansky
Hating America: The New World Sport, by John Gibson
The Connection: How al Qaeda's Collaboration with Saddam Hussein Has Endangered America, by Stephen F. Hayes
Shadow War: The Untold Story of How Bush Is Winning the War on Terror, by Richard Miniter
A Matter Of Character: Inside The White House Of George W. Bush, by Ronald Kessler
American Soldier, by Tommy Franks
Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry, by John E. O'Neill
Misunderestimated: The President Battles Terrorism, John Kerry, and the Bush Haters, by Bill Sammon
Stolen Valor : How the Vietnam Generation Was Robbed of Its Heroes and Its History, by B. G. Burkett

[Sam Cree]

read later

[dakine]

The Roosevelt Myth
by John T. Flynn

Alexander Hamilton
by Chernow

[MikeA]

1000 Places to See Before You Die -- Great book on all the places in the world you need to visit. It's written by an experienced travel writer who did all the travelling herself. REALLY well written and engrossing. If your friend likes travel, they'll love this book.

[MetalHeadConservative35]

stephen king books are good,clothes as usual,little gadgets like plug and play games (which takes us adults back to the good old arcade days)

[PRND21]

"Grant Speaks" a historical novel.

[LexBaird]

suspect I might see this under my tree from my aunt and uncle (a piece of correspondence got misdirected to my house instead of theirs), but who knows?

You'll shoot your eye out, kid.

[JenB]

"Doomsday Book" by Connie Willis. It's even got a kind of Christmasy theme. Also a Black Death theme. It's very good.

Or give Tolkien.

[JenB]

Have you read Turtledove's alternate history series, starting with "How Few Remain" that posit a Confederacy win? He's up to World War II, already. I think he decided it would be too hard to hypothesize what would happen with a Confederacy that has access to advanced technology.

[LexBaird]

No one's mentioned Quicksilver yet so I will. Read it a couple months ago and really enjoyed it.

The other two books of the trilogy are out in hardback. If you liked Quicksilver, try Cryptonomicon, also by Neil Stephenson. I consider it his best book to date, and it has some interesting ties to the Baroque Cycle: Quicksilver, The Confusion, and The System of the World.

[LexBaird]

Do you recommend any specific one? Or should I just start with Quicksilver?

See post #72. It deals with codebreaking, jumping back and forth between WWII and modern computer crypto. Marvelous plot and both humorous and tragic.

[katana]

Based on Quicksilver they're all now on my list. I like books that make your brain tingle, but I'm a cheap SOB who travels a lot and tend to wait for lightweight paperbacks I can haul on trips.

[GnuHere]

Everyone has already responded about great "print" books - here are a couple neat "picture" books, which I discovered by adopting a nursing home resident for Christmas presents. Her humble requests included picture books, gardening magazines, a new nightgown and socks!

The Gardener's Life
A Nantucket Christmas

They are both absolutely beautiful to look at.

[hope]

Sam's Club or on Amazon.com

[MikefromOhio]

yeah its a great series...i have every book up to the beginning of World War 2.....

[MarkL]

What's a good book to send someone in jail?

How about anything by Harry Houdini? Or "The Count of Monty Cristo?"

Mark

[schu]

Absolutely agree, the last pages, which one can read over and over, never fail to strike you hard.

[schu]

A classic is Modern Times by Paul Johnson. This is a review of modern history from 1919 to early 1990's from a conservative brilliant historian. His view of why the world is in such disarray and the ideas of personal responsibility and moral relativism are key themes in the book. Interesting, enlightening, but be ready, a very challenging read.