Awesome Books

Whether you played with Slinkies, Silly Putty, or Sea Monkeys when you were a kid, you’ll find some wonderful nostalgia in Steven Heller and Jim Heimann’s catalog of American toy advertising. The 528-page book features hundreds of vintage ads that sold dreams to kids and often served as a reflection of their time.

Have you joined the adult coloring book cult yet? Steven Rhodes’ wickedly funny drawings will have you reaching for your crayons to color kid-unfriendly parodies such as Death Metal Sing-Along, Alien Abduction Club, and Here Comes the Apocalypse, plus warped activities like occult career selector paper dolls.

Inspired by the long-running (and recently canceled) series, Millie De Chirico and Quatoyiah Murry’s book celebrates the campiest, kitschiest, and weirdest cult films of all time. It includes reviews, behind-the-scenes stories, photos, and other details about classics like Ganja and Hess, Polyester, Xanadu, and Mac and Me.

Mondo Books and authors Grady Hendrix and Chris Poggiali offer up a fantastic retrospective of 1970s kung fu movies. This encyclopedic 432-page book recounts the history of these martial arts classics, accompanied by hundreds of movie posters, ads, and archival images. A must-own for any serious martial arts buff.

This notebook is perfect for keeping track of the movies you’ve seen and taking notes. It’s got pre-lined prompts for details like the title, director, genre, and stars, along with your notes and ratings of each movie. The 6″ x 9″ journal has 100 pages and is available in paperback and hardcover versions.

Designer, writer, and engineer Marcin Wichary created this extensive visual history of keyboards and the people who use them. The two-volume set is packed with 1300 photos and numerous stories about the amazing mechanical device that changed the world in so many ways.

From the authors of Death & Co, the Cocktail Codex is no ordinary drink recipe book. It teaches home bartenders about the fundamental elements that go into a good cocktail and the relationships between drinks that share attributes. The approach encourages experimentation in creating your own concoctions.

Celebrate your love for music and print art with Taschen’s compact (6.5″ x 8.8″) but densely-packed 512-page compendium of album art. The book features classic images from more than 750 albums, along with a fact sheet listing the key artists involved in its creation.

Looking for a gift for a book lover who already has a full library? These solid wood coasters from Cutting Boredom make a great present for bookworms. They come in more than 20 different designs, each inspired by the cover of a classic piece of literature. Sold in sets of two or more.

Z2 Comics offers a visual retelling of some of “Weird Al” Yankovic’s greatest hits. The book features 20+ songs, each interpreted by a famous cartoonist. An oversized Deluxe Edition includes art prints, a vinyl slipmat, and collectors cards, while the Super Deluxe Edition is signed by Weird Al and packs more bonuses.

Every film fanatic needs Taschen’s Horror Cinema on their bookshelf. This 640-page book catalogs some of the most notable horror movies of all time, along with common themes, tropes, and mythologies of the genre. Whether you’re into zombies, psychopaths, or other kinds of monsters, there’s something for every horror fan.

This compact reference guide and field manual is packed with tips and tricks for surviving all kinds of disasters and emergencies. The Cargen Brothers’ 72-page mini book could save a life with helpful information on subjects like building a fire, first aid, knot tying, plant identification, hand signals, navigation, and more.

This fascinating book tells the stories behind the organs, appendages, and other bits attached to (or detached from) famous bodies. What’s the deal with Charles II of Spain’s jaw? What does Anne Boleyn’s heart reveal about the Crusades? Odd skulls, spleens, and breasts give an enlightening and entertaining view of history.

Written by ex-con Gustavo “Goose” Alvarez and actor Clifton Collins Jr., this unique cookbook offers up more than 65 recipes made by inmates using instant ramen and other items they could get from the commissary while incarcerated. Among the contributors: Slash, Shia LaBeouf, and Danny Trejo.

Don’t have the time or attention span to read books? Four Minute Books is a modern-day spin on CliffsNotes, summarizing popular and useful books down to their most essential information. A subscription gives you access to more than 1000 book summaries and 1000 audio titles, plus 12 new titles each month.

This amazing book is loaded with more than 100 cross-sections of vehicles and spaceships from the Star Wars universe. Each image features call-outs detailing the inner workings of the vehicles from every Star Wars feature film. Highlights include Boba Fett’s Slave I, Vader’s TIE Advanced X1, and a Republic Gunship.

This compendium from Phaidon combines and updates the three-volume Phaidon Design Classics into a single 592-page hardcover book. A must-own for appreciators of industrial design, the book showcases the most iconic and influential products and objects from the 17th to the 21st century.

After 98-year-old Lillian read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, filmmaker and creative director Chris Carboni interviewed her to ask some questions about the book. He then used interpretive AI technology to create images to accompany Lillian’s amusing and endearing descriptions of the story and its characters.

Author and audiophile Gideon Schwartz follows up the excellent Hi-Fi with a visual history of turntables and vinyl recordings. The 264-page hardcover includes hundreds of images of turntables, their stories, and the rise, fall, and rebirth of the medium.

Initially released in 1934 by author Edward Powys Mathers, the book Cain’s Jawbone is a fiendishly difficult mystery for puzzle fanatics. Your task: read the book’s 100 pages, cut them out and put them into the correct sequence to reveal six murders and identify their killers.

You’re Saying It Wrong podcast hosts Kathryn and Ross Petras authored this quirky book for trivia, history, and anatomy buffs. Told in chronological order, it explores milestones in history tied closely to human body parts, from Cleopatra’s nose to Ann Bolyeyn’s heart to George Washington’s fake teeth.

This 630-page hardcover book from Taschen compiles pristine copies of the first 20 stories of The Avengers. The anthology features Thor, Ant-Man, The Wasp, Hulk, and Iron Man as they joined forces in 1963. The Famous First Edition will get 5000 numbered copies, while the Collector’s Edition is limited to 1000.

This guidebook from Red Right Hand Comics teaches you everything you need to create your own pixelated works of art. It offers more than 200 pages of lessons on making sprites, backgrounds, animation, and ideas for an efficient workflow. Both the digital and hardback versions include access to a digital resource archive.