Books

“From what age can babies… fight to the death?” Justin Hook gathered a collection of more than 200 of the most amusing search engine autocomplete suggestions he could find. While you wait for the book to arrive this May, try a round or two of his Google Feud.

The Field Guide to Dumb Birds of North America is the perfect reference book for identifying our flying friends (and enemies). It features 50 snarky descriptions of annoying, dumb, and stupid looking avians you might find in your backyard.

Covogoods’ Covobox 2.0 is a hidden storage box that’s made of real books on its front side. It’s perfect for hiding gadgets, cables and other small items on a shelf. The half-box slides out for easy access. You can customize your order’s size and color.

It might look like a stool, but this is actually a book. Designed by Mike Mak, Bookniture’s cardboard honeycomb structure can hold over a ton, and folds up into a book for storage when not in use. Measures 13.5″h x 14″ dia when in use, 13″h x 7″w x 1.5″d when folded.

xkcd creator Randall Munroe’s latest book offers solutions to real-world problems. But don’t expect to get advice you can actually use. Instead, you’ll receive overly-complicated and impractical methods, in what he calls “world’s least useful self-help book.” Drops 9/3/19.

Gestalten’s It’s a Gas!: The Allure of the Gas Station is a coffee table book dedicated to the “temples of mobility.” It charts the history of the gas station and features some of the most unique and interesting examples all over the world.

Apollo VII – XVII showcases the photography of the astronauts who were part of the Apollo missions. The book contains 225 photos in large print format. The Collector’s Edition also tackles the astronauts’ photography training and equipment.

Auto expert Basem Wasef’s latest book is packed with history lessons, technical details, and illustrations of some of the world’s greatest exotic cars, from the sexy Ferrari 250 GTO, to the ballsy 1980s Ferrari Testarossa, to the high-tech hybrid McLaren P1.

A 670-page anthology about the history of Sneaker Freaker, as well as the shoe that has transcended genres. It features the biggest sneaker moments and everything from famous to obscure sneaker brands. A metallic red version is available here.

DC Comics’ illustrated reference details theories on the physiology and abilities of the publisher’s most famous super-powered characters. As if that wasn’t interesting enough, it’s presented as a sketchbook created by Batman.

“Good design is as little design as possible.” The revised edition of legendary product designer Dieter Rams’ previously sold out book. In Less But Better, Rams talks about his “ideas, criteria and methods”, and how he came up with his now famous principles for good design.

Like to build structures with LEGO? Brick expert Alice Finch’s book is packed with over 1000 ideas for creating detailed brickwork, windows, columns, staircases, and lots of other architectural details for your models.

(PG-13) The New Yorker Encyclopedia of Cartoons: A Semi-serious A-to-Z Archive contains almost 3,000 cartoons from over a century of publication. The illustrations are split into two volumes, 250 categories and 1,600 pages. Also in deluxe and as an ebook.

Taschen’s book Rocky: The Complete Films chronicles the making of the various Rocky movies, up until Creed. It features interviews, on-set photos and other archival material. The book also comes with a scan of Sylvester Stallone’s handwritten script for Rocky.

Evan Amos’ book The Game Console charts the evolution of video game hardware. It features full-color photographs of 86 consoles, including their inner components, starting with the Magnavox Odyssey and ending with the current generation (except the Switch).

Erin Lowry explains (in very relatable ways, and with true stories) how to avoid being a complete financial fool, avoid being mystified by money and be the master of your hunned dollar bills y’all, in her book Broke Millenial.

Expert LEGO designer and builder Jeff Friesen presents an amazing book for LEGO fanatics, architecture fanatics, and anyone who enjoys building things. It includes plans for building 50 different models as part of 8 fantastic LEGO micro cities. Drops 10/30/18.

Published by Taschen, Michael Ochs’ 1,000 Record Covers showcases a thousand of the most beautiful and memorable vinyl record cover sleeves from the 1960’s to the 1990’s. Also available on Amazon.

Is your kid good at spelling? Throw ’em a curve ball with P Is for Pterodactyl: The Worst Alphabet Book Ever, an A to Z guide to a few of the many quirks of the English language, with its silent consonants and other rule-breaking pronunciations. (Thanks Nathan!)

Do you aspire to someday make an awesome LEGO railway like this one? Holger Matthes’ book could be the place to start. The hardcover book features 248 pages packed with the history of LEGO trains, and instructions for building your own working LEGO railroad.

Nintendo’s Super Mario Bros. Encyclopedia covers the first 17 games in the series, from the original Super Mario Bros. to Super Mario 3D World. It contains information about major and minor characters, spinoff games and more. There’s also a limited edition.

Inspired by a design submitted by Grant Davis and Jason Allemann, this 859-piece LEGO kit lets builders create two different scenes inside the “pages” of a pop-up book, each based on a classic fairy tale – Little Red Riding Hood or Jack and the Beanstalk. Drops 11/1/18.

Gestalten’s The Current: New Wheels for the Post-Petrol Age looks at the history and evolution of electric motorcycles, bicycles, and everything in between. It showcases some of the best and most unique examples of this two-wheeled revolution.

A fantastic collection of artwork and history from the Dungeons & Dragons franchise. The hardcover book includes over 700 pieces of art from the game’s core books, supplements, modules, concepts, and merch. A deluxe special edition includes posters and other bonuses.

Dinosaur Comics creator Ryan North wants to be competent if he ever became a time traveler. So he wrote How to Invent Everything, a funny but informative history guide that will help time travelers rebuild civilization in case their journey goes awry.

Written by YouTuber Luke Goodman aka Out of Darts, The NERF Blaster Modification Guide is an unofficial handbook that has everything you need to know about modding NERF weapons, from the basics to more advanced processes such as 3D printing.

The perfect gift book for adventure and travel junkies, Scott McNeely & Arthur Mount’s book is packed with dozens of ideas for unique experiences and destinations, from driving to the bottom of the Earth, to running a marathon against horses, to tomato fights in Brazil.

Taschen, George Lucas, and Lucasfilm present The Star Wars Archive, a series of books about the making of the movies. The 604 page Volume 1 covers Episodes IV to VI, with “script pages, production documents, concept art, storyboards, on-set photos, stills, and posters.”

Ease the wait for Rick and Morty‘s fourth season with Adult Swim’s The Art of Rick and Morty book. It contains never before seen sketches and designs for the show’s characters, details of the writer’s room and more. It’s also available as an eBook.

Mike Warren entertains and educates with his YouTube channel Cut in Half, where he slices open everyday objects with a waterjet cutter so we can see what’s inside. He’s releasing a book containing photos of dozens of his work, along with text that explains the object’s parts.