Designers and artists looking for a source of inspiration would do well to add Vault Editions‘ idea books to their library. This two-volume series features nearly 1000 engravings, etchings, and woodblock prints from the 17th through 19th centuries. It’s loaded with skulls, animals, and vintage objects and includes high-res downloads.
Ready to challenge your brain? Created by Google Software Engineering Manager and puzzle fanatic Willa Chen, this book is filled with 135 of the toughest puzzles money can buy. There’s a good variety, too, from cryptograms to word searches to Sudoku, crosswords, and more.
Just because you’re away from your kitchen doesn’t mean you can’t serve up an amazing meal for your family and friends. Emma Frisch’s cookbook for the outdoors includes recipes and menus and shopping and equipment lists to help make dining under the stars a genuinely memorable experience.
This 432-page hardcover book from Taschen explores the origins and evolution of iconic corporate logos. Graphic designers and history buffs will love exploring the more than 6000 logo designs from the 1800s to the 1940s, some of which are still in use today. It’s a great source of creative inspiration too.
Artist Isaac Dushku loves maps so much that he goes by the nickname Lord of Maps. After making a Highest Mountains Print that shows the tallest mountains in each US state, he teamed up with his brothers Gideon and Alex to create a book that captures the same idea using cutout pages. The Highpoints has a lay-flat binding for easy coffee-table viewing.
Video game and console collector Tristan Ibarra follows up his Video Game Field Guide with a four-volume compendium packed with nearly 2400 pages of consoles, handhelds, tabletops, and checklists for thousands of games, both popular and rare. Available in digital or hardcopy editions.
We rarely need to print things these days. But for the first 40+ years of personal computing, printers were commonplace. And they were some of the most frustrating pieces of equipment ever. The book Shitty Printers catalogs and rips apart some of the worst offenders, from cheap home inkjets to menacing tractor-feed machines.
James Beard Award-winning mixologist Toby Maloney and the bartenders of Chicago’s The Violet Hour created this 320-page guide to the fundamentals of cocktail making. You’ll learn about balancing ingredients, getting the right textures, aromas, and temperatures, then advance to making your own concoctions.
Syracuse University Libraries’ Preservation Department shows us how to save a water-logged book and restore it back to its original condition. All you need is some paper towels, a fan, and some weights. You should also store it in the freezer if you can’t work on it right away.
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia viewers know that Paddy’s Pub isn’t exactly known for its food quality. But here we are with an official Sunny cookbook, with recipes for dishes like Frank’s Rum Ham, Fat Mac’s Trash Bag Chimichangas, and Charlie’s Milk Steak, interspersed with photos and quotes from the long-running comedy. Pre-orders start shipping 9.26.23.
There’s much more that goes into brewing craft beer than grain, hops, yeast, and water. Some of the best and most creative beers incorporate other plants to create complex flavors and intoxicating aromas. Author Giuseppe Caruso’s 640-page book The Botany of Beer provides an illustrated guide to more than 500 plants used in brewing around the globe.
There’s something magical about nature guidebooks filled with illustrations and insights about the flora and fauna around us. From mountains to ocean shores, wetlands to deserts, How to Read the Wilderness: An Illustrated Guide to the Natural Wonders of North America blends art and science to reveal intimate details of wild places.
Author Jon Morris wrote this series of comic book history books, including silly superheroes like Doctor Hormone, freakish villains like Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man, and stupid sidekicks like Frosting the Bear. The books are packed with vintage art, backstories on the characters, and amusing commentary.
This collection of four books from wilderness expert and author Dave Canterbury includes everything you ever wanted to know about thriving in the wild. The combined reference guides include over 1000 pages of techniques for building shelters, trapping, gathering, and cooking, along with first aid and survival.
Artist Kendra Norton’s unique coloring book has no outlines for you to color in. Instead, it’s filled with abstract blobs of color, and you draw the lines. Whether you doodle dinosaurs, flowers, buildings, or goldfish, go where your imagination takes you. In addition to the original, there are also Through the Seasons and Mindful Journeys editions.
There are plenty of good books out there for honing your survival skills, but how many of them cover what to do if you’re held captive by furry creatures on Endor, stuck on an exploding Death Star, or frozen in carbonite? Well, you’re in luck, thanks to BBC culture editor Christian Blauvelt and his handy Star Wars survival guide.
Showcasing Nathan Myhrvold’s obsession with food, photography, and science, Food & Drink is a slip-cased art book collecting 200+ delicious photographs from the award-winning Modernist Bread and Modernist Pizza plus Myhvold’s Modernist Cuisine Gallery, the first gallery showing food photography by a single artist.
We always wondered what kind of cocktails Bruce Wayne and his guests were sipping at all those fancy parties. Now we know, thanks to Gotham City Cocktails, a book filled with adult beverages and tasty bar bites inspired by Batman, Joker, Poison Ivy, and other characters from the popular DC Comics series.
This 208-page reference book is packed with tips and tricks you can use to build your DIY abilities. You’ll pick up skills like building your own metal forge, working with glass, wiring basic circuits, screenprinting, and more. It’s also got a section on organizing your workshop for efficiency.
Warm weather is here, and there’s no better time to explore the country. Family camping and RV experts Stephanie and Jeremy Puglisi explore more than 300 of America’s best camping and glamping spots in and around national parks, monuments, and seashores. A must-have on any traveler’s bookshelf.
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.
Author Brian Barrett looks back at the history of the LEGO Minifigure and how it has evolved from a simple yellow figure into a pop culture icon. The 144-page hardcover book examines the evolution of the Minifig, along with interviews, essays, photos, infographics, and archival visuals celebrating these beloved plastic people.
This expansive reference guide from Chronicle Books provides detailed information on hundreds of tools. The 288-page book catalogs their uses and the differences between similar tools, arranged by function: measuring, cutting, fastening, and shaping.