Awesome Books

Created for lovers of contemporary art and cocktails, Art Boozel is sure to please with more than 50 mixed drinks, each inspired by a famous artist. Drinks include the Frida Kahlo with tequila and watermelon, the Salvador Dalí with Spanish sherry and sesame, and the Yayoi Kusama, a sweet-tart mix of gin, pumpkin, lime, and ginger.

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.

If you or someone you know is into difficult puzzles, The Master Theorem – A Book of Puzzles, Intrigue and Wit is sure to offer a challenge. It’s filled with more than 40 perplexing puzzles include ciphers, logic games, and visual puzzles, each of which requires smarts and creativity even to figure out where to start each one.

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.

Between 1888 and 1913, Romeyn Beck Hough collected specimens of wood to create what would become the de facto standard for studying trees and wood. Taschen got their hands on a pristine copy of the 14 volume set, and photographed each sample for this 768 page book. A fantastic gift for any artist or woodworker.

Founded by Tim Schafer, Double Fine Productions is the game studio behind adventures like Grim Fandango, Brütal Legend, Psychonauts, and Broken Age. This 280-page art book chronicles the studio’s history through concept art, stories, and interviews. The Legend Edition of the book gets a cloth cover with gold foil details.

Award-winning mixologist Masahiro Urushido (of NYC’s Katana Kitten) shares his knowledge of Japanese spirits and cocktails with 80 recipes that exemplify Japan’s contribution to the cocktail scene, both from his own bar and from Japanese mixologists. Urushido analyses the Japanese approach and demystifies ages-old techniques.

Here’s a fun alternative to traditional puzzle books. This two-volume book series is filled with challenging riddles that will exercise your grey matter. They’re enjoyable to solve on your own, but can be even more fun to figure out with friends. Grab the Kindle 3-pack and get Riddles for Smart Families too.

This book helps inquisitive minds of all ages understand all 118 elements of the periodic table and their place in the universe. It features lots of colorful charts and illustrations and explains the relationships between elements with similar attributes.

This coffee table book is filled with photos, illustrations, paintings, and stories about animal diversity. The collection includes images from experts like Charles Darwin and John James Audubon, alongside works from famous artists and photographers. Consider picking up Phaidon’s Anatomy and Universe to round out your collection.

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.

Books written by the dead, the insane, and the Devil himself. Books made from knots. Books written in blood and bound in skin. Edible books, wearable books, books written in ciphers. Filled with fascinating discoveries on every page, The Madman’s Library reveals the obscure histories of the strangest books ever made.

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.

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.

Artist Alex Solis created this hilariously warped “children’s” book which features cute and fuzzy animals doing what they do in real life – eating other smaller, cuter and fuzzier animals. Solis also made a coloring book along the same lines.

A compendium of the most hilariously wrong and creative student answers to tests, including the content of four of author Richard Benson’s best-selling humor books, along with 100 additional so-bad-they’re-good responses to test questions.

Bookniture’s tabletop stand is perfect for readers who enjoy multiple books at once. The illuminated plywood tower can hold up to five books, and keeps them open so you can pick up right where you left off. Pre-orders start shipping 8.2021.

This 450-page book is filled with bios, stats, and stories about more than 1200 characters from the Marvel universe. Whether you’re Team Avengers, Team X-Men, or Team Guardians of the Galaxy, all your faves are here, along with lesser-known characters like Squirrel Girl. We prefer hardcover, but it’s also on Kindle.

Celebrate your love for food and rock music with this 96-page cookbook filled with recipes inspired by rock music. The book features pun-worthy meals like ZZ Chop (Sharp-Dressed Lamb), Ramenstein (Du Hast Pork), and Fleetwood Mac & Cheese (You Can Cook Your Own Way), with fun illustrations from thirty great artists.

If the only knots you know how to tie are your shoelaces and a necktie, then you need this book. Authors Geoffrey Budworth and Jason Dalton provide helpful hints on picking the right knot for the job, along with detailed instructions for tying 200 practical knots used in boating, hiking, fishing, climbing, and more.

Emergency room physician, U.S. Air Force veteran, and NBC Senior Medical Correspondent John Torres, MD authored this guide to help us prepare for the worst. The 240-page book includes essential advice on surviving and saving lives in natural disasters, wildlife encounters, accidents, terrorist attacks, and more.

Author Devon Fredericksen presents a comprehensive guide to spending time in the great outdoors. This 304-page hardcover book is packed with useful tips, techniques, and illustrated advice for camping safely and successfully – from choosing your gear to packing, setting up, and enjoying your campsite.

Celebrate your love for all things LEGO with this extensive history of Minifigures. The 256-page hardcover book includes detailed photos of more than 2,000 of the most popular and rarest Minifigs dating back to their first appearance in 1978. The book also comes with an exclusive orange spaceman Minifigure for your collection.

Yoshi’s Well Read Collection includes wallets for book lovers. The handmade leather bi-folds have appliques of famous book spines on the outside, along with five credit card slots, a zippered coin pocket, and a bill compartment. They come with classics or science fiction art, as well as card holder and keyring versions.

We’ve featured lots of blacksmithing videos over the years, and perhaps we’ve inspired a few of you to try it for yourself. Ryan Ridgway’s book provides step-by-step instructions and photos for 40 projects you can do with basic equipment at home. You’ll also learn about the science and history of blacksmithing along the way.

Geek out and expand your tech skills with this collection of e-books from No Starch Press. Pay as little as a buck to unlock the first four books or more than $18 to access the full library, which includes books on problem-solving, development strategies, and practical programming in Java, Python, C, C++, Rust, and more.