Awesome Books

Author Nick Duerden interviewed 50 popular musicians, including Bob Geldof, Stewart Copeland, and Robbie Williams, to learn about the psychological, physical, and financial impact of coming down off of the high of success. The print edition drops 6.28.22, but you can buy the Kindle edition now.

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. Made from birch plywood with USB-powered LED lighting.

Budding artists are often encouraged to draw trees for quick sketching success. Drawing Trees branches out from that lesson with 30 meditative guided drawings of trees, leaves, and other identifiers. Trace the images with a pen or pencil to grow your skills and knowledge of tree species from Black Walnut to White Ash.

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.

LEGO Master Builders plan their projects before snapping together a single brick. This deluxe notebook has gridded and dotted pages for sketching ideas, along with building tips, goal trackers, and LEGO facts to help get your creative juices flowing. Its customizable cover helps set the mood for your idea sessions.

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 little plastic people.

Andymation shows off a series of awesome pop-up books from Japanese artist Yusuke Oono. The books feature intricate papercut art that offers a 360º scene fully opened, with dozens of vistas when flipping through its pages. Designs include Mount Fuji, Earth and Moon, Hokusai Sparrow Dance, Snow White, and Snowy World.

The 1,500-edition What Does Regret Mean? is a hypervisual retrospective of one of the world’s most outrageous bands. Aaron Tanner’s arty scrapbook features a cacophony of photos, flyers, and thoughts from contemporaries like Jello Biafra, Rob Zombie, and Henry Rollins, plus a repro of the band’s deranged ‘zine, Strange VD.

This boxed gift set for drink enthusiasts includes eight mini-notebooks, each dedicated to a single spirit: whisky, rum, gin, vodka, tequila, champagne, sherry, and amaro, along with cocktail recipes and room to jot down your own concoctions. Includes 100 total drink ideas.

Mardi Gras is almost here, and there’s no better time of the year if you enjoy the colorful and sweet carnival treats. Author Matt Haines and photographer Randy Krause Schmidt cataloged more than 150 unique versions of the king cake, accompanied by the stories of the talented bakers who make them.

No matter where your outdoor travels take you, it’s essential to brush up on your survival skills. Jason Marsteiner’s book provides a solid foundation for adventurers of all experience levels. It offers step-by-step guides for critical skills like building fires, trapping game, setting up a campsite, and various lifesaving scenarios.

T-Pain teamed up with food and beverage expert Maxwell Britten to create this 144-page book filled with cocktails inspired by the musician’s life and career. Each of the 50 drinks has been selected as a reflection of one of his songs, offering a variety of unique and imaginary concoctions sure to please any cocktail connoisseur.

Chef Ferran Adrià’s brain-trust the elBullifoundation compiled this mouth-watering 416-page encyclopedia of images, menus, reference text, and the history of breakfast. Along the way, it compares the importance of the first meal of the day and how it differs around the globe.

Looking for a real challenge? Look no further than illustrator Tim Jeffs‘ coloring books, each of which includes highly-detailed greyscale animal images, with lots of tight spaces for you to embellish. Each book has 25 images, printed on high quality paper and a lay-flat binding. Jeffs also offers coloring lessons in his Etsy shop.

These connect-the-dot puzzle books are much more challenging than most, with each design made from an average of 1,000 dots. The first book’s 30 images include the Statue of Liberty, an Egyptian Pharoah, and a Day of the Dead sugar skull. There’s also an Ultimate Dot-to-Dot Animals edition.

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.

Do you know how you can improve any item? Give it a backside. Brian Cook’s literally cheeky book Butts on Things is loaded with more than 200 illustrations of objects bestowed with a fresh pair of buns. From tacos to ice cream to a cup of coffee, everything looks better with buttocks and a buttcrack.

An essential reference guide for setting up your own blacksmith workshop and working with metal. The first half of author Nicholas Wicks’ book covers shop safety, equipment, and techniques, while the second half offers 55 simple projects like tools, hardware, utensils, and decorative objects you can create.

Are you feeling stressed out? Perhaps you could use a little light reading material to help ease your tension. This parody kid’s book is filled with sensory pleasures like the fur on a soft puppy dog, a cozy warm blanket… and swearing like a truck driver.

Puebco’s library of weathered and tattered books look completely realistic, but they’re actually secret storage boxes. To make their contents even less appealing to would-be thieves, they come in such fascinating titles as “3208 Industrial Engine Parts Book” and “Rapid Identification (Spot Testing) of Some Metals and Alloys.”

Star Wars fans can dive deep into three iconic spacecraft with these Haynes Owners Workshop Manuals. The books delve into the design, engineering, and inner workings of the Millennium Falcon, X-Wing Fighter, and TIE Fighter. There’s also a Death Star manual.

Gorillaz co-creator Jamie Hewlett presents a 288-page coffee table book filled with new interpretations of 2D, Murdoc, Niccals, Noodle, and Russel Hobbs, by 40 fellow artists and friends like Craig McCracken, Jack Black, and Robert Smith. Printed and bound with luxury art paper in Verona, Italy. Pre-orders ship starting 4.2022.

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.

A comprehensive history of one of video gaming’s greatest icons, Pac-Man. This 340-page hardcover book is packed with concept designs, archival imagery, and stories from the game’s designers, developers, and marketers. The Collector’s Edition includes a slipcase, a Pac-Man Fever record, and an arcade token.

Cursing is f**king charming when it’s cross-stitched or daintily embroidered. Julie Jackson, OG of the Subversive Cross Stitch movement, continues the snarky DIY trend with Super Subversive Cross Stitch, 50 easy-to-follow patterns including: Not today, Satan; Let the good times be gin; What fresh hell is this? and more.

Part of DK’s Big Ideas Simply Explained series, The Astronomy Book is a great way to learn about a typically dense subject. The book explores the history of astronomy, space exploration, and the concepts surrounding astrophysics in terms that anyone can understand.