Awesome Books

Originally published back in 1953, Hervey Garrett Smith’s book The Arts of the Sailor: Knotting, Splicing and Ropework is a great reference for mariners of all experience levels to learn about shipboard skills, along with detailed illustrations and directions for working with rope and tying various useful knots.

In 16th century France, a mysterious book was published, filled with illustrations of 120 strange monsters and not a single word of text. Video essayist Hochelaga explores the imagery of The Drolatic Dreams of Pantagruel and its creepy, grotesque, and comical creatures, and what they might have meant.

Not every drink needs to knock you on your ass. Author Kat Odell’s cocktail book offers up 50 recipes for festive drinks that taste delicious but are light on the alcohol. They’re perfect for a daytime party, a day at the beach, or just when you want something mellow and not too potent.

Solved all of the puzzles in The Master Theorem? This Elite puzzle book is even more challenging – offering 40 incredibly difficult Theorems to solve and five training puzzles to help you warm up your big brain. The escape room-style puzzles will test even the best code breakers and critical thinkers.

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.

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.

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.

Author Matt Kracht follows up on his hilarious Field Guide to Dumb Birds of North America with a guide for identifying stupid birds around the globe. The book is packed with colorful illustrations of the world’s birds, along with their annoying calls, stupid habits, and tacky markings.

Your boss might not always acknowledge your hard work, but you still deserve positive feedback. Author Robb Pearlman’s book is filled with 250 removable stickers that celebrate everyday achievements like successfully changing the toner in the printer, fixing your computer without I.T., and putting on pants for a Zoom call.

Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale is a frequent subject of book burnings. Fighting back at such censorship, Penguin Random House created a unique fireproof edition of the classic novel, and let the beloved author hit it with a flamethrower. The unburnable book is up for auction with proceeds benefitting PEN America.

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.

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.

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.

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.