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Gift Books
Recommended
These gift books offer more than intellectual pleasures
I NEVER THOUGHT e-books would catch on because I believe books are as much a sensual experience as an intellectual one. The cover design, the type, the feel of fine paper underneath your fingertips, even the satisfying weight of a book — a beautiful book draws you in, sharpens your focus and even calms you down.
That's especially true with gift books, with their inspired combinations of art, the printed word and, in one case here, the spoken word. My biases are toward poetry, birds, flowers, maps and tomes that illuminate the complicated world we live in. Here's a recommended list for the upcoming holidays:
"Flora: An Illustrated History of the Garden Flower," by Brent Elliott (Firefly Books, $60). A gorgeous book that any gardener will love. Elliott, librarian and archivist for Britain's Royal Horticultural Society, traces the history of the discovery and introduction of plant species by European explorers. Each of the stunning botanical prints by the great names in botanical art is paired with the history of the featured variety.
"Poetry Speaks," edited by Elise Paschen and Rebekah Presson Mosby, narrated by Charles Osgood (Sourcebooks, $49.95). Simply an amazing package. There's a volume of more than 100 years of the great poets, plus a three-compact-disk set of 42 giants of poetry reading their own work. They include Alfred, Lord Tennyson reading "The Charge of the Light Brigade" (recorded in 1888 on a wax cylinder), William Butler Yeats and T.S. Eliot. Hearing Edna St. Vincent Millay read "Childhood is the Kingdom Where Nobody Dies" in her clipped but vibrant voice, or Robert Frost intoning "Nothing Gold Can Stay" in his flinty New England diction, you get a sense of the force and power that fueled these writers' immense talents.
"The Sibley Guide to Bird Life & Behavior," written and illustrated by David Allen Sibley (Knopf, $45). Why birds do what they do — a beautifully illustrated companion to last year's "The Sibley Guide to Birds." "Rare and Elusive Birds of North America," by William Burt (Universe, $39.95). Beautiful shots of the scarcest birds alive, and the entertaining story of how Burt found them. (One chapter on warblers is subtitled "Some Nasty Places.") And "Bird Hand Book," photographs by Victor Schrager, text by A.S. Byatt (Graphis, $60). These platinum prints of live birds in the hands of ornithologists have an eerie timelessness. Byatt ("Possession") is one of the foremost wordsmiths in the English language.
"Historical Atlas of the North Pacific Ocean: Maps of Discovery and Scientific Exploration 1500-2000," by Derek Hayes (Sasquatch Books, $40). The story of our own watery backyard, told through maps, from fanciful antiques to modern satellite images. A worthy companion to Hayes' "Historical Atlas of the Pacific Northwest." Hayes also has a new book out about the explorer who crossed the North American continent (the Canadian part) 12 years before Lewis and Clark: "First Crossing: Alexander Mackenzie, His Expedition Across North America, and the Opening of the Continent" (Sasquatch, $40).
"Harry Benson: Fifty Years in Pictures," by Harry Benson (Abrams, $49.50). Against so many photo books that look back over the 20th century, this one is set apart by Benson's sense of humor and the subject mix of celebrity, newsmaker and anonymous faces marked by history.
"On Firm Ground," photographs by Larry Kanfer (University of Illinois Press, $39.95). This one is for your homesick Midwesterner: pictures of the "ordinary" landscape of the rural Midwest, made extraordinary by a master photographer.
"A Gap in Nature: Discovering the World's Extinct Animals," by Tim Flannery and Peter Schouten (Atlantic Monthly Press, $34.95). A beautiful book chronicling 103 animals that have become extinct since 1492. How they lived, how they died. Schouten's illustrations are stunning.
"The Universe in a Nutshell," by Stephen Hawking (Bantam, $35) and "Circuits: How Electronic Things Work," edited by Henry Fountain, introduction by Andy Rooney (St. Martin's, $39.95). Two books for the aspiring smarty pants in your family; the volume by Hawking ("A Brief History of Time") explains, with cool charts and graphs, the universe; the second, also with cool charts and graphs, explains everything from laser tag to global positioning systems.
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"Earth From Above: 365 Days," photos by Yann Arthus-Bertrand, text by Hervé Le Bras (Abrams, $29.95). This is a smaller version of an earlier volume, with one stunning aerial photograph for each day of the year, along with cogent captions. Not just pretty pictures — sites like the sole building at Hiroshima's center to survive the bomb blast are included, and the text highlights environmental threats faced by the featured spots.
"Imagining Space: Achievements, Predictions, Possibilities 1950-2050," by Roger Launius and Howard McCurdy, foreword by Ray Bradbury (Chronicle Books, $35) and "Visions of Spaceflight: Images from the Ordway Collection," selected and with an introduction by Frederick I. Ordway, foreword by Arthur C. Clarke (Four Walls, Eight Windows, $50). Both of these books use images from the imagination as well as photo documentation to chronicle humanity's ongoing fascination with space exploration. One is billed as "Inspiration for the next set of dreamers." We hope so.
Finally, for the kids:
"Little Lit: Strange Stories for Strange Kids," edited by Art Spiegelman & Françoise Mouly (Joanna Cotler Books, $19.95). Spiegelman is the graphics genius behind "Maus." Mouly, his wife, is art director of the New Yorker. This collection of comic strips by artists such as Maurice Sendak will keep your kids engrossed from Seattle to Portland. Second volume in the series.
"The Wildlife of Star Wars: A Field Guide," by Terryl Whitlach and Bob Carrau (Chronicle Books, $40). My kids could not get enough of this faux natural history of the many critters depicted in the Star Wars movies. The only problem: My 7-year-old now wants a voorpack for Christmas. What do I tell him?
Mary Ann Gwinn is The Seattle Times' book editor.
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