« 50 in 50. Kindle lust | Main | What I want for Christmas: Inspiration »
December 21, 2009
Last-minute book (and non-book) gift ideas
‘Tis the season to wrap gifts, drink eggnog and munch on cookies—not read business books. So I’m suspending my 50-books-in-50-days book reviews for the holidays; you’re all too busy ho-ho-ho-ing and fa-la-la-la-la-ing to pay attention, anyway.
But, you might ask, what about last-minute shopping? Should you buy your boss or colleague or friend a business book as a holiday gift?
In a word: Don’t. Step away from the shopping cart and remember two things: 1. People want gifts that make them smile, not those they have to add to their to-do list. And 2. Your gift should broaden your recipient’s horizons, not reinforce accepted wisdom. (Yes, there are a few books that rock your world, but most are deeply conventional.)
So, let’s try Plan B: Out-of-the-box gift ideas that will delight the recipient and provide inspiration to help him or her do great work in 2010. Here are two:
1. A pop-up book. November marked the passing of the “king of the pop-up book,” Waldo H. Hunt, at age 88. As the New York Times wrote in his obituary, “An advertising man turned novelty-book packager, Mr. Hunt was almost single-handedly responsible for the postwar revival of the pop-up book in the United States. For decades the country’s leading producer of the books, he is widely credited with having taken a long dormant, long marginalized and long unprofitable publishing genre and making it a thriving, ubiquitous industry.”
What’s special about pop-up books? They’re visual, three-dimensional, interactive and kinetic. So they turn the notion of “reading” books on its ear, and offer a completely absorbing experience (which you can’t say about many books or, indeed, about most communication). You can find pop-up books on nearly every topic; for example, here’s one on modern architecture.
2. A year’s subscription to a service magazine. What medium is the best at offering readers useful and usable information? The answer is easy: service magazines like Good Housekeeping, Men’s Health, Popular Mechanics and Cooking Light? These magazines are not just informative—they help readers accomplish something.
As a result, they are not only terrific examples of best-practice communication; they also make great gifts. My colleague Kristin asked her Secret Santa to get her a subscription to Real Simple, and was delighted when he did so. Kristin will receive 12 issues of helpful hints. What could be better than that?
For more ideas, see tomorrow’s blog.
Posted by Alison Davis at December 21, 2009 04:49 PM
(Find me around the web)
