Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with gift and book

i'm pretty sure she already owns gray's anatomy.

kidsleepy — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 07:25:46 -0800

What's a good book for a med student? I'm looking for gift ideas for a friend who is halfway through medical school. I'm giving her sister, who is a student at FIT, a copy of the Sartorialist. What's something similar (coffee table book-esque), but medicine or health related?

Need Help Reading Vidal

Jireel — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 11:15:41 -0800

What Gore Vidal book would you recommend to start with / which of his books has been your favourite ? (Could apply to non-american readers). ...am asking as his tone and general outview seem to match what a friend is looking for in writing. Yet he seems to have explored quite a few writinggenres, and i'd like to let Friend discover him as a gift.
Thanks for your help

Book-Hungry Mother

Weebot — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 14:23:23 -0800

[Xmas Filter] I'm doing my Christmas shopping, and I'm a bit stuck on what I need to get my mother. She likes culinary-cultural history books, preferably with recipes. Suggestions? She's been really into these books for a while now, and I was hoping to get some suggestions. She's gone through Salt, Cod, and all the other Mark Kurlansky books, as well as Lizzy Collingham's Curry and David Kamp's The United States of Argula.

She has also been a fan of food memoirs like Tender at the Bone as well as travel books with a strong culinary bent. You get the idea. So, any suggestions?

What are the best books on and of underwater photography?

kwaller — Sun, 04 May 2008 20:12:21 -0800

A great book about/of underwater photography, for the gifting? The giftee is a talented amateur photographer who'd like to branch out--and into the deep. He's working on getting good housing for his digital SLR, and the boyfriend and I would like to provide some inspiration. We're looking to spend around $40–75.

So I'd like to find two good books: a guide with solid tips for underwater photography, and a gorgeous coffee table book, maybe concentrating on the Caribbean.

Does the hive mind have any suggestions? I've perused Amazon, but first-hand experience would be fantastic.

personalised book for gift

AnnaRat — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 21:18:04 -0800

My friend is getting married sometime this year, and I was thinking of doing a photo book, made up of my favourite recipes and my photos of the food (we are both into cooking). What else could I include in such a book? I don't want cutesy, nor religious. But are there other things I could include in the book? Words of wisdom for marriage and keeping house (can be a little tongue in cheek)? Handy references?

What's hot in Hangul?

ignignokt — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 22:29:39 -0800

Korean Book Gift Filter: What Korean books (meaning books written in Hangul) should I get for my parents? I figured I'd swing by the Korean bookstore tomorrow to get gifts for the folks. (Yeah, I know it's late, but they're not really that big on Christmas, so I wasn't all that .)

Unfortunately, while I can read Korean phonetically, I don't know the language well enough to be able to tell if a book would be interesting to them or not. So, I was hoping someone could suggest something. If not, I'll probably just pick books that are translations of originally English books that I know something about.

They're not super picky. They both enjoy popular fiction. My dad leans slightly toward books about history and religion, and my mom toward biographies and stories of personal struggle.

So what's good?

Recommend a book for Mom that lists old movies

username68 — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 17:18:19 -0800

For a Friend: Recommend a book that will list all the movies my mother would have seen back in the 50s, 60s, and 70s if she'd had the time. My friend writes:

My mother's often said that, due to dating, socializing, working, attending school, getting married, having kids, and not having cable until 2004, she missed an awful lot of movies that she would liked to have seen. When we got a VCR in the eighties, she saw some of them: I
remember that we rented a lot of Hitchcock, for example. But to this day, whenever a TV show is running down a list of great movies or a newscaster is giving the obituary for a famous actor from a bygone era, she invariably checks off more than half the titles with "I never got to see that" or "that was during the time when I just didn't get to go to the movies." Of course I've volunteered to requisition some of those old movies through Netflix, but it's tough for her to generate a list of specific titles. She always says "There were so many," and "there were so many years where I didn't even know what was out."

For Christmas, I'd like to give her a book that would list all of the movies from her era so that she can
(a) recall the ones she's seen,
(b) identify the ones she hasn't and (c) read little about all of them.

My Amazon searches have not filled me with hope and confidence. I'd really like to get some recommendations from you guys.

[Oh, and I ask for a book rather than internet resources because my mother just won't spend that much time in front of a computer. However if you have internet based resources (or maybe just some IMDB or Netflix search tricks) you'd like to recomend, please do; I might be able to use them myself or print out selected pages to supplement the book.]

Ideally, this book will:

1. List most or all of the popular and critically well recieved
mainstream American movies released between 1950 and 1980. The book should provide a pretty accurate idea of what people were watching and talking about during those time periods. It shouldn't restrict itself to only Academy Award winners or some sort of "Best Of" list.

2. Focus on the whos, whats, whens, and wheres rather than on critical evaluation. My mother wants to know that Famous Actress slept with her co-star in Movie XYZ or that said movie made 10 million at the box office in 1970. She doesn't care whether Roger Ebert liked the movie or not.

3. Not try to list everything that played in theaters. Mom won't be interested in the grade B, exploitation, cult, or Japanese monster movies. Mom won't sift through a list of 7000
titles . Obviously there'll be some chaff, but if there's too much, the book will sit and collect dust.

4. Include enough pictures, background and gossip magazine type info, story synopses, etc. to jog her memory, especially when it comes to titles she may not have thought about in decades.

5. Be fun to peruse.

When she opens the gift, I'll let her know you guys helped. Thanks.

What are some good dental anthroplogy texts?

Loto — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 18:17:10 -0800

What are some good books focusing on dental anthropology and evolution? A very close friend of mine is planning on attending dental school soon but started her academic career, and maintains a healthy interest, in anthropology. I would very much like to get her a book or two about dental anthropology the evolution of teeth for Christmas, however I have very little clue about the field myself.

I've done cursory Amazon searches and have found a few books that fit the requirements, but I don't know enough to be able to tell if they are actually good. She knows quite a bit of terminology and such already, so highly technical books are definitely welcome.

Any dentists or anthropologists here have suggestions as to what would be a good book?

Architecture book for a wonderful grandpa.

Sreiny — Sun, 28 Oct 2007 08:53:22 -0800

Giftfilter: I am looking for a book for my grandfather, a retired architect, as a thank you gift for building me a desk. So my grandpa built me a beautiful eames-esque desk and I'd like to get him a thank you gift. I'm looking for a substantial, well-designed book for him, something that is a piece of art in it of itself.

My grandpa was an architect from the late 40's through the 90's. He worked in the Chicago area, designing many schools and churches. He loves the work of Fay Jones, says his work is "Frank Lloyd Wright done right." But he owns the only big book on him. He loves Mondrian, (not an architect I know, but some background) So it seems he has some Modernist leanings, but doesn't like much fine art after. He doesn't particularly love Frank Lloyd Wright, but likes Louis Sullivan.

So I'm looking for some suggestions for architects or architecture books (or other gifts I suppose) that he may enjoy. I live in Chicago, and was at Prairie Avenue Books yesterday, but it's a bit overwhelming if you don't know what you're looking for. I don't mind spending $100-200 if it's something that he would really enjoy. I'm a graphic designer, so A) I'm kind of picky about buying really well-designed books and B) I know how hard it is for people to buy something about your field for you.

Thanks!

Russian History in Book Form: A Quest for a Gift

The Great Big Mulp — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 17:15:12 -0800

Can you help me find a book which traverses Russian history from, well, as far back as possible up to the Russian Revolution of 1917? My specialladyfriend is a little bit of a Russophile and would like to know a bit more about the history of Russia before the Bolsheviks. So, this is my quest for a Christmas (Hanukkah, really) gift she'll enjoy. I think she'd prefer something well-written and not too textbooky. Any suggestions in this would be superly appreciated.

Does anyone know the kind of book I'm aiming for?

Ash3000 — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 12:03:52 -0800

Are there any books you think a smart, grieving preteen would find comforting or of use? More details inside. I'll try to get what the situation is with as few details as possible, unless further information is really needed.

I have a relative, who is 13 years old to my 22. We'll call him Bobby. Bobby is a smart, shy and sweet kid, who loves all sorts of standard 12-year-old-things (e.g. the red sox and the star wars prequel trilogy) and is very quietly perceptive of people around him. He's a great kid, and the oldest of three.

I was planning, for this holiday season (the end of chanukah, specifically, when I get back home from college) to give everyone a book as a gift this year - nothing too bank-breaking as I'm a starving student, but something I thought each person would genuinely enjoy and perhaps find thought-provoking, suited to their interests. Thinking of the books I might have wished someone handed me in the 10-13-year-old area, I was originally going to go with either
Surely you’re joking, Mr. Feynman!, Culture Jam, or Good Omens.

In the past three weeks, his grandmother, whom he is close to (and who is way too young for this) has gotten very sick, very quickly, and is likely to pass this week. All of a sudden, my suggested books seem a little lacking somehow - each is either flippant or political, a little empty under the circumstances.

I don't want to give him a book which is blatantly like, "So you're a grieving preteen, eh?" or anything transparently about a grandparent's death, etc etc. Nothing pat and tacky and thoughtless. But maybe something which, though it's not on the surface "about death," can provide some measure of comfort to a person in this situation. I guess it's more a feeling than a theme I'm thinking about. I have come up with three that seem somewhat what I'm aiming for:

Dear Mr. Henshaw, by Beverly Cleary,
Danny The Champion of the World, by Roald Dahl, and
The Little Prince, by Antoine St.-Exupery

I guess the best way to put it is a book which has both wonderfulness and melancholy, though the former ultimately triumphs; a book that as a smart pre-teen makes you both grin and cry but ultimately finish feeling like the world is an okay place. Does anyone have any thoughts on this matter, or even know what I'm trying to get at? This might just be a stupid idea, I'm in the middle of grieving myself.

French-language print media gift for a 16-year-old

mdonley — Sun, 26 Nov 2006 18:02:00 -0800

Any suggestions for cool French-language print media (comics, magazines, etc.) which would be interesting to an enthusiastic 16-year-old American in his third year of studying French in high school? Books are probably beyond his level of fluency, and I'm looking for something that's designed for native speakers, not something to teach French in an explicit way.

I'm thinking there must be a magazine (French, Quebecois, whatever) or something out there that wouldn't be too challenging to read and would be interesting enough in its own right to him that he'd look forward to checking it out every month. Alternatively, anything comic-y would probably work too.

He's into manga/anime/cosplay, J-pop, cooking, video games, and comedians like David Sedaris (but he's already got all of his books) and the various compilers of McSweeney's "Lists" and "Reviews of New Food."

Finally, he's my brother, and I speak French too, so if I have to navigate some French-language web page to get this thing, that's cool. I've seen the post about the person who wanted to get a 10-year-old girl some French-language magazines, but those suggestions don't seem grown-up enough.

Merci!

Where can I get a first european edition of Murakami's Wind Up Bird Chronicles?

spec80 — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 14:01:01 -0800

I need helping trying to find a first European edition of a Haruki Murakami book. When my boyfriend was younger, he went on a family trip around Europe. To pass time on the trains, he bought The Wind Up Bird Chronicles by Haruki Murakami. I am pretty sure it was a first edition and in hardcover. Unfortunately, he accidentally left his copy on one of the trains.

He got a paperback copy just to finish the book and he still has it but I would like to try to get him a first European edition for Christmas. I am completely fine with getting him a first American edition from alibris or abebooks if I can't locate a european edition, but I kind of want to bring it up to eleven and make it that much more special.

Can anyone suggest ways I can go about obtaining this?

Where is the proper spot to sign a book or leave comments?

birdlips — Wed, 26 Jul 2006 08:05:15 -0800

Where is the proper spot to sign a book or leave comments? I am trying to figure out where the correct place to sign a book is. Not as the author, although, I wonder that as well. I am wondering where does a person sign a book when giving it away as a gift or when leaving comments (like thank you) when someone lends you a book? Does it differ with hardcover vs. paperback?

Finally, is it considered “tacky” to sign a book if you are not the author?

What's a good book for a novice wine connoisseur?

turbanhead — Tue, 03 Feb 2004 10:51:09 -0800

Looking for a good book as an introduction to learning about wines. This will be a gift to a novice who wants to learn the basics and then proceed from there.