Need inspiration for Christmas presents? Try these.
Books have always been popular Christmas presents. But just like other presents, many givers can completely misread the needs and likes of the recipients. We often fall into the trap of giving the most popular or most heavily promoted books. And it turns out we rarely read them.
Many people have asked me recently for recommendations for good books either for themselves or for loved ones. So, here are a few ideas for possible Christmas presents this year.
We have kicked around many books this year that have explored the irrationality of human behaviour but one that stands out as readable, interesting and thought provoking would be Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behaviour This is an ideal gift for anyone who is fascinated by how people behave.
Robert Cialdini’s ‘Influence’ is a real classic but this book, Yes! 50 Secrets from the Science of Persuasion, is a more up-to-date and accessible take on this material. And because it’s broken into 50 individual fascinating stories, it’s ideal for those of you who like to read in the bathroom!
Christmas time is, apparently, all about celebration and good cheer, so what better time to be reading about how to be happier! In Happier: Can you learn to be happy?, Tal Ben-Shahar shares some of the learnings from his popular class at Harvard on this very topic. This book is easy to read and provides us with some pointers as to how we can be happier. Only problem here is to make sure the gift recipient doesn’t think you’re saying they’re a grumpy so-and-so.
Once upon a time, it was very common to see a Compendium of some description given as a gift at Christmas. Just like Annuals of our favourite comics, it was the kind of book you only tended to see at Christmas. If you’re buying a book for a new business owner this year, then you could do a lot worse than this compendium of business wisdom from Guy Kawasaki called Reality Check: The Irreverent Guide to Outsmarting, Outmanaging and Outmarketing Your Competition.
As Greg Canty has been rightly highlighting, there are plenty of great Irish book options available this Christmas. There are quite a few from ‘experts’ with their views on the economic crisis. Too much of this genre is weighed down by excessive finger-pointing but one exception is Marc Coleman’s Back from the Brink: Ireland’s Road to Recovery. This is a very sharp analysis of Ireland’s recent economic history with some challenging and stimulating perspectives on the future.
And finally, to the perfect present for a father-to-be, or any recent first-time father. In fact, you don’t have to be a father to love this book. Adam Brophy writes a weekly column on fatherhood in the Irish Times and his book The Bad Dad’s Survival Guide is a gently comic walk through the stages of being a dad. If you are bothered by the question ‘what do you give the man who has everything?’, this is a good answer.