<p>It’s that time of year again, where I’m desperately trying to come up with a good book to buy for my father’s Christmas gift. He has very quirky tastes, but in general he likes European history, scholarly biography, sociology, some poetry, and un-classifiable nonfiction… but absolutely NO fiction of any kind. He’s hard to pigeon-hole and it’s always a struggle to find the “perfect” match. </p>
<p>Suggestions? In the past, he has particularly enjoyed:
“A Short History of Nearly Everything” by Bill Bryson
“The Omnivore’s Dilemma” by MIchael Pollan
“What Went Wrong” by Bernard Lewis
“Gallileo’s Daughter” by David Sobel</p>
<p>Something by Studs Terkel - either “Hard Times” or “Working”
“Guns, Germs, and Steel” by Jared Diamond
“King Leopold’s Ghost” by Adam Hochschild
“Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers” by Mary Roach
“The Death and Life of Great American Cities” by Jane Jacobs</p>
<p>What about books by Jared Diamond or Malcolm Gladwell?</p>
<p>I used to buy my father books for every Christmas and birthday, too. He usually read history, but in his later years he widened his scope. To my amazement, he even read things like “The Pilot’s Wife” by Anita Shreve - a book I hated. I wish I were still buying for him - he died three years ago.</p>
<p>Kind of hard to be helpful without knowing specific historical period he prefers, but as a longtime reader of history and based on my special areas of interest, I would suggest anything by the late Barbara Tuchman (I found “A Distant Mirror” an excellent read.)</p>
<p>Stephen Ambrose’s DDay series for the WWII buff, which focuses on a number of first person and unit specific accounts.</p>
<p>I found Robert K. Massie’s “Nicholas & Alexandra” a very well researched, concise, and thorough narrative on the last Tsar and his family, and it covered well the political/economic backgrounds of the Russian Revolutions.</p>
<p>None of these are new. The most recent are the Ambrose series.</p>
<p>How about anything by John McPhee? Your dad might particularly like “Annals of the Former World” (Pulitzer Prize winner) or “Uncommon Carriers.” McPhee is quite prolific and could be the poster boy for “unclassifiable non-fiction” (that’s my favorite category, too).</p>
<p>More recently: “American Lightning” by Howard Blum, about the 1910 bombing of the L.A. Times.</p>
<p>Sorry if I wasn’t clearer earlier (violadad), but he’s really hard to characterize. For example, he likes history but not American history (except for Lincoln biographies, and he has all of them.) Any period of European history up until WWII seems to be okay - he loved Barbara Tuchman’s books (made me read them as a teenager!) and also liked “Nicholas and Alexandra.”</p>
<p>Jared Diamond - I gave him “Guns, Germs and Steel” already. Won’t read John Adams (American history) - I know, it’s a great book, yada yada, he won’t read it.</p>
<p>Barack Obama’s books - good idea (he’s a liberal democrat) but I’m sure he’s already memorized them.</p>
<p>Studs Terkel - another good idea, but he’s got them all.</p>
<p>Slithey Tove - I like the looks of your suggestions, and I don’t think he’s read many of them. I’ll have to look some of those up.</p>
<p>And laxmom: I feel as you do - give me the gift card and let me get my own books! However, he lives in a very rural, isolated area (no bookstores, anywhere) and he is not web-savvy at all. (as in… he refuses to do email or Amazon.) Did I mention the was kind of stubborn, too? And of course - part of it is the tradition of me buying him a book every year. It now has some sentimental importance to me, at least… even though it does drive me crazy every year!</p>
<p>I 2nd Primates memoir.
( I don’t like fiction much myself)</p>
<p>Also Hot Flat & Crowded by Thomas Friedman ( haven’t read it yet- he also wrote Lexus and the Olive Tree, From Beirut to Jerusalem & Longitudes and Attitudes)</p>
<p>( I would also throw something in there by David Sedaris)</p>
<p>I also have to put a plug in for two local authors.
Anything by Tim Egan ( who also has a column in NYT) is good,
The Worst Hard Time won the National Book Award.
Jack Hamann’s book On American Soil
[quote]
During the night of August 14, 1944, an Italian prisoner of war was lynched on the Fort Lawton army base in Seattle - a murder that shocked the nation and the international community. It was a time of deep segregation in the army, and the War Department was quick to charge three African American soldiers with first-degree murder, although there was no evidence linking them to the crime. Forty other black soldiers faced lesser charges over the incident, launching one of the largest and longest army trials of World War II. </p>
<p>In this harrowing story of race, privilege, and power, Jack Hamann explores the most overlooked civil rights event in American history. On American Soil raises important questions about how justice is carried out when a country is at war, offering vital lessons on the tensions between national security and individual rights.<a href=“The%20Army%20recently%20issued%20an%20apology%20to%20the%20veterans%20&%20completely%20exonerated%20them%20largely%20because%20of%20research%20from%20Hamanns%20book”>/quote</a></p>
<p>Your Dad’s taste is similar to mine. Here are two suggestions:
The Courtier and the Heretic, by Matthew Stewart. It’s the story of the conflicting theogies of Spinoza and Liebniz, and really about the development of modern theology. Yet, its written in a lively manner for the lay person, with short biographies of the two great philosophers.</p>
<p>E Janet Browne’s two volume biography of Charles Darwin. If he’s up for a 2 volume work, this is one of the best biographies of a European figure I’ve read, and also an excellent portrait of 19th century England. Volume I takes you through his voyage to the Galapagos, and Volume II the rest of his life. You really need to read both.</p>
<p>A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson is one of our absolute favorites. Hysterical, laugh out loud funny. Noticed you mentioned another Bryson book.</p>