A well-chosen book is always a great gift, we say. Of course, we're voracious readers around here, so we would say that. In any event, the trick to giving a book gift is to find out what kind of things the recipient likes to read. It's a great conversation starter: "so, what kind of books do you like to read?" If they give you a blank stare, or echo back "I'm not a big reader," then cross them off the book gift list. But there are plenty of people like us who adore books.
Nonfiction: Buy these books for the serious-minded, intellectually capable individual. This person reads or watches the news on a daily basis, and pays attention to world events.
The most important nonfiction book published this year that has no political agenda is Triple Cross: How bin Laden's Master Spy Penetrated the CIA, the Green Berets, and the FBI and Why Patrick Fitzgerald Failed to Stop Him (Regan Books)
by five-time Emmy award-winning investigative journalist Peter Lance.
Triple Cross is the third book in Lance's bestselling series on the FBI, terrorism and the bungling by intelligence agencies in the years leading up to 9/11. You can see our sister site The Internet Writing Journal's review of Triple Crosshere and The IWJ's interview with Peter here. You can buy it here. Why not make it a trifecta and give all three of Peter's excellent books? The first two books are: 1000 Years for Revenge: International Terrorism and the FBI--the Untold Story (Regan Books) and Cover Up: What the Government Is Still Hiding About the War on Terror (Regan Books). They're nonfiction, but read like top-notch spy thrillers.
We especially love the illustrated timeline of all the major players and events in the years leading up to 9/11. It's like a handy crib sheet of all the good guys and the bad guys. You can buy Triple Cross
here at a nice discount, or find it in any major bookstore.
For political junkies, the absolute must-have gift this year is Bob Woodward's book, State of Denial: Bush at War, Part III (Simon and Schuster), the third book in Woodward's trilogy about President Bush and the Iraq War. It's political dynamite -- the books are meticulously researched and alternately delighted and then infuriated the White House. This is the book that caused Dick Cheney to cuss out Woodward on the phone for quoting him correctly in the book. That's what we said, he was mad that he was quoted correctly. State of Denial: Bush at War, Part III is available here for a nice discount or find it in any major bookstore.
A well-chosen book is always a great gift, we say. Of course, we're voracious readers around here, so we would say that. In any event, the trick to giving a book gift is to find out what kind of things the recipient likes to read. It's a great conversation starter: "so, what kind of books do you like to read?" If they give you a blank stare, or echo back "I'm not a big reader," then cross them off the book gift list. But there are plenty of people like us who adore books.
