Well, color them what you want, because they're suitable for lots of readers. And if none of our picks seem right, we have a book with (literally) 1,000 other gift ideas. Happy holidays from the Babes.
, by E.O. Wilson (W.
W. Norton, $21.95).
This slim book from the noted entomologist and ant expert is the perfect gift to plop under the tree for anyone with a passion for plants or animals. Wilson, who was raised as an evangelical Christian but now puts his faith in science, pulls no punches: He says it's time for religious people and nonbelievers to put aside their differences and recognize our common responsibility to preserve the Earth's endangered flora and fauna. He addresses his book to a fictional "Southern Baptist Pastor," suggesting to him that religion and science work together to help save the planet.
2. The Ravaging Tide: Strange Weather, Future Katrinas, and the Coming Death of America's Coastal Cities, by Mike Tidwell (Free Press, $24). Hurricane Katrina has spawned countless books, but none captures the connection between the human impact on the land and that disaster better than this one.
It's by the travel journalist who predicted such an event in an earlier book, Bayou Farewell: The Rich Life and Tragic Death of Louisiana's Cajun Coast. Tidwell takes a sweeping look at how politics have interfered with and helped the massive, perhaps impossible, task of saving the country's most extensive wetlands. Global warming, he says, demands an immediate turn to alternative forms of energy so the rest of coastal America can avoid being swamped.
3. An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It, by Al Gore (Rodale, $21.95).
Environmentalist Al Gore is back on the green track. Following up on his best seller Earth in the Balance, Gore is on the road with a documentary and this accompanying text, warning that the time to do something about global warming is now. This isn't an emotional appeal, but one that uses facts, charts, and stunning photos to make the case that we have important work to do.
4. Tigers in Red Weather: A Quest to See the Last Wild Tigers, by Ruth Padel (Walker, $26.95).
Your gift recipient doesn't need to be a tiger lover to love this book. Padel, a poet and descendant of Charles Darwin, tells the story of her two-year trek through jungles and swamps as a memoir and call to save this endangered species. This book is a pleasure to read and especially belongs in the hands of environmentally aware wordsmiths.
They'll appreciate the poetic references, including William Blake's "The Tyger" and Emily Dickinson's "Civilization spurns the Leopard!"
5. Return to Wild America: A Yearlong Search for the Continent's Natural Soul, by Scott Weidensaul (North Point Press, $26).
Fifty years ago, world-renowned birder Roger Tory Peterson and British naturalist James Fisher immortalized their 30,000-mile trek around the continent in a classic called Wild America. Author and naturalist Weidensaul celebrates the anniversary by retracing the journey and comparing notes. Although not happy about much of what he sees, he skips the Cassandra role in favor or looking at the progress that has been made.
Weidensaul finds that in the past half-century, more parks and refuges have been created, some threatened species have seen a comeback, and the environmental movement has built a full head of steam (using alternate fuels, no less).
1. Mysteries of the Middle Ages: The Rise of Feminism, Science, and Art from the Cults of Catholic Europe, by Thomas Cahill (Nan Talese/Doubleday, $32.
50). Cahill, author of How the Irish Saved Civilization and The Gifts of the Jews, now offers a fascinating look at medieval Europe. As the Dark Ages gave way to the Renaissance, the Continent stirred with change and intellectual ferment, and Cahill draws a compelling picture complete with illustrations of some of the best surviving art and architecture.
2. Best American Series Gift Boxes (Houghton Mifflin, $40 each). Is there someone on your holiday list who loves sports and mysteries?
Another who travels in an armchair or down a spiritual path? The Best American..
. series pulls together an annual collection of quality paperbacks focusing on each of these topics. This year, they're in two boxed sets and both include the Best American Short Stories volume (the first Best series to appear).
The Gold set also has the 2006 Best American Mystery Stories and Best American Sports Writing. Silver delivers Best American Travel Writing and Best American Spiritual Writing. The boxed set makes these samplers ideal for gift giving.
3. Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination, by Neal Gabler (Knopf, $35). Combine the glamour of Hollywood and a Horatio Alger story with an artistic temperament, and you have the fascinating life of Walt Disney.
In this thick bio, Gabler (a sometime liberal political commentator on Fox News Channel) makes the case for Disney's enduring influence on entertainment and art while describing a complicated and controversial man who never wore success easily.
4. The Power of Art, by Simon Schama (Ecco/HarperCollins, $50).
This coffee-table book is a bit pricey, but it's a splendid analysis of eight artistic masterpieces by brilliant British historian Simon Schama. The concept is simple: Schama looks behind the scenes at the drama behind how eight famous paintings came into being: Picasso's Guernica, as well as works by Caravaggio, Bernini, Rembrandt, David, Turner, Van Gogh, and Rothko.
5.
Simple Gifts Great Hymns: One Man's Search for Grace, by Bill Henderson (Free Press, $22). Recently honored by the National Book Critics Circle for promoting authors through his Pushcart Press Prize series, Henderson here asks a simple question: Why do certain hymns from the kind sung in church to more secular ones, such as John Lennon's "Imagine" resonate so deeply with so many people? In the midst of writing this book, Henderson was diagnosed with cancer, and attributes his recovery to the joy he takes in congregational singing.
For more ideas, consider Gifted: 1,000 Gift Ideas for Everyone in Your Life, by Sarah Weidman (Perigree/Berkeley Publishing Group/Penguin, $13.95). This book has great suggestions for using the Internet to find the right gifts, including for your favorite book lovers.
For the Curious Kid, Weidman recommends The Original Peter Rabbit Books One to Twenty-three Presentation Box, available at . For the Quirky Pal, she suggests the Librarian Action Figure (you press a button and her arm moves up to shhhush!!
!). And she urges you to sign up Restless Retirees for Oprah's Book of the Month Club at .
Or you can just give them this book a gift that literally keeps on giving.
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