Awesome Books

Celebrate your love for Studio Ghibli with this artful coffee table book. The 160-page book explores the history of the famed Japanese animation studio and its films. It includes director’s commentary, behind-the-scenes stories, and lots of animation art and promotional imagery. Released in 2022, it covers every movie through Earwig and the Witch.

“They are so lost in their own…performance that they don’t see me with the camera.” For two decades, bassist Colin Greenwood’s been using his small Yashica T4 Super camera to take fugitive snaps of his band, Radiohead. How to Disappear is Colin’s insider POV of the unguarded moments of the 21st century’s most influential band.

Columbian drug lord Pablo Escobar had one obsession bigger than money and power: football. David Arrowsmith’s gripping non-fiction book uncovers the story of how fortunes were won and lost when cartels controlled the Columbian football empire. Officials were coerced, umpires were murdered, and defeated players paid with their lives.

James Beard Award-winning mixologist Toby Maloney and the bartenders of Chicago’s The Violet Hour created this 320-page guide to the fundamentals of cocktail making. You’ll learn about balancing ingredients, getting the right textures, aromas, and temperatures, then advance to making your own concoctions.

Mondo Books and authors Grady Hendrix and Chris Poggiali offer up a fantastic retrospective of 1970s kung fu movies. This encyclopedic 432-page book recounts the history of these martial arts classics, accompanied by hundreds of movie posters, ads, and archival images. A must-own for any serious martial arts buff.

Piece together one of Jay Gatsby’s notorious parties, where real and fictional figures from the life and books of The Great Gatsby author F. Scott Fitzgerald are hidden in the puzzle’s busy scene. Find Daisy, Gatsby, Ernest Hemingway, and Waldo (just kidding) surveying the wreckage as you puzzle towards the story’s tragic conclusion. Illustrated by Adam Simpson.

Instantly upgrade skateboards, club bathrooms, and anything lame with some of the world’s coolest street art by slapping on a peel-off sticker from these two legendary Stickerbomb books. Updated for Laurence King, each edition is awesomer than ever with more than 300 artist-commissioned stickers. Grab both books: Stickerbomb 1 and Stickerbomb 2.

Take your cooking to the next level with Saucy, a cookbook filled with 50 yummy sauce recipes. Written by Ashley Boyd and Maren Caruso, the book is organized by flavor profile, including sweet, spicy, savory, herbaceous, and more. Each recipe is accompanied by appetizing color photography and ideas about dishes to pair them with.

Laurence King Publishing’s beautifully illustrated mini set of tarot cards by artist Oliver Munden and author Diana McMahon Collis features vintage tattoo designs in a convenient palm-sized deck. The 78 tarot cards are inspired by traditional iconography and come with a how-to intro to conduct your own readings and interpret the cards.

This practical survival guide offers an entertaining approach to a serious topic. Its 212 pages are filled with techniques to survive encounters with wildlife and natural disasters, along with practical skills like starting fires, building shelters, and navigating outdoors. Written by documentarian Rob Nelson and science show host Haley Chamberlain Nelson.

The product of over 6,000 hours of research, writing, and drawing, Hungry Minds’ The Book: The Ultimate Guide to Rebuilding a Civilization covers many “incredible inventions and discoveries throughout human history.” The coffee table book contains 400 pages of text and hand-drawn Medieval-style illustrations to entertain and educate kids and adults alike.

This unique recipe book is a great gift for science lovers and home mixologists. Dr. Logan Richardson of Flavor Lab explains the science behind beverages with step-by-step guides to making alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. You’ll learn to make cola, hard seltzer, and kombucha from scratch, along with unusual drinks like Viking Blaand and buttered popcorn soda.

Video game artist Duncan Harris spoke with the game director, writer, and other staff behind the original WipEout game to write about the futuristic drift racer’s history and future. Aside from the interviews, WipEout Futurism: The Visual Archives also features concept art, in-game photography, promotional materials, and more.

Pickled foods are all the rage in culinary circles these days. This fantastic cookbook from Boston’s Grillo’s Pickles packs 100 recipes for unique and mouthwatering dishes that incorporate deliciously sweet, sour, and spicy flavors. The book also includes tips and techniques for making your own Grillo’s Pickles at home.

We love Hacksmith Industries’ YouTube channel. They also have a store that sells gadgets, toys, brand merch, and books. The Handyman Pocket Reference Book belongs in every home, workshop, and work site. It’s packed with facts and figures used in carpentry, construction, and repairs, info about hardware, wiring, building techniques, and more.

Wanna know what it was like behind the scenes when the Minneapolis music world was blossoming in the 1970s and ’80s? Don’t ask Paul Westerberg or Tommy Stinson — they likely don’t remember much. Ask Euphoric Recall author Peter Jesperson, former manager of The Replacements and founder of Twin/Tone Records (Soul Asylum, The Jayhawks, and more).