Book Gift Ideas for the Politicos in Your Life

by Elena Veatch

Picture of a couple sitting by the fire drinking holiday beverages

Encourage the politicos you know to unplug with the help of these book gift ideas. 

It’s the most wonderful time of the year… to help the politicos in your life step away from their screens after a crazy election cycle! Give me your tired, your email-fatigued, your news-raddled—there’s something for everyone on this list of book gift ideas.

Book gift ideas for those who need to unplug. Selections cover Denmark’s approach to making time for cozy togetherness, the ways in which meditation can help keep you grounded, the case for combatting stress to strengthen your heart, and the beauty of refusing to ruminate on the things you can’t control.
 

Meik Wiking, The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living

Robert Wright, Why Buddhism Is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment

Sandeep Jauhar, Heart: A History

Mark Manson, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life
 

Non-fiction book gift ideas for politicos who need a break from politics. Selections cover the jaw-dropping Theranos scandal in Silicon Valley, the truths about human nature revealed by Google searches, the contradictions that define Texas, and the account that helped catch a California serial killer decades after his reign of terror.
 

John Carreyrou, Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup

Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are

Lawrence Wright, God Save Texas: A Journey into the Soul of the Lone Star State

Michelle McNamara, I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer

Book gift ideas to offer inspiration for the next campaign. Selections cover the life and times of our favorite FLOTUS, the case for optimism in the face of Trumpism, the hidden consequences of empowering amateurs to run a government, and the photographic juxtaposition of the Obama and Trump administrations.
 

Michelle Obama, Becoming

Dan Pfeiffer, Yes We (Still) Can: Politics in the Age of Obama, Twitter, and Trump

Michael Lewis, The Fifth Risk

Pete Souza, Shade: A Tale of Two Presidents

Book gift ideas for those looking to challenge themselves. Selections cover the implications of political correctness on college campuses, the heart-wrenching story of a disaster on Everest, the science behind breaking bad habits and forming good ones, and the journey of re-inventing a life you didn’t choose.

Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt, The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting up a Generation for Failure

Jon Krakauer, Into Thin Air

Charles Duhigg, The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business

Tara Westover, Educated: A Memoir

 

Fiction book gift ideas for a change of pace. Selections include the better alternative to On the Road for anyone craving adventure and meaning, the quintessential Norwegian crime novel, the delightful tale of a bookshop that brings a British town together, and the latest (and lightest) novella from Stephen King.

Jack Kerouac, The Dharma Bums

Jo Nesbø, The Snowman

Veronica Henry, How to Find Love in a Bookshop

Stephen King, Elevation

Do you have other book gift ideas for the politicos in your life? drop us a note.