Give the Gift of Intelligence this Christmas

It’s that time of year again, the gift-giving season we all dread/look forward too! Now that I stay at home all day, I have a lot of time to think about what I’m going to get people, and where and when I’m going to get it, so I’ve been thinking about Christmas since the beginning of November. For those of you who don’t have that kind of time, a good book is always a great gift for that special someone on your list, and because you most likely have multiple people to buy for, going to a book store will ensure you can cross off everyone on your list in one go. Best of all is that you don’t have to stop foot in a mall, because you can go to your local, independent bookstore to get all these wonderful gifts. The people that work there will also be able to give you honest, thoughtful recommendations too. 

But, if you don’t want to leave your house in the driving snow, you can also get useful recommendations from the knowledgable publishing staff at the Penguin Hotline.  You just send them some info about the person you’re buying for (interests, age, etc) and they will recommend a book that should suit their tastes. I’ve been assured this resource is publisher agnostic (which I’m assuming means they won’t just recommend books published by their own company) because these kind folks just want people to read good books, which is a mantra we can all get behind. So don’t get people useless crap that will just collect dust in their basement, get them a gift that makes them smarter: something that they can pass along to others when they’re done with it…or enjoy again and again!