Being the nerd that I am, a good percentage of my Christmas gifts were books. Since I’m always on the hunt for good books myself, I thought it would be cool to share a few of my gifts on the chance they’ll provide a spark for somebody else.

501 Bento box lunches.
My family knows I’m interested in both cooking and Japanese culture, so this one wasn’t a big surprise. I totally dig the idea that even something as mundane as packing a lunch deserves the care and attention to detail that bento requires. If you ever feel bored, remember you could be doing a better and more interesting job of even the small things.

100 Classic Graphic Design Books
I wanted this book to be amazing. It turned out to be only good. I share it just so you don’t get suckered in by the cover like I did. It’s a good book, but mostly it’s just a bunch of pictures of spreads that are too small to really do any justice. You’ve been warned.

The Design Ethos of Dieter Rams
I’m near obsessed with Apple hardware, and it’s common knowledge that Jony Ive, Apple’s lead designer is obsessed with Dieter Rams. This book is an incredible tour through Rams’ amazing design portfolio. Early sketches, great interviews, and tons of photography.

Picasso. Painter and Sculptor in Clay.
Everyone knows Picasso was an amazing painter, but it’s not as commonly known how great of a sculptor he was. His simple childlike inventiveness, and mastery of mark-making are on full display in this book. Admittedly, I’m into this sort of thing, but this is far and away my favorite gift book this year.

Jamie’s America
I go through phases with my feelings about Jamie Oliver. Currently I’m a fan, and this book didn’t disappoint. I like recipe books that have ingredients you can actually get, though, and this book fails a little here. Lots of the recipes call for specialty regional ingredients like alligator. But still, this is hands down the best typographically and photographically designed cook book I own.

Wolfgang Puck – Live, Love, Eat
This book has small photos, bad typography, and not much personality… But the recipes are amazing. Like all Wolfgang recipes, they’re a bit on the complicated side, but the extra effort is worth it. Nobody fuses Asian, American, and European cuisines with more sophistication and simplicity than Wolfgang Puck.

Cook with Jamie
Ok. So I was a little Jamie Oliver-heavy this Christmas. This book is not as beautiful as the America one, but it makes up for it in sheer usefulness. I have lots of “basics” cook books, but all of them fail compared to this one. It’s photographed well, and explained even better. I really wish this was the first cook book I ever owned- I would be a much better cook today.