Possibly the perfect Christmas present for the fun-loving person in your life…
Top of the list is the magnificent Soonish (UK) (US) by Kelly and Zach Weinersmith, a book I was happy to endorse. This is properly funny – as one might expect from the creator of Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal – but it’s also bang up to date in its exploration of the latest technologies from satellite launch vehicles to 3D printed houses to gene therapy to self-organising robot swarms. I learned so much I didn’t know and had a lot of fun learning it. Read this book.
For people looking for something Sudoku-ish with a bit more bite, try Alex Bellos’s Puzzle Ninja (UK) (US) the very latest puzzle ideas from Japan with Bellos in typically charming form as he meets the puzzle-masters and discusses their new creations.
Helen Arney and Steve Mould, two thirds of the Festival of the Spoken Nerd, offer The Element in The Room (UK) (US) – fun sciencey-stuff for all ages.
And short-and-sweet (and for gaming nerds only) I enjoyed Sly Flourish’s brief but effective The Lazy Dungeon Master (UK) (US). Good stuff on how to prepare less but have better games.
And I might modestly mention my own new book is Fifty Inventions That Shaped The Modern Economy. Grab yourself a copy in the US or in the UK (slightly different title) or through your local bookshop.
PS My UK publishers, Little Brown, are hosting a competition on Twitter to win copies. Details here.