Gift Help Needed: Book for an Engineer
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Linda writes in and says...
I am looking for help choosing books for my son in law. He is an engineer and not much of a reader. In the past he has enjoyed "Fight Club" and other books by Chuck Palahniuk. He also enjoyed "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer. Any help?
What help can we give Linda?
Posted byAmy at 12:00 AM
Tags: Help Needed
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Hm...
If he likes Fight Club, try Bret Easton Ellis, The Godfather by Puzo, or the Dexter books (Darkly Dreaming Dexter...) I'd also recommend the following books:
- Into Thin Air by Krakauer
- Devil in the White City by Eric Larson
- Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder
and authors:
- Cormac McCarthy
- Ben Mezrich
- Chuck Klosterman
- Anthony Bourdain
- Jack Kerouac
- Hunter S. Thompson
All good and guy/not-big-reader friendly!
I second that emotion on Bret Eason Ellis, and I think a David Sedaris collection would also be a good fit...the essays are generally short, so he won't have to devote too many minutes to reading at a time, and they're funny and entertaining. I'd start with Naked. He might also like Augusten Burroughs.
For an engineer who likes Fight Club, check out The Manuscript by Michael Stephen Fuchs
Description from Amazon:
A gun-toting urban professional with a weakness for internet discussion groups, a chemistry student turned online drug dealer, a pair of slacker post-grads, a federal agent on the take, a cadre of well-armed mercenaries, an unstoppable hitman, and a gang of trigger-happy young Taoists. This unlikely group is brought together by their quest for the meaning of life, originally discovered in the remote highlands of South America by an infamous 19th-century explorer but now said to be concealed in the inaccessible spaces of a hidden website on the perimeters of a shadow internet. But something soon becomes clear—there are others who will stop at nothing to keep the truth hidden.
I second Ben Mezrich -- Bringing Down the House is an excellent "man" book.
Kim
He might like The Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie (yes yes, the guy that plays House). I found it to be a fun, action-filled, and humorous books...so yeah, he might like that one and it's something different!
Maybe High Fidelity or something by Nick Hornby...good author for guys!
-Lauren
I would second the "Devil in the White City" for sure. I'm actually listening to it for the third or fourth time on audio right now! He also may enjoy Thunderstruck by the same author - it talks about the history of the Marconi wireless parallel to a very famous contemporary murder.
I was thinking *The Devil in the White City*, too!
Where did he go to college? Maybe a nice coffee table type book with text and pics of the university? There is often interesting history or unusual trivia in this type of book.
You can also check out the book section at Thinkgeek.comwhich sells sciency/techie kinds of gifts and books. Their target audience is techies/geeks/scientist/engineers and they have fiction, nonfiction, gag books, and serious books.
I have another one:
The Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie
(yes, THE Hugh Laurie)
An average-joe ex-military man stumbles into a plot to assasinate a rich man - when he's asked to be the killer! To find his way out, he'll have to deal with bureaucrats, terrorists, and femme fatales. A Bond satire with bite.