From boys to men, find a book for every taste and vintage on your gift list.

For the sports freak:
Hawaii Warrior Football
By J. David Miller, Foreword by June Jones
Peer behind the scenes at how the Bows became the Warriors, lifting themselves out of the wreck that was the UH football program, to develop a smart, cutting edge recipe for success.

For the life of the party:
The Hawaii Beer Book
By Cheryl Chee Tsutsumi
A guide to the Islands’ bar scene and local brews, including ways brew your own, pair your favorite lager with food, or make your own beer-infused meal.

For the horror lover:
Zig Zag
By Jose Carlos Somoza
If time travel were possible, where and to what occasion would you desire a visit? Somoza recently told an interviewer that his top choices would be the age of dinosaurs and Jerusalem of Jesus’ time, so it’s not unexpected that this scrupulously researched and truly terrifying scientific thriller centers on a covert government project that retrieves moments from precisely those eras.

For the historian:
The Unnatural History of the Sea
By Callum Roberts
With accessible, intimate prose, Roberts, professor of marine conservation at the University of York in England, presents evocative excerpts from historical diaries, printed chronicles, archaeological record, and descriptive eyewitness accounts, to remind us that our current state of overfished oceans is actually rooted in the emergence of commercial sea fishing in 11th century Europe.

For the war-story buff:
Tree of Smoke
by Denis Johnson
There are many reasons this 600+ page Viet Nam War era opus just won the National Book Award. One is the disparate but linked portraits of war – men on the front lines who feel wonderful only in the midst of violence and pain because it’s the only time they feel alive; men waiting on the sideline, strategizing and chasing ideals – and story lines that illuminate the ironies, where soldiers kill civilians but rescue puppies, rape girls but nick medicine for orphans.

For the trivia man:
The Little Book of the Sea
By Lorenz Schroeder
This pocket sized primer of the sea includes, lore, recipes, facts and figures, and such trivia as “coins with sea turtles on them. ” It offers the opportunity to go fishing for unexpected sea facts, but stay cozy and dry.

For the greenie:
Break Through: From the Death of Environmentalism to the Politics of Possibility
By Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger
In this audacious and necessary book, the authors unabashedly and eloquently make their case, critiquing fundamental shortcomings—everything from misguided attempts to save the Amazon, NIMBY-ism, and Al Gore’s solution-bereft “An Inconvenient Truth”—in a clear and optimistic voice with a pinch of humor, and offers clear, positive solutions. Whether or not you agree, these contentions are ripe for discussion—because instead of arousing guilt and negativity, the aim here is to inspire.


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