For the favorite history buff on your list comes the gorgeous tome The Classical Tradition. While many people know we get certain modern words from the ancient civilizations (e.g., from polis to police), few realize how much of our culture is so directly connected to the ancient Greeks and Romans. The Classical Tradition collects 563 articles from 339 distinguished authors to look at the way ancient ideas, practices and artistry have influenced Western culture. From art to government, math to medicine, legal theory to popular culture, the influence of the classic traditions can still be felt today, if you know what you’re looking for.

It’s nearly impossible to get a really good cocktail these days. Unless you’re the kind who can afford to leave your cashmere with coat check and raise nary an eyebrow at a meal with drinks that costs hundreds—for one—you’re stuck with the average over-sweetened, maraschino cherry accented, two-ingredients schlock that passes for ‘cocktails’ at the average bar and restaurant.

For those who refuse to sip such things and say, “Mmm, this is good,” comes this delightful challenge to one’s refined tastes and cultivated snobbery—and it’s priced for the average Joe’s budget. With a wit that might make you spill your Manhattan, mixed with a keen storytelling approach that might make you confuse this for literature, The Hour is a delightful lesson in the proper way to make a proper cocktail. Think of it as a Henry Higgins approach to an aspiring Eliza Doolittle; that is, as an instruction booklet that will slap your hand one moment, then gently take that hand and lead you down to your own basement distillery wherein miracles—providing each step is properly executed—will happen.

Say it with me: Awwwwww!

Fans of the franchise might bemoan the loss of Kirby’s trademark ability, but the imaginative design of Kirby’s Epic Yarn makes
this one flat-out adorable Wii platformer. Players unravel their foes, stretch and pull the landscape, and collect hidden treasures throughout a huge patchwork map.

While the game’s story is clearly designed for kids, some of the levels may prove a little challenging. For this you have co-op mode,
allowing mom or dad to jump in anytime.

Part LittleBigPlanet, part Scribblenauts, all Nintendo, Kirby’s Epic Yarn is great for young gamers and skeptical older fans alike.

These compelling, lasting images are created by the White House photographers, an elite group of nine who are celebrated in the book The President’s Photographer. While the press is kept at arms length from the president, it is the photographer who brings him to the public.

In The President’s Photographer we see touching images of President Obama and his daughters, Betty Ford with her hair in rollers, and President H.W. Bush in bed with his family.

A direct companion to the National Geographic television special of the same title, the book also takes us into the life of the photographer as he follows President Obama around the world in a week. Combined with the beautiful pictures are stories and anecdotes from the five living veteran photographers about the photographs that reveal more than a speech ever could.

A handy reference guide to the another’s habits and qualities that, when discovered, transform the “date you hope to go home with” into the “date you hope chokes on his breadsticks”. Dating faux pas include usual suspects like “bad kisser” and “you live with your parents” but also some lesser-known turn-offs like what’s in your Netflix queue and devil sticks.