The 13 Best Books to Give as Gifts this Holiday Season

These 13 books are some of our favorites, and all of them make excellent Holiday Gifts. Check them out, and let us know what books we should add to the list!

Let’s be honest, 90% of people who buy or receive books do not read them. What’s so great about Tim’s recent books is that their content seems to up the probability that people will read the book. What do we mean? Well in each book, each chapter is practically a stand alone book and entry point for the skeptical reader that might only want to read a book for 5 minutes. With so many places to begin reading each book, Tim’s books will continue to be Holiday best sellers.

Grit is a must read for those trying to harness their imagination and create/find their mission. “Grit” may be a buzzword, but it doesn’t mean there isn’t value to be gained by following the threads all the way back to the original scientific source material. Angela Duckworth’s book points the way there.

With recent obsessions around AI and robotics, it’s easy to forget that the human body is already a collection of millions of highly complex biological nanobots (bacteria, microbes, and our micro-biome). As science begins to show that almost all of our mental health and brain health are correlated with the health of our gut and micro-biome, it’s important for each of us to begin learning about the multitudes of miracles inside ourselves. You contain multitudes.

If Michael Lewis writes it, I’m in. This book is a story about the friendship and discoveries of two Israeli psychologists, Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky. The men were polar opposites of each other, yet became fast friends. They faced enormous adversities of war and dictators, yet still managed to create work that went on to win the Nobel Prize and pioneer the new field of Behavioral Economics.

This book was a hard-hitting reminder of the importance of finding a single, true friend to be a collaborator and co-conspirator in your efforts, projects, and pursuits. Without someone working alongside you and challenging you, it is difficult (maybe impossible) to make meaningful achievements.

If you like nerding out about mental models, or thinking in stages, game theory, etc… then you’ll probably like this book. I especially liked that the book wasn’t a push or call to cede all of our agency to algorithms. The next book highlights the more obvious reasons why.

One fun lesson and case study from the book was from how Jerry Seinfeld created, sold, and promoted his show. When Jerry Seinfeld first pitched Seinfeld to NBC, the pilot was rated as mediocre. Seinfeld didn’t make any progress until he found a single champion inside NBC, Rick Ludwin. You don’t need everyone to like you, but you do need a single champion. After all the work Seinfeld, Ludwin, and others put in selling the show, they didn’t get a big yes from NBC. They got an offer to order just four episodes. According to Ludwin, that was the smallest amount of episodes ever ordered for a show. Many people would have considered this an embarrassment, given up, or stopped taking the project seriously. Seinfeld, on the other hand, knew he had his foot in the door, and that was all that mattered. Sometimes, the path towards originality isn’t pursued because its origins are so humble. Take any start or foothold you can get. Embrace humble beginnings and do the work that others don’t want to do.

Hope you enjoyed this giftsicle of some of our favorite books to gift! If you’re looking for more gift recommendations, check out The Mission’s Ultimate Holiday Gift Guide.

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