Good reads for everyone

Just because the traditional gift-giving season is behind us doesn’t mean there aren’t other opportunities to buy presents. There are birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, graduations, retirement parties and many other reasons to celebrate in the new year.

Please consider the books listed below as potential gifts for those occasions.

♦ “Bruce” by Peter Ames Carlin (Touchstone, $28). This is the first biography in 25 years that has been written with the cooperation of Bruce Springsteen. The book also reflects the author’s access to Springsteen’s family, friends and bandmates, including Clarence Clemons in his final major interview.

Carlin also wrote “Paul McCartney: A Life,” and “Catch a Wave: The Rise, Fall & Redemption of the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson.”

♦ “The Jungle at the Door: A Glimpse of Wild India,” color photographs by Joan Myers with an essay by William deBuys (George F. Thompson Publishing, $45). Myers’ camera invites you to view tigers, elephants, rhinos, and water buffalo close up, as well as see their natural habitat, the human presence and religious shrines.

DeBuys’ essay sounds an alarm of the vanishing habitat for animals and depleted species: “It is not hard to imagine a dystopic future in which the great forests of the world are empty of the species that earlier generations referred to as their ‘royalty.’” In her own words, Myers reinforces deBuys’ essay.

♦ “Looking at Ansel Adams — The Photographs and the Man” by Andrea G. Stillman (Little, Brown, $40). The author, who was an assistant to Adams and who edited many of his books, offers what is billed as a fresh perspective on the life and work of the legendary photographer. The biography also considers his ideas about wilderness and the environment. Featured are 20 of his most famous images, including “Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico” and “St. Francis Church, Ranchos de Taos.”

♦ “The Route 66 Encyclopedia” edited by Jim Hinckley (Voyageur Press, $45). The “Albuquerque” listing in this work is indicative of this book’s intent to combine broader history with facts on tourism and highway designations. The listing briefly presents information about Albuquerque’s origins: “The modern incarnation of Albuquerque dates to a settlement feasibility study authorized by Don Francisco Cuervo y Valdez, governor of New Mexico in 1706. However, initial Spanish exploration in 1540 noted remnants of a village on the site.” Does the year 1706 mark the start of the town as “modern”? The same listing quotes Emily Post’s 1916 “By Motor to the Golden Gate” as saying that two Indian shepherds were the only people she saw until coming upon “the surprisingly modern city of Albuquerque.” The quote never says where Post saw the shepherds nor does it explain what surprised her about the Duke City’s modernity.

♦ “The Making of Life of Pi, A Film, A Journey” by Jean-Christophe Castelli (HarperDesign, $35). With a wealth of photographs and illustrations, this book tells the inside story of how director Ang Lee brought Yann Martel’s bestselling book to life as a 3-D film. Readers will learn about the wave tank custom built for the film that replicate a stormy ocean and about the four Bengal tigers used in the film. And you’ll meet Suraj Sharma, the 16-year-old high school student from India who portrayed Pi, despite having no acting experience.

♦ “More Than Human” by Tim Flach (Abrams, $65). That cuddly giant panda on the front cover seems to have the makings of a human face. Is his mascara running? What is the bond between humans and the other members of the animal kingdom? This book is a culmination of Flach’s explorations of that bond. Lewis Blackwell’s insightful essay will be your guide.

♦ “Full Count — Top 10 Lists of Everything in Baseball” (Sports Illustrated Kids, $19.95). This book of lists could have been blah but the photographs make every page pop out at you. The list includes the Top 10 Leadoff Hitters (Rickey Henderson is No. 1), the Top 10 Unbreakable Records (Cal Ripken Jr., with 2,632 consecutive games, is No. 1) , the Top 10 Little Guys (The shortest player on record is 3-foot-7 Eddie Gaedel who pinch hit for the St. Louis Browns in a game in 1951. In his only major league appearance, Gaedel walked on four straight pitches) and the Top 10 Single-Game performances (No. 1 is Harvey Haddix for having pitched 12 perfect innings against the Milwaukee Braves in 1959. He eventually lost his no-hitter, his shutout and the game.)

♦ “The Legend of Captain McFinn and Friends” created by Phyllis Cafaro (McFinn Press, $12.99). This is part of a new educational book series for kids ages 4 to 8. Be a buddy, not a bully is the theme of the series.

In this volume readers will see how McFinn the bully turns into Capt. McFinn, the leader and protector of Sand Dusty Reef.

♦ “Military History, The Definitive Visual Guide to the Objects of War” (DK Publishing, $50). From the Corinthian helmet to the Kevlar infantry helmet, from the flint arrowhead to the Tokarev TT pistol, this large format book is encyclopedic in scope. It features more than 1,750 pieces of military weapons, armor and equipment organized by era and type, and it spotlights iconic weapons, famous battles and narratives that explain the impact of changes in military technology and tactics.

♦ “Classic Hikes of North American — 25 Breathtaking Treks in the United States and Canada” by Peter Potterfield (W.W. Norton, $39.95). New Mexico residents could easily drive to some of them e.g. Coyote Gulch, Canyons of the Escalante, Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, Utah; the High Chisos Mountains, Big Bend National Park, Texas; and Grand Canyon National Park, Ariz. It offers hikers advice on logistics, hazards, distance, level of physical challenge and level of psychological challenge, staging area, hiking time and more. Armchair hikers may want the book for the breathtaking photographs.

♦ “This is a Book” by Paul Tice (The Book Tree, $14.95). This book-length essay celebrates the role of the paper book in a world in which more people are turning to etechnology to read. Tice states that there is room in the marketplace for the paper book and the ebook. “This book, however, is a reminder to you of the value of the traditional book. Ebooks, after all, are imitating the real thing and the bottom line is that no matter what you do, there is nothing like the real thing.”