Best Books For Cozy Winter Reading...
This romantic oil painting by Kai Carpenter says it all. Cold, gray winter weather may not be ideal for outdoor hikes and adventures, but it is perfect for indoor lounging with a favorite book or two. While we look forward to spring and summer National Park treks, we love to relax in the off-season to do research, plan trips, and recharge. There is nothing like snuggling up under a warm blanket as we turn the pages of a favorite book about art, travel, nature, history, or mystery.
Maybe you got a good book for Christmas, or maybe Santa slipped you some holiday cash that is burning a hole in your pocket right now. Why not use it to buy a few special books? The gift of a good book is the perfect way to brighten any chilly day! Just think about all the benefits:
1). Books can transport you to wonderful places in an instant.
2). Like a card, the gift of a book conveys a personal understanding of the recipient.
3). Books are one-size-fits-all, they don’t cause weight gain, and they stimulate the mind.
4). Books provide fabulous value for the money because they last a lifetime and can be read multiple times and enjoyed by many.
5). Good, quality books, especially quality coffee table books, create an excellent centerpiece and conversation starter within a room. People can be amused and entertained by witty titles and colorful front covers. A well-placed book is more than just reading material, it’s a decor piece!
6). Books as gifts can do many things, from expressing love to showing sentiment, indicating appreciation, honoring a special occasion, celebrating a birthday or anniversary, and reminding the recipient that the gift giver is thinking of them.
7). Books, especially when they include a personal note scrawled on the inside front cover, tell the gift recipient that the gift giver knows a thing or two about them, enough to gift them a book they are sure to enjoy.
Coffee Table Books as Gifts
Anderson Design Group has published several coffee table books, including:
63 Illustrated National Parks, Updated Edition. With the recent addition of a new National Park, ADG expanded and updated its award-winning National Parks Book to include New River Gorge National Park. The updated edition includes dozens of new illustrations, new photos, plus new hiking tips and facts. Measuring 9” x 12” and printed in full-color, the hardcover coffee table book includes all 63 National Park posters, plus oil paintings, historic photos, a map of the USA, facts, travel tips, and the 100-year history of the National Park Service. An excellent last-minute Christmas gift, this gorgeous book is perfect for any outdoor lover, poster art fan, or American history buff! (Don’t forget, each year, ADG donates a portion of its profits to the National Park Foundation. Your purchase helps to protect America's National Parks!)
Illustrated Guide to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Great Smoky Mountains National Park is the most-visited National Park on the roster for a reason. There is a lot to see and do in this park, so much so that it helps to have a beautiful guidebook to ensure the experience is memorable. ADG’s 128-page coffee table book about the Great Smoky Mountains is perfect for any outdoor lover, poster art fan, or history buff. The gorgeous 9” x 12” full-color hardcover coffee table book includes 40 original Smokies posters, oil paintings, historical photos, a map of the park, facts, travel tips, and a historical timeline of the park. This lovely book will surely be a treasured keepsake and the perfect Christmas gift.
Illustrated Guide to the Grand Circle. The perfect gift for someone who plans to travel to the southwest, this book is all about the amazing parks of the Grand Circle, a circuit of natural wonders in southern Utah and northern Arizona that can be experienced by car or camper. The Illustrated Guide to the Grand Circle includes hand-rendered illustrations, maps, photos, timelines, and fascinating narrative by historian Daniel S. Pierce. The 9” x 12” full-color hardcover coffee table book is loaded with new poster art by Anderson Design Group and stunning photography by Joel Anderson. It is packed with trip-planning information and tips to help readers plan their adventures. This artful book is perfect for any outdoor lover, poster art fan, or American Southwest history buff!
The Spirit of Nashville. ADG's artists have lived and worked in Nashville since day one, so, naturally, one of the team’s first coffee table books was about the magic of Music City. Folks can celebrate everything that is so great about Nashville with this beautiful 9' x 12' full-color, 128-page book. It's a perfect gift for welcoming newcomers to Nashville or saying goodbye to them. It also makes a great wedding guest book with plenty of blank pages for special notes! Or, gift recipients can put it on their coffee table because it looks so cool and decorative. (Guests will love it!)
The Art of Kai Carpenter. This artistic coffee table book depicts the works of one of ADG’s first artist-collaborators, Kai Carpenter. In it, the world’s most iconic destinations have been depicted with romantic, adventurous passion. This book features Kai’s beautiful art, plus sketches, modeling session photos, and inside information about Kai’s techniques and inspiration. Aspiring artists and classic illustration fans alike will enjoy going behind the scenes to see how the art was made and learning how Kai and ADG Creative Director Joel Anderson's ideas were developed into finished works of art. This book is a gallery that preserves and promotes a new Golden Age of Illustration by one of America’s most talented contemporary illustrators!
Guidebooks as Gifts
ADG has also produced two convenient guidebooks that one can easily take on a trip into the National Parks. These are:
National Park Adventure Guide. An ADG best-seller, the National Park Adventure Guide is super fun, useful, and a great gift for a wilderness enthusiast, traveler, adventurer, and National Parks explorer. Measuring 5” x 7”, the updated version includes information on recently added parks, including New River Gorge, White Sands, Indiana Dunes, and Gateway Arch. The guide features information about each park, tips on things to do in the parks, space for note-taking, fun facts about each park, and, of course, a plethora of Anderson Design Group vintage National Park art! The guide also has stickers for each park, so the gift recipient can place a sticker on the insert of a park every time they visit a new park!
Legends of the National Parks Guide Book. For those who’ve enjoyed exploring the National Parks, the Legends of the National Parks Guide Book gives one a deeper look into the mysteries and supernatural phenomena these parks are said to contain. The book is a repository of cryptid information, pinpointing the various National Parks where each legend originated. Maps, captions, facts, and infographics bring these mysterious creatures to life in this handy, pocket-sized guidebook. The legends are retold and amplified with info about the powers and characteristics of each creature, along with plausible natural explanations for how each mystery may have come to be. This book is ideal for anyone who is a fan of the National Parks, mythical creatures, and creepy, unexplained phenomena. In addition to featuring 32 Legends of the National Parks, there is a bonus section highlighting 19 other mythical creatures from around the world. This guidebook measures 5” x 7” and is printed on quality paper with a sturdy wire binding.
Here’s to a Season of Rest, Relaxation, and Reading
The transition to the New Year brings with it (hopefully) some well-earned time off. We hope you’ll get some time to rest, relax, and read in the coming weeks. It's a New Year, and that means taking a few moments to rest, reflect, and plan for the coming months.
We don't know about you, but we think there's no better way to rest, reflect, recharge, and begin anew than with a good book.
-Ren Brabenec
Anderson Design Group Staff Writer
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