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Grown-Up Reads

From Sci-Fi Geeks to History Freaks: Father’s Day Book Gifts for
Every Kind of Dad

by Tom Burns

Photo credits: Granger Wootz, Getty Images; Corey Jenkins, Getty Images; Richard Drury, Getty Images.

Dads do not want ties for Father’s Day. We don’t want gift cards, we don’t want yard tools. We will graciously accept any or all handmade tchotchke or hand-drawn picture from our youngest kids, because, come on, how cute is that? But, for many dads, what we really want are BOOKS. Awesome, unexpected, completely absorbing books.

However, different kinds of dads gravitate toward different kinds of books. If you’re not sure what specific kind of book might fit your specific kind of dad, these suggestions might help.

For the Dad Who Enjoys Being Creeped Out

If your dad adores TV shows like “The Walking Dead” and “Breaking Bad,” he might enjoy something from the most terrifying team of father-son authors in history — Stephen King and his son Joe Hill. King’s newest novel (wait, five minutes and he’ll have another) is End of Watch, the final chapter in the hardboiled crime trilogy he began with 2014’s Mr. Mercedes. The thriller once again pits retired detective Bill Hodges against the diabolical Mercedes Killer, a madman who somehow finds the way to inspire a string of suicides while confined to a hospital bed. But if your dad prefers King’s earlier supernatural work, try Joe Hill’s The Fireman, a chilling tale of a husband and wife trying to survive a violent plague of spontaneous combustion sweeping across the United States, while also struggling to understand a mysterious stranger who seems to be the only person alive who can control the fiery disease. Or you could go for King and Hill’s only father-son collaboration to date, the horror novella In the Tall Grass, which is only available as an eBook.

For the Dad Who Loves the History Channel

Few authors can write about history better than Nathaniel Philbrick. Perhaps best known for his bestselling In the Heart of the Sea, Philbrick writes about history with a level of detail and passion that makes his books read like works of fiction. His newest book, Valiant Ambition, does an amazing job of bringing to life one of the most famous “traitors” in American history, drawing some fascinating parallels between the lives and careers of George Washington and Benedict Arnold. (The book’s subtitle is George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and the Fate of the American Revolution.) Another solid choice would be Erik Larson’s Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania, which takes a familiar slice of history — the sinking of the famous WWI luxury liner — and tells it in a way that feels vital and new. Both are must-reads for any history buff dad.

For the Dad Who Is a Big Geek at Heart

If there was ever a book written specifically for geek dads, it would have to be Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One. This fun sci-fi adventure follows a Willy Wonka-esque treasure hunt set in a virtual reality world that’s obsessed with 1980s pop culture. If your dad loves “WarGames,” “Ultraman,” and Rush, this is the book for him. (Stephen Spielberg is turning it into his next movie.) Cline’s second novel, Armada, is also kind of perfect for nerdy fathers — it’s all about a teenager who follows in the legacy of his uber-gamer father and uses his classic video game skills to help battle against an alien invasion.

For the Dad Who Wants to Build Something

Do you have a DIY Dad? If so, he and Mike Adamick are kindred spirits. Adamick loves getting messy with his kids and has written three fantastic how-to books that will give dads enough project ideas to last for years. The books are Dad’s Book of Awesome Projects: 25 Fun Do-It-Yourself Projects for Families (learn to build a rope swing!), Dad’s Book of Awesome Science Experiments: 30 Inventive Experiments to Excite the Whole Family (make Straw Balloon Rocket Blasters!), and Dad’s Book of Awesome Recipes: 100+ Recipes the Whole Family Will Enjoy (microwave S’mores!).

For the Dad with Poetry in His Soul

People often assume that dads are gruff, emotionally-closed off patriarchs who read crime novels and never, ever cry. Thankfully, there’s a wonderful collection of poems that explodes that myth into pieces — Poems That Make Grown Men Cry: 100 Men on the Words That Move Them, edited by Anthony and Ben Holden. It assembles poems from authors ranging from Walt Whitman to Pablo Neruda, along with commentary from famous men — J.J. Abrams, Salman Rushdie, Jonathan Franzen, and Daniel Radcliffe, among others — explaining why those poems move them to tears. If your dad is deeper than society gives him credit for, this might be the book for him.