25 Perfect Gift Books for Every Personality Type
Magazine / 25 Perfect Gift Books for Every Personality Type

25 Perfect Gift Books for Every Personality Type

Career Psychology Science
25 Perfect Gift Books for Every Personality Type

Maybe we’re biased, but we think that books are pretty much the perfect gift. They’re thoughtful and thought-provoking, they fit in almost any shopping budget, and they can be enjoyed over a long period of time.

The trick is to find the right book for each person on your list—and that’s where we come in. If you’re looking for a few gift books this holiday season, look no further than the 25 reads below, each of which is matched to a different personality type. Whoever you’re buying for, we think they’re going to love it.

Or invite them to join us in the Next Big Idea Club! Get 10% off your gift purchase today when you enter promo code HOLIDAY10 at checkout.

The Adventure-Seeker:

Beginners: The Transformative Joy of Lifelong Learning By Tom Vanderbilt

Beginners: The Transformative Joy of Lifelong Learning

By Tom Vanderbilt

The bestselling author of Traffic and You May Also Like now gives us a thought-provoking, playful journey into the transformative joys that come with starting something new, no matter your age. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Tom Vanderbilt, in the Next Big Idea App

The Comedian:

Humor, Seriously: Why Humor Is a Secret Weapon in Business and Life By Jennifer Aaker and Naomi Bagdonas

Humor, Seriously: Why Humor Is a Secret Weapon in Business and Life

By Jennifer Aaker and Naomi Bagdonas

It turns out that a broken funny bone doesn’t just make you a buzzkill at parties; it can also put a damper on your professional life. Even if you don’t think of yourself as a comedian, this book by two Stanford professors can help you use humor to improve your negotiation skills and build better connections. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by co-authors Jennifer Aaker and Naomi Bagdonas, in the Next Big Idea App

The Hustler:

The Biggest Bluff: How I Learned to Pay Attention, Master Myself, and Win By Maria Konnikova

The Biggest Bluff: How I Learned to Pay Attention, Master Myself, and Win

By Maria Konnikova

The incredible story of how a psychologist combined her deep knowledge of human behavior with rigorous training in the game of poker. Though she had never played before, she started winning—a lot. And along the way, she learned crucial lessons about risk, deception, and wise decision-making. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Maria Konnikova, in the Next Big Idea App

The Introvert:

The Powerful Purpose of Introverts: Why the World Needs You to Be You By Holley Gerth

The Powerful Purpose of Introverts: Why the World Needs You to Be You

By Holley Gerth

A bestselling author dives into the psychological, neurological, relational, and spiritual aspects of being an introvert. She also explains how introverts can live with clarity, courage, and confidence in a world that needs what only they can give. Listen to or read our Book Bite summary, read by author Holley Gerth, in the Next Big Idea App

The Extrovert:

The Social Instinct: How Cooperation Shaped the World By Nichola Raihani

The Social Instinct: How Cooperation Shaped the World

By Nichola Raihani

A biologist looks at how and why collaborative behavior emerges throughout the animal kingdom. She reveals that the species that exhibit cooperative behavior—teaching, helping, grooming, and self-sacrifice—most similar to our own tend not to be other apes; they are birds, insects, and fish, occupying far more distant branches of the evolutionary tree. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Nichola Raihani, in the Next Big Idea App

The Futurist:

AI 2041

AI 2041: Ten Visions for Our Future

By Kai-Fu Lee and Chen Qiufan

In this provocative, utterly original work, a former president of Google China and bestselling author of AI Superpowers teams up with celebrated novelist Chen Qiufan to imagine our world in 2041 and how it will be shaped by AI. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by co-author Kai-Fu Lee, in the Next Big Idea App

The Historian

The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War by Malcolm Gladwell

The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War

By Malcolm Gladwell

Malcolm Gladwell weaves together the stories of a Dutch genius and his homemade computer, a band of brothers in central Alabama, a British psychopath, and pyromaniacal chemists at Harvard to examine one of the greatest moral challenges in modern American history. View on Amazon

The Provocateur

Drug Use for Grown-Ups: Chasing Liberty in the Land of Fear By Carl L. Hart

Drug Use for Grown-Ups: Chasing Liberty in the Land of Fear

By Carl L. Hart

A Columbia neuroscientist draws on decades of research and his own personal experience to argue that the criminalization and demonization of drug use—not drugs themselves—have been a tremendous scourge on America, not least in reinforcing this country’s enduring structural racism. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Carl Hart, in the Next Big Idea App

The Kind-Hearted:

When You Wonder, You're Learning: Mister Rogers' Enduring Lessons for Raising Creative, Curious, Caring Kids By Gregg Behr and Ryan Rydzewski

When You Wonder, You’re Learning: Mister Rogers’ Enduring Lessons for Raising Creative, Curious, Caring Kids

By Gregg Behr and Ryan Rydzewski

When You Wonder, You’re Learning shows parents and educators the many ways they might follow in Mister Rogers’ footsteps, sharing his “tools for learning” with digital-age kids. With insights from thinkers, scientists, and teachers—many of whom worked with Rogers himself—the book is an essential exploration into how kids and their parents can excel at what Rogers taught best: being human. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by co-authors Gregg Behr and Ryan Rydzewski, in the Next Big Idea App

The Star-Gazer:

The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred By Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred

By Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

An acclaimed physicist shares her love for the secret workings of the universe, from the Standard Model of Particle Physics and what lies beyond it, to the physics of melanin in skin, to the latest theories of dark matter—all with a new spin informed by history, politics, and the wisdom of Star Trek. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, in the Next Big Idea App

The Critical Thinker:

Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know By Adam Grant

Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know

By Adam Grant

An acclaimed Wharton psychologist offers bold ideas and rigorous evidence to show how we can embrace the joy of being wrong, encourage others to rethink topics as wide-ranging as abortion and climate change, and build schools, workplaces, and communities of lifelong learners. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Adam Grant, in the Next Big Idea App

The Ambitious:

Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most By Greg McKeown

Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most

By Greg McKeown

We’ve been conditioned to believe that if we want to overachieve, we have to overexert, overthink, and overdo. That if we aren’t perpetually exhausted, we’re not doing enough. But Effortless proposes a better, healthier way forward, one in which it’s easier than ever to do the things that really matter. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Greg McKeown, in the Next Big Idea App

The Overworked:

Work Won’t Love You Back: How Devotion to Our Jobs Keeps Us Exploited, Exhausted, and Alone By Sarah Jaffe

Work Won’t Love You Back: How Devotion to Our Jobs Keeps Us Exploited, Exhausted, and Alone

By Sarah Jaffe

A preeminent voice on labor, inequality, and social movements examines the “labor of love” myth—the idea that certain work is not really work, and therefore should be done out of passion instead of pay. In this way, she reveals how all of us have been tricked into buying into a new tyranny of work. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Sarah Jaffe, in the Next Big Idea App

The Entrepreneur:

Go Where There Is No Path: Stories of Hustle, Grit, Scholarship, and Faith By Christopher Gray

Go Where There Is No Path: Stories of Hustle, Grit, Scholarship, and Faith

By Christopher Gray

For all who dare to go off the beaten track, this is the inspirational, power-packed playbook for transforming your life and your world—from a young, Black social entrepreneur whose dorm-room tech startup has helped millions pay for college and access unprecedented opportunity. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Christopher Gray, in the Next Big Idea App

The Diplomat:

How to Talk to a Science Denier: Conversations with Flat Earthers, Climate Deniers, and Others Who Defy Reason By Lee McIntyre

How to Talk to a Science Denier: Conversations with Flat Earthers, Climate Deniers, and Others Who Defy Reason

By Lee McIntyre

A philosopher of science explores how we can most effectively get through to those who distrust science, while avoiding the conversational traps of fact-flinging and condescension. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Lee McIntyre, in the Next Big Idea App

The Hedonist:

Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization By Edward Slingerland

Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization

By Edward Slingerland

From a University of British Columbia professor comes a long overdue investigation into the history and psychology of humanity’s oldest indulgence—one that explains not only why we want to get drunk, but also how it might actually be good for us to tie one on now and then. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Edward Slingerland, in the Next Big Idea App

The Overthinker:

Get Out of My Head: Inspiration for Overthinkers in an Anxious World By Meredith Arthur

Get Out of My Head: Inspiration for Overthinkers in an Anxious World

By Meredith Arthur

This beautifully illustrated guide walks readers through the process of building awareness around anxiety, identifying triggers, moving through blocks, building healthy boundaries, and developing an arsenal of tools for thriving. Listen to or read our Book Bite summary, read by author Meredith Arthur, in the Next Big Idea App

The Parent:

How to Raise Kids Who Aren't Assholes: Science-Based Strategies for Better Parenting—from Tots to Teens By Melinda Wenner Moyer

How to Raise Kids Who Aren’t Assholes: Science-Based Strategies for Better Parenting—from Tots to Teens

By Melinda Wenner Moyer

A clear, actionable, sometimes humorous (but always science-based) guide for parents on how to shape their kids into honest, kind, generous, confident, independent, and resilient people… who just might save the world one day. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Melinda Wenner Moyer, in the Next Big Idea App

The Skeptic:

Cultish

Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism

By Amanda Montell

The author of the widely praised Wordslut analyzes the social science of cult influence: how cultish groups from Jonestown and Scientology to SoulCycle and social media gurus use language as the ultimate form of power. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Amanda Montell, in the Next Big Idea App

The Believer:

The Hidden Spring: A Journey to the Source of Consciousness By Mark Solms

The Hidden Spring: A Journey to the Source of Consciousness

By Mark Solms

A renowned neuropsychologist proposes a revelatory new theory of consciousness. In The Hidden Spring, he helps readers recognize the workings of their own minds for what they really are, including every stray thought, pulse of emotion, and shift of attention. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Mark Solms, in the Next Big Idea App

The Memoir-Lover:

Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted By Suleika Jaouad

Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted

By Suleika Jaouad

A searing, deeply moving memoir of illness and recovery that traces one young woman’s journey from diagnosis to remission to re-entry into “normal” life—from the author of the Life, Interrupted column in the New York Times. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Suleika Jaouad, in the Next Big Idea App

The Investor:

Nothing but Net: 10 Timeless Stock-Picking Lessons from One of Wall Street’s Top Tech Analysts By Mark Mahaney

Nothing but Net: 10 Timeless Stock-Picking Lessons from One of Wall Street’s Top Tech Analysts

By Mark Mahaney

“Sure things” can become “sore things” very rapidly. Nothing but Net provides the knowledge and insights you need to understand what’s really hot, to know what’s not, and to outperform other investors consistently and decisively. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Mark Mahaney, in the Next Big Idea App

The Poet:

Probable Impossibilities: Musings on Beginnings and Endings by Alan Lightman

Probable Impossibilities: Musings on Beginnings and Endings

By Alan Lightman

In this heartfelt and mind-blowing collection of essays, an MIT physicist reflects on the preciousness and precariousness of life on Earth in the vast and wondrous cosmos. Read or watch our conversation with author Alan Lightman

The Athlete:

Bravey

Bravey: Chasing Dreams, Befriending Pain, and Other Big Ideas

By Alexi Pappas

The Olympic runner, actress, and filmmaker shares what she’s learned about confidence, self-reliance, mental health, embracing pain, and achieving your dreams. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Alexi Pappas, in the Next Big Idea App

The Philosopher:
The Socrates Express: Searching for Life Lessons from Dead Philosophers By Eric Weiner

The Socrates Express: Searching for Life Lessons from Dead Philosophers

By Eric Weiner

The bestselling author of The Geography of Bliss embarks on a rollicking intellectual journey, following in the footsteps of history’s greatest thinkers and showing us how each—from Epicurus to Gandhi, Thoreau to Beauvoir—offers practical and spiritual lessons for today’s unsettled times. Listen to our Book Bite summary, read by author Eric Weiner, in the Next Big Idea App

This year, let us choose the perfect books. Give the gift of the Next Big Idea Club and get 10% off your gift purchase today when you enter promo code HOLIDAY10 at checkout.

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