A politics of the line. Perfect gift for the nomadic illustrator in your life.

1. Imitate. 2. Think local, act global. 3. Be amused by authenticity.

The office for soft architecture considers blackberries, picnics, scaffolding, the fluid called money, fountains, discount clothing stores, then goes for seven walks in Vancouver.

The paintshop of the eyes and the pied smithy of the heart are here.

I offer you a little piece of soap for your intellectual toilet.

Indulge your nascent interest in maths and follow up its further reading. These Very Short Introductions maintain a high standard. Colin Ward's one on Anarchy is also good.

One of the best books on grief, its duration and not its supposed logic. Simone Beauvoir also wrote a short grief book about her mother.

What I need are some of Herrick's songs to sing me onwards. These Everyman selected poems may have terrible covers, but the goods are inside.

An interesting lecture followed by q and a session. Buy it for the surly teenager who lives downstairs.

All the hand-shadows you'll ever need.

Brilliant little essays on tents, carpets, keyboards. Buy a stackful and disseminate them by slipping them into passing pockets.

The best guide to Paris from this insider-outsider flaneur.

A river in a book.