A Guide to Buying the Best Books for 20-Year-Olds

Hi! This is a new post from my series of guides for people who love reading. In today’s ‘episode’, I’ll show you a couple of tips on how you can find the perfect book for a 20-year-old. It can be tricky navigating through all of the books available for sale these days, and if you don’t know the person you’re planning to give a gift to, it can be even trickier. Here’s what you should consider if you want to get a good book for a 20-year-old.




Find out as much as you can about that person
As much of a cliche as it might sound, this is the first thing you have to do. You definitely wouldn’t enjoy receiving a book that offends you or that you have zero intention on reading, right? The point here is that you should get a book that actually has a chance of being read, both for the sake of the book and for the sake of the person that got it as a gift.

If you’re a close friend of that person or if he or she is a family member, you’re probably already aware of what they’re passionate about. Don’t just think that someone who doesn’t enjoy reading will take it up just like that - it isn’t true. However, you could start by analyzing that gift recipient’s tastes and preferences.

I’m going to give you an example to make things a bit easier. Let’s say you’re trying to get a book for your brother. What does your brother enjoy to do in his spare time? Does he like DIY-ing? Does he like fishing, hunting, camping, hiking, or any other type of outdoor activity? Does he like humor?

If you take the time to answer these questions, you’ll find out what type of book you can consider. For example, for DIY people, you could get them a book on home repair and improvement, homemade products, DIY solar power, car repair, wood pallet projects, or anything else. For those who like fishing, a book on several species or techniques could be a good choice, but don’t underestimate those that are collections of fishing stories, either. For people who like to laugh, nothing’s better than a book in the humor category, for example.




20 is a difficult age
There are a lot of challenges to overcome when you’re 20, and a practical book such as one on making smart financial decisions could be the right way of going about things. While they are in their 20s, many people make bad money mistakes - whether it’s ruining their credit, too many credit cards, too many bank accounts - whatever it is that has gone through your mind, one of them has to be it.

If you’re the parent of a 20-year-old, choosing a book like The Financial Diet (which is very easy to read even for someone who is bad at math or making financial decisions) can both be a good thing for your son or daughter, but it can also put your mind at ease.




Format

Another aspect that you ought to consider is the fact that not all books are the same. Just like some are paperbacks and hardbacks, there’s also the option of you choosing the electronic version (the e-book). Sure, that might not be so glamorous since you won’t be able to hand the book to the gift recipient - but still, if you know for sure that the 20-year-old you’re getting it for doesn’t have any physical copies and is maybe trying not to buy printed books just to be eco-friendly, an e-book might be a logical choice.




Genre

This is pretty tricky. If you don’t know that much about the person, you’ll have to do a bit of investigating - ask his or her friends to find out what genre he likes. Keep in mind that there are people who like to read non-fiction (such as The Financial Diet book we’ve mentioned before), but there are others that only read fiction and can’t stand non-fiction, no matter how well it might be written.

I used to be like that. When I was in my 20s, I loved reading mysteries and thrillers, but also memoirs and contemporary lit. I never even thought that I’d get to the point where I’d start to enjoy reading non-fiction. And guess what? It did happen, but once I was past the age of 29. I made the mistake of starting my ‘non-fiction journey’ with one of Seth Godin’s books, and since I wasn’t even in the same industry at that time and it seemed like his book was an endless repetition of whatever he said in the first chapter, I gave up the whole genre.

Much later on, when I came across Mindset: Changing The Way You think to Fulfil Your Potential by Carol Dweck, I understood that not all non-fiction books are the same. Some can actually help you.

So, what does this 20-year-old usually read?



So, there you have it. Here are my two cents on how you can pick a great book for a 20-year-old. If you liked this post, consider sharing it with your friends.