Books Make Great Gifts because ...

Have you downloaded our 2008 Holiday Gift Guide yet? You may find that your holiday shopping just got a bit easier. Click on the image to the left, follow the link above, or look in the right-hand column of the blog sidebar. We've gotten some great response -- thank you so much to those of you who've sent us emails and twitter messages. We're glad you are finding the Gift Guide to be valuable.

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about "value." The word has so many meanings, and they've all been on my mind. The whole "Black Friday" phenomenon here in the U.S. has me baffled. I don't know when it became its own "holiday", but I really don't like it. However, I do recognize that at the root of the madness lies the search for "value".

I have always believed and still believe that books have the most value of any holiday gift. Most books provide more entertainment for the dollar than a movie, but that's not really the type of value that I mean. It's the value of ideas, of imagination, of knowledge, of history. And for many, there is the added value that comes with sharing books and their content with others -- talking about them, writing about them, blogging, participating in book groups.

I'm not alone, of course. This year many publishers in the U.S. (including Random House, our employer) have joined together to spread this message wider than ever, though the books=gifts campaign. The highlight of the campaign: this great video, which I have now watched many times. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. After you watch, please tell us in the comments why you think books make great gifts ...