Last Minute Christmas Book Gifts 2025
Looking for some last minute Christmas presents? Look no further and check out the gift book recommendations below. Happy reading!
Description from Bookshop.org: (All links earn commission from purchases. Prices accurate at time of writing) This is not a long book, but it does not need to be. Every sentence is expertly crafted to deliver a gut-punch of critical truth about how the invisible hand of the neoliberal market ideology is reaching in and taking from the majority and giving to the rich.
(All links earn commission from purchases. Prices accurate at time of writing) Review From Bookshop.org:
A passionate case for reimagining Irish farming and agriculture in the age of climate change, from a respected environmental journalist.
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Our lives can feel defined by the struggle with overwhelm, endless decisions and striving to be productive. Wouldn’t it be good to stop doing all that? What if we could find freedom – and get more of the important things done – by embracing our limitations, and by letting things happen instead of forcing them?
(Prices accurate at time of writing) Review From Bookshop.org:
Eat homegrown food all year round and save money on your weekly shop by following a simple plan for self-sufficiency.
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A History of the World in 47 Borders: The Stories Behind the Lines on Our Maps
People have been drawing lines on maps for as long as there have been maps to draw on. Sometimes rooted in physical geography, sometimes entirely arbitrary, these lines might often have looked very different if a war or treaty or the decisions of a handful of tired Europeans had gone a different way. By telling the stories of these borders, we can learn a lot about how political identities are shaped, why the world looks the way it does - and about the scale of human folly.
From the Roman attempts to define the boundaries of civilisation, to the secret British-French agreement to carve up the Ottoman Empire during the First World War, to the reason why landlocked Bolivia still maintains a navy, this is a fascinating, witty and surprising look at the history of the world told through its borders.
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Blackwells
Waterstones
The Invisible Doctrine: The Secret History of Neoliberalism (& How It Came to Control Your Life)
If you have ever stopped and looked at all the things that are going wrong in the western world and thought they don't make sense, this book offers you the answer. An answer as obvious as the nose on your face when pointed out, greed. The authors systematically tear apart the lies, obfuscation, and distraction techniques used by neoliberalism and its proponents to plunder the world, undermine democracy, and let the world burn.
Know thine enemy by reading this book, and discover the alternatives systems of nationhood offered by the authors for consideration, such as local governance and deeper participatory democracy, all with the goal of improving the world, not optimising exploitation. The neoliberals want us to think their way is the only way, which is why they stopped naming their doctrine in public. This book breaks that fallacy and throws back the curtains to shed some much-needed light on the invisible doctrine of neoliberalism.
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Blackwells
Waterstones
The Lie of the Land: A Game Plan for Ireland in the Climate Crisis
Ireland has tended to think of itself as a ‘Goldilocks’ country: not too hot, not too cold, and well positioned to ride out the climate emergency. But this is a fantasy: the effects of climate change in Ireland will be profound, and at the moment we’re not doing nearly enough about it. That’s the bad news. The good news is that Ireland has the wherewithal to dramatically cut its emissions while making itself far more resilient. This book shows how it can be done.
Above all, we must reimagine the ways in which we use the land. The agrifood sector accounts for 38 per cent of Ireland's greenhouse emissions – and just 7 per cent of gross national income. As John Gibbons shows, Ireland's dramatic shift towards the most polluting food sectors – driven by a small number of agribusiness giants and facilitated by the state – benefits the few while imposing huge costs on the many. It doesn't have to be this way, and Gibbons, who grew up on a mixed farm, shows how we can embrace a low-emissions farming model while preserving farmers' livelihoods, making the countryside a better place to live, and delivering something Ireland conspicuously lacks: food security.
The Lie of the Land is a bracing critique of the bad decisions that have put Ireland into such a vulnerable position, and a devastating dissection of the wishful thinking and outright dishonesty that have propped up the status quo in Irish agribusiness. It also offers an inspiring vision of how – through a revolution in farming, development of renewable energy (including our vast offshore wind resource), and a dramatic acceleration of moves to decarbonize transport and housing – we can prepare for the new realities of the climate crisis.
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Blackwells
Waterstones
Meditations for Mortals: Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts
Meditations for Mortals begins with the reality in which we actually find ourselves, not with fantasies of an ideal existence. Reflecting on ideas from philosophy, religion, psychology and self-help, it offers us a powerful and practical new way to do what counts: a guiding outlook Oliver Burkeman calls ‘imperfectionism’.
This book is a profound and liberating crash course in living more fully. It overturns much familiar advice and opens a gateway to a saner, freer and more enchantment-filled life in 2026. The perfect gift to help you live a fuller life.
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Bookshop.org UK
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Blackwells
Waterstones
The Self-Sufficiency Garden: Feed Your Family and Save Money
Huw Richards and Sam Cooper have spent the past two years planning and trialling their very own self-sufficiency garden in a 10x12.5m plot and now they've worked out the perfect formula. Grow five portions of nutritious veg a day for four people following their month-by-month growing plan, which is realistic and flexible with cost, space, and time in mind.
- Learn about Huw and Sam's self-sufficiency ethos, goals and approaches
- Create your garden and learn how to build all the growing spaces you will need, such as hot beds and polytunnels
- Follow month-by-month planting plans with guidance on key tasks throughout the year
- Discover useful kitchen tips meal prep, storage, and preserving ideas along with base recipes so you can make the most of your crops
Follow Huw and Sam's tried-and-tested methods and save money while enjoying homegrown food all year.
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Bookshop.org UK
Bookshop.org US
Blackwells
Waterstones
Image Copyrights: Dorling Kindersley Ltd, Vintage Publishing, Penguin Books Ltd, Headline Publishing Group.
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