Books That Make Great Graduation Gifts

From the legendary music producer, a master at helping people connect with the wellsprings of their creativity, comes a beautifully crafted book many years in the making that offers that same deep wisdom to all of us. The Creative Act is a beautiful and generous course of study that illuminates the path of the artist as a road we all can follow. It distills the wisdom gleaned from a lifetime’s work into a luminous reading experience that puts the power to create moments — and lifetimes — of exhilaration and transcendence within closer reach for all of us.

A perfect resource for recent graduates, Get Good with Money is a practical 10-step plan that introduces the powerful concept of building wealth through financial wholeness: A realistic, achievable, and energizing alternative to get-rich-quick and over-complicated money management systems. With helpful checklists, worksheets, and a tool kit of resources, this book gets crystal clear on the short-term actions that lead to long-term goals. An invaluable guide to cultivating good financial habits and making your money work for you, Get Good with Money will help you build a solid foundation for your life (and legacy) that’s rich in every way.

A stunningly designed workbook based on Michelle Obama’s #1 New York Times bestseller The Light We Carry, featuring practical tools for navigating life’s challenges and fortifying oneself in the face of uncertainty, obstacles, and self-doubt.

A thoughtfully curated, cleverly designed keepsake that distills the wisdom of all those powerful graduation speakers — from Barack Obama and Gloria Steinem to Kermit the Frog — into the best advice for grads of all ages. Readers will be swept away by the wit and wisdom contained in this book — perfect for graduates, creative thinkers, or anyone seeking inspiration.

A gorgeous deluxe edition of the beloved picture book that has inspired generations of readers. The inspiring and timeless message encourages readers to find the success that lies within, no matter what challenges they face. A perennial favorite and a perfect gift for anyone starting a new phase in their life; this edition even includes a commencement speech from Dr. Seuss himself!

With meditations on youth and age, love and marriage, peace, solitude, and contentment, here is an inimitable classic that guides us to find a space for contemplation and creativity in our own lives. A groundbreaking work when it was first published, this book has retained its freshness as it has been rediscovered by generations of readers and is no less current today.

In The Small and the Mighty, Sharon McMahon proves that the most remarkable Americans are often ordinary people who didn’t make it into the textbooks. Not the presidents, but the telephone operators. Not the aristocrats, but the school teachers. Through meticulous research, she discovers history’s unsung characters and brings their rich, riveting stories to light for the first time. This is a book about what really made America — and Americans — great. McMahon’s cast of improbable champions will become familiar friends, lighting the path we journey in our quest to make the world most just, peaceful, good, and free.

Think of a time when you were worried about something, but then you suddenly realized how insignificant it was. Isn’t it amazing how much lighter you felt? The key is to focus only on the here and now. By doing so, you free yourself from unnecessary anxiety, and your mind will be at peace. By following this book’s 48 simple lessons — and taking to heart the nearly 30 zengo, or Zen sayings, quoted throughout — you’ll enjoy a calmer, more relaxed, more positive version of yourself.

365 days. 5 years. 1,825 moments captured. In her bestselling book The Happiness Project, Gretchen Rubin discovers the pleasure of writing just one sentence every day. This journal helps you to make a fascinating and revealing time capsule of the next five years of your life. Simply turn to today’s date, reflect on the quote at the top of the page, and jot down just one sentence. This daily ritual is highly doable and provides a striking sense of accomplishment, and as the years go by you can see how your entries evolve.

Drawing upon the YouTube Originals “Dear Class of 2020” commencement celebration, Dear Grad brings together inspirational speeches and quotes from a galaxy of luminaries including former president Barack Obama, BTS, Malala Yousafzai, Tom Hanks, Condoleezza Rice, Jimmy Kimmel, and many more. Each offers graduates words of wisdom on how to build resilience, embrace possibilities, and give back to their communities as they embark on the next chapter of their story.

A revolutionary playbook for building generational wealth, no matter where you grew up — from the founders of the explosively popular podcast and financial literacy platform Earn Your Leisure. You deserve to be rich. This is the playbook to make it happen.

From Ethan Hawke, four-time Academy Award nominee, twice for writing and twice for acting, an unforgettable fable about a knight, fearing he may not return from battle, who writes a letter to his children in an attempt to leave a record of all he knows. In a series of ruminations on solitude, humility, forgiveness, honesty, courage, grace, pride, and patience, he draws on the ancient teachings of Eastern and Western philosophy, and on the great spiritual and political writings of our time. His intent: To give his children a compass for a journey they will have to make alone, a short guide to what gives life meaning and beauty.

Carefully selected by the creative minds at The Moth, and adapted to the page to preserve the raw energy of live storytelling, All These Wonders features voices both familiar and new as they share their ventures into uncharted territory — and how their lives were changed indelibly by what they discovered there. With passion and humor, they encourage us all to be more open, vulnerable, and alive.

Scott Galloway teaches brand strategy at NYU’s Stern School of Business, but his most popular lectures deal with life strategy, not business. In the classroom, he regularly offers hard-hitting answers to the big questions: What’s the formula for a life well lived? How can you have a meaningful career, not just a lucrative one? Is work/life balance possible? Brash, funny, and surprisingly moving, The Algebra of Happiness represents a refreshing perspective on our need for both professional success and personal fulfillment, and makes the perfect gift for any new graduate, or for anyone who feels adrift.

Inspiring advice for navigating life’s ups and downs, and finding ways to grow every day — from the New York Times bestselling author of Set Boundaries, Find Peace and Drama Free. This empowering and embraceable book will help us stay the course — and grow more fully into ourselves every day.

Olatunde Sobomehin and sam seidel, co-teachers of the Creative Hustle course at Stanford University, help you identify and navigate your own creative path in this illustrated guide. Taking inspiration and lessons from creative problem-solvers and using activities from the Creative Hustle course, you will begin to see and shape your own path — and follow it to the fulfillment of your goals. See other titles from Stanford d.school including You Need A Manifesto and Navigating Ambiguity. 

Before he inspired the world with Hamilton and was catapulted to international fame, Lin-Manuel Miranda inspired his followers on X, formerly known as Twitter, with words of encouragement at the beginning and end of each day. He wrote these original sayings, aphorisms, and poetry for himself as much as for others. But as Miranda’s audience grew, these messages took on a life on their own. Now Miranda has gathered the best of his daily greetings into a beautiful collection illustrated by acclaimed artist Jonny Sun. Full of comfort and motivation, Gmorning, Gnight! is a touchstone for anyone who needs a quick lift.

Ryan Holiday’s bestselling trilogy — The Obstacle Is the Way, Ego Is the Enemy, and Stillness Is the Key — captivated professional athletes, CEOs, politicians, and entrepreneurs and helped bring Stoicism to millions of readers. Now, in the first book of an exciting new series on the cardinal virtues of ancient philosophy, Holiday explores the most foundational virtue of all: Courage. For graduates who are taking that scary first step into the unknown, Holiday reminds readers that fear cannot rule you and that fortune favors the brave.

A groundbreaking, inspiring, and holistic new approach to leadership from one of the top woman C-suite executives in the nation. In Lead Like You Mean It, Laysha Ward teaches you to focus on self-care and total well-being, navigate the highs and lows of life and career, and shape a legacy that leaves people and things better off than you found them. Here you’ll discover that leading with meaning — at any age — is the key to a well-lived life.

Graduation is both exciting and riddled with unknowns — a moment when we stop to ask ourselves big questions. By turns whimsical and introspective, Dear Graduate playfully asks readers how they want to spend their lives and what values they’ll develop. The 30 questions in this bite-sized and poignant book encourage grads — or anyone at a crossroads — to consider who they aspire to be and what sort of mark they dream of making on the world.

Microjoys are a practice of uncovering joy and finding hope at any moment. They are accessible to everyone. Through beautifully written narrative essays and prompts, Cyndie shares the microjoys that have kept her going through tough times and shows us how we can learn to see the microjoys in our own lives. Microjoys don’t change the truth of loss or make grief any more convenient, but they allow us to temporarily touch joy, keeping us buoyed and moving forward, one moment at a time.

For years, John Cena has been using social media to uplift his followers with his unique brand of positivity. Now, he collects his favorite words of wisdom on the benefits of being bold and open-minded, embracing discomfort, and making the most of every opportunity. Heartfelt and hopeful, Be a Work in Progress is the pick-me-up that readers will turn to again and again.

Every moment in our life happens only once, and if we let it slip away, we lose it forever — an idea captured by the Japanese phrase ichigo ichie. Often spoken in Japan to convey that the encounter is unique, it is a tenet of Zen Buddhism, whose intricate rituals compel us to focus on the present moment. In The Book of Ichigo Ichie, you will learn to appreciate the beauty of the fleeting, how to be alert to the magic of coincidences, and the ability to use all five senses to anchor yourself in the present. Every one of us contains a key that can open the door to attention, harmony with others, and love of life.

From one of our foremost psychologists, a trailblazing book that turns the idea of a good life on its head and urges us to embrace the transformative power of variety and experience. In a lively style, drawing on a generation of psychological studies and on examples from famous people, books, and film, Oishi introduces a new path to a fuller, more satisfying life with fewer regrets.

This is Oh, the Places You’ll Never Go — the ultimate hilarious, cynical, but absolutely realistic view of a college graduate’s future. And what he or she can or can’t do about it, from the bestselling author Carl Hiaasen. This book is a perfect gift for graduates, but it’s also a good gift for anyone starting a job, getting married, or recently released from prison. Because it is not just funny. It is, in its own Hiaasen way, extremely wise and hopeful. Well, it might not be full of hope, but there are certainly enough slivers of the stuff in there to more than keep us all going.

What makes a good life? This search for meaning, as Yale faculty Miroslav Volf, Matthew Croasmun, and Ryan McAnnally-Linz argue, is at the crux of a crisis that is facing Western culture, a crisis that, they propose, can be ameliorated by searching, in one’s own life, for the underlying truth. In A Life Worth Living, named after its authors’ highly sought-after undergraduate course, Volf, Croasmun, and McAnnally-Linz chart out this question, providing readers with jumping-off points, road maps, and habits of reflection for figuring out where their lives hold meaning and where things need to change.

This national bestseller gives us Morrison’s searing prayer for the dead of 9/11, her Nobel lecture on the power of language, her searching meditation on Martin Luther King, Jr., and her heart-wrenching eulogy for James Baldwin. She looks deeply into the fault lines of culture and freedom. An essential collection from an essential writer, The Source of Self-Regard shines with the literary elegance, intellectual prowess, spiritual depth, and moral compass that have made Toni Morrison our most cherished and enduring voice.

In The Power of Habit, award-winning business reporter Charles Duhigg takes us to the thrilling edge of scientific discoveries that explain why habits exist and how they can be changed. At its core, The Power of Habit contains an exhilarating argument: The key to exercising regularly, losing weight, being more productive, and achieving success is understanding how habits work. As Duhigg shows, by harnessing this new science, we can transform our businesses, our communities, and our lives.

From the bestselling author Adam Grant comes an examination of how people can champion new ideas in their careers and everyday life — and how leaders can fight groupthink. Here Grant asks: How can we originate new ideas, policies, and practices without risking it all? Using surprising studies and stories spanning business, politics, sports, and entertainment, Grant explores how to recognize a good idea, speak up without getting silenced, and manage fear and doubt. The payoff is a set of groundbreaking insights about rejecting conformity and improving the status quo.

Ted Chiang tackles some of humanity’s oldest questions along with new quandaries only he could imagine. These stories will change the way you think, feel, and see the world. They are Ted Chiang at his best: Profound, sympathetic, and revelatory.

This revised and updated edition is the indispensable handbook for becoming the creative force of your own life. While most self-help books offer quick fixes, Everything Is Figureoutable will retrain your brain to think more creatively and positively in the face of setbacks. In the words of Cheryl Strayed, it’s “a must-read for anyone who wants to face their fears, fulfill their dreams, and find a better way forward.” Everything Is Figureoutable is more than just a fun phrase to say. It’s a philosophy of relentless optimism. A mindset. A mantra. A conviction. And most important, it’s about to make you unstoppable.

Becoming a grown-up is no easy feat. Many new grads find themselves wondering: How do I find a place to live? How do I land a job interview? How do credit cards work? Whether this is you, or you know someone at this exciting but challenging stage of their life, worry not: Help is on the way! This book gives you the basics — and more — to face the “real world” head-on.

Unlike most personal finance books that focus on skills and behaviors, Finance for the People asks you to examine your beliefs and experiences around money — blending extremely practical exercises with mindfulness, and including more than 50 illustrations and diagrams to make the concepts accessible. Paco de Leon is a friendly, approachable, and wise guide who invites readers to change their relationship with money. This book is for anyone who feels unseen, ignored, or bored to death by the way personal finances are approached and taught, and is ready to go on a journey of self-discovery and step into their financial power.

In her most revealing and powerful memoir yet, the activist, speaker, and bestselling author explores the joy and peace we discover when we stop striving to meet others’ expectations and start trusting the voice deep within us. Untamed will show graduates how to be brave. Because, as Glennon insists: The braver we are, the luckier we get.

A poignant, personal reflection on basketball, life, and home — from the author of the National Book Award finalist A Little Devil in America. There’s Always This Year is a triumph, brimming with joy, pain, solidarity, comfort, outrage, and hope. No matter the subject of his keen focus — whether it’s basketball, music, or performance — Hanif Abdurraqib’s exquisite writing is always poetry, always profound, and always a clarion call to radically reimagine how we think about our culture, our country, and ourselves.

In her latest groundbreaking book, The Let Them Theory, Mel Robbins — New York Times bestselling author and one of the world’s most respected experts on motivation, confidence, and mindset — teaches you how to stop wasting energy on what you can’t control and start focusing on what truly matters: YOU. Your happiness. Your goals. Your life.

A sharp, funny grammar guide graduates will actually want to read, from Random House’s longtime copy chief. We all write, all the time: Books, blogs, emails. Lots and lots of emails. And we all want to write better. Benjamin Dreyer is here to help. As authoritative as it is amusing, Dreyer’s English is chockful of advice, insider wisdom, and fun facts, and will prove to be invaluable to all new graduates.

Brené Brown has taught us what it means to dare greatly, rise strong, and brave the wilderness. Now, based on new research conducted with leaders, change makers, and culture shifters, she’s showing us how to put those ideas into practice so we can step up and lead.

If you’re having trouble changing your habits, the problem isn’t you. The problem is your system. Bad habits repeat themselves again and again not because you don’t want to change, but because you have the wrong system for change. You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. Here, you’ll get a proven system that can take you to new heights. Atomic Habits will reshape the way you think about progress and success, and give you the tools and strategies you need to transform your habits — whether you are a team looking to win a championship, an organization hoping to redefine an industry, or simply an individual who wishes to quit smoking, lose weight, reduce stress, or achieve any other goal.

In this expansion of the 2017 commencement speech she gave at her hometown Langley High, Lauren Graham, the beloved star of Gilmore Girls and Parenthood, reflects on growing up, pursuing your dreams, and living in the here and now. In her hilarious, relatable voice, Graham reminds us to be curious and compassionate, no matter where life takes us or what we’ve yet to achieve. Grounded and inspiring — and illustrated throughout with drawings by Graham herself — here is a comforting road map to a happy life.