Do you remember "books?" A book is basically thousands of tweets printed out and stapled together between pieces of cardboard. It may sound ridiculous, but back in colonial times (and for a number of years after) books were a major source of information and entertainment. These days, the majority of books are read by people who don't know how to use the internet. A book is a great gift for these people; it's important to replenish book-lovers' collections so they don't just stare at the wall all day.

The only new books I read this year were about the internet. The best one was We Are Anonymous: Inside the Hacker World of LulzSec, Anonymous and the Global Cyber Insurgency by Forbes journalist Parmy Olson. I have read (and written) thousands of words about the hacktivist collective Anonymous, but I still loved this snappy inside account of the hacker flare-ups and crack-downs of the past couple years. Olson got to know 18-year-old Jake "Topiary" Davis, one of the leaders of the hacker group LulzSec, and uses his story to turn what could have been a dry rehash of headlines into a complex exploration of how the internet has led young people (overwhelmingly young men) to get caught up in things so much bigger than themselves. Anyone with even a passing interest in the parts of the internet that are not Facebook or Twitter should read this book.

What great new books would you recommend? Please leave them in the comments, where book-lovers will probably never see them because they're too busy reading.