Holiday Shopping Guide, Sort Of

Yes, it's that time of year ...


Of course, most bloggers look for ways to "monetize their content," but let's face it, this is more along the lines of being content to monetize. It's the annual "things you should buy so that I make money while you're doing your Christmas shopping" extravaganza.

So, the first and foremost bestest thing ever you could buy someone for Christmas this year is, of course, my book. KN@PPSTER's Big Freakin' Book of Stuff is the ideal Christmas gift for anyone who reads. Or for anyone who needs a paperweight. Or a doorstop. And the price ranges all the way from $13.99 (dead tree version) to free (PDF electronic version). No, I'm not kidding. Feel free to send 50 PDF copies to the 50 people you know you should get something for but don't want to spend any money on. Click here for all the gory details.

Sticking to books -- and while these book purchases won't make me any money, they'll support Antiwar.com with a sales commission -- I'm now past the mid-point of William H. Patterson's two-volume biography of Robert A. Heinlein, which I'm thoroughly enjoying and which should be of great interest to any fan of science fiction or of the 20th Century in America in general (Heinlein was born in 1907 and died in 1988, so his life spans most of the high points and you'd be surprised how many of them he was at least indirectly involved in). The first volume is Learning Curve, the second The Man Who Learned Better. You'll be hearing more from me about this biography as time goes on, I'm sure.

Another few books, and once again, not an affiliate link for me (maybe I just don't have the hang of this monetization thing): Just go to the Distro of the Libertarian Left site and pick some thing or things. Preferably all of them, but if I have to pick one, I'm going to point you at Kevin Carson's The Homebrew Industrial Revolution. I don't promote my C4SS comrades' work as much as I should, so let me take a moment to make clear how important I think that work is. I think that work has visibly moved "the freedom movement's" center of gravity over the last decade, and moved it toward a better place.

For some other things that might make good gifts, I suggest you visit the Free Press Publications Shop. Yep, another link that doesn't make me money ... but FPP's Darryl W. Perry sponsors The KN@PP Stir Podcast and I think sending him some precious metals buyers, Bitcoin shoppers, etc. is the right thing to do especially since I don't feel like flogging all that stuff myself. So hopefully I'm helping both him and you out here.

OK, that's a bunch of stuff right there, most of which won't make money for me but will hopefully make holiday shopping easier for you. I'll end it with one final book recommendation that would, in fact, generate an affiliate commission for me:

As you've probably noticed, I'm on a Heinlein kick lately and I'm actually thinking about spilling a good deal of ink next year discussing his (in my opinion) masterwork, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. If you haven't read it, I hope you will. If you have read it, I hope you'll read it again. If you already have two copies (one for the bookshelf, the other for wherever you happen to be in the house at the moment), I hope you'll buy one for an ignorant and unenlightened friend. Finally, I hope you'll say something about the book in the comment thread under this post so that I can gauge interest in, more or less, a "reading circle" or "book discussion club" project dedicated to TMiaHM in 2015.

So, there's the holiday shopping extravaganza, such as it is. Speaking of which, happy holidays to you and yours, regardless of what holiday you celebrate and why. And if you don't celebrate a holiday, well, just have a damn fine winter.