Books make great graduation gifts. Here are 20 of the best books to give college graduates!
Yes, let’s be honest, most college graduates would prefer to get money or a gift card as a graduation gift, but that doesn’t feel meaningful enough for such a momentous occasion as graduating college. Somehow, this particular event inspires us to want to inspire them, to pass along words of wisdom or great advice to help them as they take this next big step into adulthood.
While it’s still a good idea to pass along the money or gift card (because adulting is expensive!), why not add a personal touch for the occasion?
A book is always a heartfelt gift that someone can keep forever (or even pass along.) You can write a memorable inscription with your favorite graduation quotes, underline some of your favorite parts, or take them out to dinner to discuss it. Sure, young adults may not be incredibly interested in starting their post college years reading yet another book, but they will eventually appreciate it.
Not sure where to start? Here are a few ideas to help you pick out the book that will be the best fit for your college graduate.
Graduation Gifts: 20 Awesome Books for College Graduates
This selection of books is a mix of modern and time-proven classics. Whether you’re looking for inspirational, practical, or just a whole lotta fun, you’ll find the perfectly unique book to gift the graduate in your life. (Many of these are great for High School Grads too, but check out our list of best books for high school graduates.
Inspirational Books for College Graduation
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse. This sweet book full of beautifully simple illustrations and brief but powerful words of wisdom and encouragement, is the perfect graduation gift for anyone on your list. It is touching, meaningful, and just something that will bring comfort, inspiration, and support to any young adult heading out into the world. You should buy yourself a copy simultaneously, because you’ll want one to keep once you can look through it. Trust us.
The Last Lecture After being diagnosed with terminal cancer, a professor shares the lessons he’s learned—about living in the present, building a legacy, and taking full advantage of the time you have—in this life-changing classic.
Chasing Failure: How Falling Short Sets You Up for Success
Chasing Failure – There’s a lot of pressure to succeed at this stage in life. In Chasing Failure, Ryan Leak shares the science behind why people are afraid to fail, mixing in real-life stories and adding practical steps to help us intentionally chase failure in order to embrace the opportunities that come with it. Everyone fails in life — but if you’re willing to learn, improve, and grow because of your failures, you are already on the road to success.
Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life’s Greatest Lesson, 20th Anniversary Edition
Tuesday’s with Morrie – A professor and a student reconnect after 20 years and a beautiful friendship is formed. One that shows we still have much to learn even long after we leave the classroom.
Enjoy Every Sandwich: Living Each Day as If It Were Your Last (Crown Books) (Hardback) – Common
Enjoy Every Sandwich – When a Medical Director of a leading research institute whose mission is to help those struggling with disease overcome their fear of pain and death, discovers he has terminal cancer, can he apply the same principles to his own life? The answer is a resounding yes! His journey will convince anyone that it is not the duration of our life that matters, but whether we can live each day we are given with purpose and meaning.
The Road to Character – New York Time’s columnist Dave Brooks looks to some of the world’s greatest thinkers and inspiring leaders and illustrates how through internal struggle and a sense of our own limitations, we can build rich inner lives marked by humility and moral depth.
TED Books Box Set – If you’ve heard of TED Talks, imagine a whole collection of them in book form!
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail
Wild – Sometimes we never know exactly who we are or what we are capable of doing until we push ourselves to our limit and survive.
Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand In the Sun and Be Your Own Person
The Year of Yes – From the creator of “Must See TV” including Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice and Scandal, comes a book that challenges the very definition of success from a working mom. You can have it all, and have nothing, if you aren’t being true to yourself and embracing a life that truly challenges and fulfills you.
The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined
The Better Angels of Our Nature – “If I could give each of you a graduation present, it would be this — the most inspiring book I’ve ever read.” – Bill Gates. According to this book, our world is actually becoming a safer and less violent place, contrary to what most of us think and the media would have us believe. A compelling argument in favor of optimism and believing that it is still possible to make the world a better place.
Practical Books To Give As College Graduation Gifts
What You’re Really Meant to Do: A Road Map for Reaching Your Unique Potential
What You’re Really Meant To Do – Too often, people live unfulfilled lives because they chase after the wrong kind of success. Here’s how to define what “success” means to you and then put a plan together that will get you there. This is a great book for recent grads.
The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter–And How to Make the Most of Them Now
The Defining Decade Drawing from more than two decades of work with thousands of clients and students, Jay weaves the latest science of the twentysomething years with behind-closed-doors stories from twentysomethings themselves. The result is a provocative read full of anecdotes that provides the tools necessary to take the most of your twenties, and shows us how work, relationships, personality, identity, and even the brain can change more during this decade than at any other time in adulthood—if we use the time well.
Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life…And Maybe the World
Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life…and Maybe the World If you want to change the world, start off by making your bed. On May 17, 2014, Admiral William H. McRaven addressed the graduating class of the University of Texas at Austin on their Commencement day. Taking inspiration from the university’s slogan, “What starts here changes the world,” he shared the ten principles he learned during Navy Seal training that helped him overcome challenges not only in his training and long Naval career but also throughout his life; and he explained how anyone can use these basic lessons to change themselves – and the world – for the better.
How to Cook Everything: The Basics – Hopefully, your graduate will know more than how to boil water and burn toast, but if not, this is an excellent introductory cookbook of the essential skills and recipes needed to at least have a foundation in cooking and how to feed oneself without relying on take-out.
1,000 Places to See Before You Die: Revised Second Edition
1,000 Places to See Before You Die – Just because one becomes an adult doesn’t mean losing all sense of adventure. Life should continue to be an exploration and here are the 1,000 suggestions for that bucket list.
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – There is a reason this has been a New York Times bestseller for decades. Timeless advice that applies both at work and at home, it’s a book many people read over and over again.
Your Turn: How To Be An Adult. From a former Stanford dean of freshmen and undergraduate advising and author of the perennial bestseller How to Raise an Adult. Being an adult, it turns out, is not about any particular checklist; it is, instead, a process, one you can get progressively better at over time―becoming more comfortable with uncertainty and gaining the knowhow to keep going. Once you begin to practice it, being an adult becomes the most complicated yet also the most abundantly rewarding and natural thing
Funny Books To Give As College Graduation Gifts
Adulting: How to Become a Grown-up in 468 Easy(ish) Steps
Adulting, How to Become a Grown-Up in 468 Easy(ish) Steps – Just because you don’t feel like an adult doesn’t mean you can’t act like one. From breaking up with frenemies to fixing your toilet in your first apartment, this fun comprehensive handbook is the answer for aspiring grown-ups of all ages.
In Conclusion, Don’t Worry About It
In Conclusion, Don’t Worry About It In this expansion of her 2017 commencement speech to her hometown Langley High, Lauren Graham, the star of Gilmore Girls and Parenthood, reflects on growing up, pursuing your dreams, and living in the here and now. “Whatever path you choose, whatever career you decide to go after, the important thing is that you keep finding joy in what you’re doing, especially when the joy isn’t finding you.”
Oh, The Sh!t You Don’t Know!: College Graduate Edition
Oh, The Shit You Don’t Know Tony Carter’s newest picture book for adults is based off of Dr. Suess’s Oh! The Places You’ll Go! Funny, sharp, and full of good advice for graduates. This book also comes with several blank “Autograph” pages at the end to act as a guest book for grad parties or for use as a yearbook.*Also available in a clean version titled, Oh, The Things You Don’t Know!
Graduation Mad Libs – Just a little something fun to keep everyone entertained at the graduation party. 😉
There are at least twenty more books that could on this list, but it felt like these were truly the best of the best to gift your college graduate. Send them off with at least a few words of wisdom or a few laughs to get them started on the right path and to help them navigate this adventure they are embarking upon.
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