Perhaps the biggest surprise, though, is a volume in which a photographer best known for portraits turns to still lifes and interiors, demonstrating that portraits are portraits, whether of things or people.
Another intriguing book offers a detailed visualization of human history's polyphony, allowing you to see what was going on while the things you know were going on were happening.
There are books featuring animals both actual and imaginary - the latter casting a satirical glance at the doings of us humans - and others featuring machines (autos and trains) that lift the heart. A venerable local church gets honored on an anniversary, and flowers usually seen in greenhouses are shown in all their glory in the wild.
There's even a volume that will give you insight into how to turn your home into a castle - unfortunately, it's not easy.
Here, then, is a sampling of the season's gift books. As always, prices cited are list, but never forget that discounts are usually available.
Wolf Kahn (Abrams, $55). This is the second edition of what purports to be the definitive volume on the life and work of Wolf Kahn. Born in Germany in 1927, Kahn has combined an appreciation of nature with a mastery of color field abstraction. The combination has resulted in some of the most winning and evocative landscapes produced by any artist in recent decades. The new edition boasts a generous sample of works painted over the last 15 years, which art critic Karen Wilkins aptly describes as "bold, surprising pictures." That they certainly are, doing what all great art does: leading the viewer to see the world anew.
