I'm coming back to this topic, because it's kind of fitting this week. When I was young, one of the memories I've kept of my grandparents was them buying me books all the time. They'd buy me very expensive series. National geographics and even a Kodak series when I was a teen taking photography. Well my daughter is now 15, taking her 1st photography class and when she was asking me about light and creative stuff her first few days I pulled those books out. They might not be digital based, but they have all the basic of what makes a good photo. I'm 40+ and I"ve contiplated many times, getting rid of them, but just couldn't. Now I'm glad I didn't. One of them even had the actual invoice for that particular book, taped inside the cover and marked as paid! That was 1984!
I think gift books are awesome. At one point, I asked for the Michael Jordan book, years ago. Now I"m just an old housewife, but growing up Michael Jordan was the king of basketball. It's fun to go back and look at those books and go down memory lane.
Also have one of Trading Spaces. Doesn't mean much now, but for a novice Interior Decorator, that show was a huge hit and a ton of fun.
My point, it's all about the memories. They might not get looked at for 5 or 10 years, but when they do...it can warm the heart and bring a smile!