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Books are gifts that just keep on giving. They make us think. Include books on your holiday list. Here are some books that might make lovely gifts:

"Wisdom" by Andrew Zuckerman (Abrams, 216 pages, $50). This collaboration between the photographer Zuckerman and Archbishop Desmond Tutu brings together 50 interviews with some of the compelling thinkers of our generation. This book compiled wisdom from people like Buzz Aldrin, Burt Bacharach, Clint Eastwood, Jane Goodall, Ted Kennedy, Nelson Mandela, Ravi Shankar and Andrew Wyeth. It also includes a DVD of "Wisdom" the film.

"Make 'em Laugh — The Funny Business of America" by Lawrence Maslon and Michael Kantor (Twelve, 384 pages, $45). This companion book to the PBS television series set to premiere Jan. 14 offers a broad overview of most of the wonderful comedians and humorists who have tickled funnybones over the past century. Buster Keaton, Jack Benny, Lenny Bruce, Phyllis Diller and Gilda Radner are just a few of the comics featured.

"You Must Remember This  — The Warner Brothers Story" by Richard Schickel and George Perry (Running Press, 480 pages, $50). Warner Brothers Studios created some marvelous movies. This companion volume to the five-hour television documentary that aired on PBS in September is a star-studded trip down Memory Lane.

There are fabulous photos of screen legends like Joan Crawford, Humphrey Bogart, Jimmy Cagney and Bette Davis.

"Looking for Lincoln — The Making of an American Icon" by Philip B. Kunhardt III, Peter W. Kunhardt, and Peter Kunhardt, Jr. (Knopf, 494 pages, $50). The bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth is just around the corner, and a slew of Lincoln books are coming out to mark the occasion. "Looking for Lincoln" is a treasure chest of Lincoln photos, news clippings and remembrances of the man some consider our greatest president.

"Scrapbooks — An American History" by Jessica Helfand, (Yale University Press, 190 pages, $45). Scrapbooking enjoys a resurgence in popularity lately. Americans have been making scrapbooks for centuries. Scrapbooking is a very democratic hobby, anybody can make one. This book takes readers on a visual journey through precious scrapbooks that span time and inspire memories.

"The Williams-Sonoma Cookbook — The Essential Recipe Collection for Today's Home Cook" (Free Press, 463 pages, $35). Can you ever have enough cookbooks? This one is a must-have with hundreds of recipes for temptations like tiny roquefort popovers, pumpkin soup with ginger, Thai beef salad with mango, butternut squash ravioli with butter and sage, grilled fish tacos, roast turkey with corn bread and sausage dressing and Argentine-style stuffed flank steak.

There are lots of veggie dishes and sinful desserts as well.

"The Call of Trains — Railroad Photographs by Jim Shaughnessy" with text by Jeff Brouws (W.W. Norton, 224 pages, $65). This is my personal favorite. These glorious black and white photos of magnificent locomotives from the golden age of steam engines transports readers back to a lost age of majesty and grandeur on the rails.

"The New York Times — The Complete Front Pages — 1851-2008" (Black Dog and Leventhal, 456 pages, $60). The biggest book of the bunch. Even so, I wondered, how did they squeeze more than 54,000 front pages into one book? The answer: this book reproduces in print hundreds of historic front pages. Then, there's three DVD-roms that contain every single front page.

A number of notable Times writers contributed essays to this project. This is a history buff's dream.