Books of lasting value?

[Rebecca]

today I was given an award for the awards night coming up at the end of the year. I have been given a $40 voucher for dymocks (AUS) for a book that is:
- less than $40 (preferably a lot less as a planned on getting another novel too)
- A hardback
- appropiate eg not witchcraft or strology etc.
- a book of lasting value that i would be happy to show my grandparents and granchildren in the future.

Please help I have no idea what to buy...something interesting that i would use so not a dictionary of atlas because ive already got them. Last year i got a book on rainforests but i would prefer something more interesting this time.
Thanks for your help

 

[HappytHolidaystHiram]

What do you mean by lasting value?
Any of the Russian novelists is considered great (Tolstoy, Dostoyevski) and a hardcover book is somewhat less expensive than something contemporary and will bring joy and value for generations to come.

Great American Novels? Moby Dick, The Color Purple, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, Grapes of Wrath.

A great non-fiction book I read last year was Douglas Hofstadter's "I am a Strange Loop" which is a book about how the brain functions and some interesting math and art issues related to it. His earlier word Godel, Escher, Bach is a cult classic and the new book is even better since he has spent another 20 years researching the ideas of his earlier book.

Children's books can be a great family heirloom too. My favorite book in the world is The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint Exupery, and a hard cover edition with lovely little drawings by the author is about $30. Or you can get two paperback ones for the same price and give them out to people you like. It's a children's book that adults get more out of then kids even.

Good Luck.