It's the GGGG (giant geoscience gift guide)

I expect you've been wondering what to get me and Evan for Christmas. Wonder no more! Or, if you aren't that into Agile, I suppose other geoscientists might even like some of this stuff. If you're feeling more needy than generous, just leave this post up on a computer where people who love you will definitely see it, or print it out and mail it to everyone you know with prominent red arrows pointing to the things you like best. That's what I do.

Geology in the home

• If there is a finer object than this amazing table, I don't know what it is. This rifted table tries to challenge, but the winner is clear.
• I suppose this wonderful Little River is at least more sedimentological.
• You can have a stratigraphic rug or two...
• ...some petrological wallpaper...
• ...or even a volcanological pillow of the non-lava variety.
• Geophysicists love plates. Here are some beauties with waves.

Art!

• This vintage mineral poster is completely awesome. Here's another. There are cards too.
• How about some paleoart from Winnipeg artist Julius Csotonyi? If trilobitic surrealism is more your genre, then Glendon Mellow is your man.
• I don't know if you'd call it art, but Shapeways has all sorts of 3D-printed treasures, like a T Rex skull, or a model of Comet Churyumov–Gerasimenko. Or make your own models with this crazy 3D printing pen.
• I'm still waiting for someone to get me this glass seismograph by Andy Paiko, which might be the actual greatest thing ever... even better than that table.

Museums and trips and stuff

• Give to the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller, Alberta, one of the world's leading dinosaur research centres.
• I went to Iceland and my kids thought it was the best place ever. Go there! Get inside a volcano!
• Go and look for dinosaur tracks in Wyoming — riding a giant mammal of your choice! Well, a horse.

Image is CC-BY by Greg Westfall on Flickr

Geo-apparel

• An ugly tie for geologists you like, but not like like. If it's true love, Spoonflower has a lot of geological fabric you can make stuff out of. You will never touch the original seismic well tie, however.
• This is one of the better geological pun T-shirts, an oft-mined vein. There are lotsofothers.
• I think this onesie only comes in infant sizes. But no worries, babies need rocking threads too!  

Blimey... books!

Who over the age of 21 or maybe 30 doesn't love getting books for Christmas? I don't!... not love it. Er, anyway, here are some great reads!

• How about 156 things for the price of three? Yeah, that is a deal.
• They're not geological but my two favourite books of the year were highly geeky — What If? by Randall Munroe and Cool Tools by Kevin Kelly.
• Let's face it, you're going to get books for the kids in your life too (I hope). You can't do better than Jon Tennant's Excavate! Dinosaurs.
• You're gonna need some bookends for all these books.

Still stuck? Come on!

• Travel back in time to 2013, 2012, or 2011 for previous editions of this awesome gift guide. 
• Check out what the Natural History Museum or Smithsonian have on offer.
• Last year the EGU Geolog blog and the ever-reliable Evelyn Mervine had great ideas too.

---

All of the smaller images in this post are copyright of their respective owners, and I'm hoping they don't mind me using them to help sell their stuff.

Update on 2014-12-12 01:41 by Matt Hall
​In case you're still struggling, Evelyn Mervine has posted her annual list over on the AGU Blogosphere. If you find any more geo-inspired gift lists, or have ideas for others, please drop them in the comments.