Gear Patrol | Spirit of Adventure, Passion for Gear

Redefining animal cruelty

The internet meme Awkward Family Photos has certainly faded from its former glory days as the golden child of internet humor, but that hasn’t stopped authors Mike Bender and Dough Chernack from developing their next great wrinkle on the same embarrassing theme — Awkward Family Pet Photos ($10). As you’d expect from the title, the [...]

Domestic Delights

When go-to resources like Travelzoo and Jetsetter are just a click away, it’s tough not to let wanderlust get the better of you and your real world budget. Thankfully, there’s plenty of gems right in our own 9,400,000 sq mi backyard — and the Grey Lady can prove it. Filled with photography and gorgeous illustrations, [...]

Know Your Place

The first thing you should know about Maphead ($15) is that it’s written by Ken Jennings. Yes, it’s the same Ken Jennings who won Jeopardy 74 times in a row, taking home $3,172,700 in winnings and claiming the title of all-time leading money winner on American game shows. The second point worth mentioning is the [...]

A Detailed Look at Crime from a Keyboard

Does the name Kevin Mitnick mean anything to you? Unless you happen to work for the FBI or a prominent internet security firm, the answer is probably no. Still, long before groups like Anonymous were practicing their own brand of hacktivism Mr. Mitnick had earned the title as the most wanted computer criminal in the [...]

Reading About Drinking

Henny Youngman once said, “when I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading.” We like to channel the comedian’s wise words by only reading about books that champion drinking, like The Punch Bowl ($10) by Dan Searing. This veritable tome of punchy goodness celebrates the modern renaissance of this social concoction while [...]

It's Awesome Baby

After spending at least 10 hours a week across the sports media titan’s various TV channels, websites, mobile apps, and maybe even the magazine, you might assume you know what ESPN is all about. A quick read through Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN ($15) proves otherwise. Starting with the [...]

A study of the greatest American architect of all time

Even if you don’t have a clue about architecture, you know the name Frank Lloyd Wright. Frank Lloyd Wright: Complete Works, Vol. 1, 1885-1916 ($126) is the start of an upcoming three-volume study on Wright’s roughly 1100 designs, only about half of which ever came to fruition. Done in cooperation with the Frank Lloyd Archives [...]

F-Wonderful

It’s tough to appreciate the true beauty of a race car’s design, unless it’s standing still. We also focus so much on the “form follows function” mindset that we fail to see the artfulness of track-only vehicles, especially when they are adorned with every product logo known to mankind. A pictorial homage to the F1 [...]

Beyond the fists, fights and foes

References from film and TV are what flash into most people’s memory today when the subject of boxing arises in conversation. There are just too many great, engaging examples to draw on, from both real and fictional stories (Rocky 45 and Tyson v. Holyfield being exceptions). Before technology padlocked our imagination, though, writing was the [...]

Shots for a Century

Bone up on your photog knowledge with this beautiful coffee table book from one of our favorite publishers, Taschen. Released this April, Photographers A-Z ($42) is filled with 400+ entries on the most influential shutterbugs of the last 100 years including monograph’s from Ansel Adams, Bill Brandy, Irving Penn and Andy Warhol to name a [...]

America, As You've Never Seen It Before

We don’t think graphic designers are somehow better equipped to produce more informative travel guides than other people, but they certainly know how to make them more visually appealing. Graphic USA ($20) is a different kind of travel guide covering 25 popular American cities. Graphic designers from each city were invited to share their own [...]

"Never throughout history has a man who lived a life of ease left a name worth remembering." - T. R.

Colonel Roosevelt ($20) is the last and final installment of a trilogy of biographies written by Edmund Morris detailing the life of one of America’s greatest presidents and men. If you haven’t read the other titles which include the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt and Theodore Rex, we would encourage you to start [...]

Don't Try These Shots at Home

Outdoor lovers are well aware of Patagonia as a brand, and have probably spent plenty of time browsing through the companies unique and decidely epic catalogs. Unexpected: 30 Years of Patagonia Catalog Photography ($49) is compendium of over 100+ images submitted by customers and professional wilderness photographers over the last 30 years (of which they [...]

If His Albums Were the Blueprint, Consider this the Drafting Table

Hip-hop may not be for everyone, but that hasn’t stopped Jay-Z from becoming a household name. Though his rise to fame stems through rapping, Mr. “I’m not a business-man. I’m a business…man” has earned praise from plenty of those outside the game, including Warren Buffet. So when a mind like that puts its attention towards [...]

All the Food That's Worthy to Print

Cookbooks may not be the first thing you’re looking to whip out your wallet for, but having few around is certainly something we’d recommend. Especially if you hope to pull off a home-cooked meal at some point to prove your not completely worthless. Luckily, New York Times food columnist Amanda Hesser has put together a [...]