(image courtesy: elRojo)

There is something immensely powerful about the aesthetic of “urban decay”. Growing up outside of Detroit, your GearCrave editor knows this quality all too well. In a city that progress forgot, the fingerprints of a long-dead industrial revolution are everywhere. Factories, schools, office buildings and more are abandoned– much like their prior inhabitants. Where most of our American Society has moved on from these architectural footnotes, there is a rising community of “extreme explorers”, those that would break laws and fence chains alike, just to explore our architectural past. “Abandoned Places“, the book by Henk ven Rensbergen documents the growing trend of amateur archaeology in an urban environment. This book explores our own innate drive to explore a history that while recent, it is hopelessly abandoned in the name of progress. You don’t want to miss this one, GearCravers. This is arguably the most engaging, interesting coffee table-bound book you’ll find this year.

Buy: $39.20

Quitting smoking is hard enough… especially when it’s part of your shtick. When You Are Engulfed in Flames is a humor-packed collection of personal essays the likes only David Sedaris can deliver, complete with his struggle to put a stop to his trademark habit. Follow Sedaris as he relieves painful but pivotal moments of his rearing — his rural upbringing in the South with comedienne sibling Amy Sedaris always provides hilarious background to his stories — to defining moments that prove his neuroticism and compulsive tendencies are still very much intact (armoring his apartment windows with old LP covers to save himself from hellion songbirds and buying recreational drugs out of a trailer in the North Carolina backwoods).

Buy: $25.99 - Preorder, available June 3.

If you’ve ever wondered how the James Bond legacy has become so historic, so influential– look to the source of James Bond himself. The imagination of author Ian Fleming has birthed 36 James Bond novels and 22 films. The latest in the James Bond experience hit store shelves today: Devil May Care, by Sebastian Faulks as Ian Fleming.  Faulks’ homage to Fleming features all the classic elements of a James Bond novel: the women, the car chases, the gun battles, the gadgetry and the shaken martinis.  This time, Bond faces a fierce, wealthy villain who wishes to take the world to its knees through a string of savage political executions and a flood of drugs into the veins of the world.  Paired with a beautiful Parisian accomplice, Miss Scarlet Papava, James Bond is up against the greatest odds yet in saving not only the world, but himself…  This book is available today at Amazon.com, in commemoration of Ian Fleming’s 100th birthday.

Buy: $16.47

Scattered across the American landscape in the happiest of places, the photobooth has an interesting place in our culture. Where Americans play, drink, smile and flirt, the photobooth is there. From carnivals to pubs to vacation hotspots, a photobooth is waiting to capture our happiness and store it on a row of black-and-white film. Author Nakki Goranin documented this American cultural phenomenon with a history of the photobooth and a stunning collection of classic photobooth pictures. “American Photobooth” is a brilliant expose on this phenomenon– and how you may never be able to pass another photobooth again without stepping inside…

Buy: $29.70

Having never been to Brazil, Thomas Kohnstamm started doing his research. He was, after all, a travel writer, and a seasoned one at that. Kohnstamm is one of the select few that get to traipse the earth in search of cool, interesting and fun things and get paid about it. With a dream job like that, what gives? Do All Travel Writers Go to Hell? acts not as a guide book or a hip “where to” guide, but instead chronicles Kohnstamm’s experience preparing to write the book. All the parties. The free drinks. The days sunning at the nude beaches. The one-night stands so casual that even a language barrier couldn’t deny - it’s all there. Read on in hilarity as you wonder whether Kohnstamm will live to write another “trusted” guide book for the well-respected company that is paying him to do this nonsense. So is Kohnstamm going to hell? We can’t say for sure, but he is one lucky SOB.

Buy: $13.95.

Fans of Fight Club and Choke know how deliciously bizarre Chuck Palahniuk’s stories can be. Not one to let down his rabid fanbase, Palahniuk has gone and outdone himself yet again. Snuff chronicles a baggy pornstar’s epic fall into the record books as she tries to do the deed with 600 men on film in single day. Instead of detailing her rotten play-by-play narrative, Snuff follows three of the suitors: Mr, 72, Mr. 137 and Mr. 600. Mr. 72 probably has it a lot better off than the other two guys, but Mr. 600 must have some twisted backstory if he’s willing to wait for 599 others to finish. Expect every sweaty detail to be included, as Palahniuk often immerses himself in research a full two years before beginning a story. Pre-order, due out May 20.

Buy: $24.95.

(image courtesy: laughing squid)

As the great Method Man once said, “Protect Ya Neck”. In this case, it might be a case of protecting ya “brains”– but we’ll keep the quote. We have one question for our GearCrave readers: are you truly prepared for a Zombie attack? What would happen if a new engineered virus were to break loose tomorrow and you were to be faced with an army of brain-hungry zombies as a result? Would you be ready? Sure, you could play Resident Evil all day and practice your head shots, but that skill won’t translate to real-time zombie onslaughts. You know what will get you ready? The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks. This book is filled, from cover to cover, with Zombie defense plans, contingency practices and reviews of anti-zombie weaponry. You want to keep your brains inside that pretty little skull of yours? Get this book.

Buy: $11.16

We must admit, we’re totally addicted to TheSmokingGun.com– we love mugshots, whether they’re about celebrites, musicians, athletes, or even your average joe (or jane). We’d like to take that experience away from TheSmokingGun’s website and make it a little more accessible, like on our coffee table. Thanks to George Seminara, celebrity mug shots can adorn your living room or restroom for the max enjoyment of you and your guests. As you can see by the cover, this book is star-studded. Keanu, OJ, Mickey, Larry King and more fill these pages. While we do enjoy our celebrities, we really enjoy them when they’ve been very bad. Shame on you, Hugh Grant. At least it wasn’t a dude in drag, like our boy Eddie Murphy…

Buy: from $0.01 (that’s not a typo)

(image courtesy: sparktography)

In 1992, Neal Stephenson predicted the Second Life online world, inspired the Matrix film series, and helped define the cyberpunk genre with his classic novel “Snow Crash”. Snow Crash tells a story of a rough, post-economic-collapse America, a virtual world called the Metaverse, a mind (and DNA) altering drug, and the merging of new technology and ancient myth. Our hero, Hiro Protagonist, is a hacker, a pizza delivery driver and the best sword fighter in the virtual world. Our villains are a telecom tycoon with plans for global, religious domination; and the ultimate badass– a monstrous drug pusher with his very own nuclear insurance policy.  If science fiction is your bag, you’ve likely heard of Snow Crash.  If you have yet to read it, take our advice- get yourself a copy of this book now.  If you’ve already read Snow Crash, leave a comment and tell our readers why this one can’t be missed…

Buy: $10.50

Most guys at least know how to heat up some mac ‘n cheese or a can of soup. Some guys can even grill. But for the rest of us, there’s The Guy Can’t Cook: Over 350 No-Fail Recipes A Guy Can’t Be Without by Cinda Chavich. Thank goodness! What’s best about “The Guy Can’t Cook” is that it’s not just a picture and a list of ingredients — it’s a crash course on all the cooking techniques you’ll ever need to know. In no time you’ll be poaching salmon, shaking up cocktails and braising every meat under the sun. There’s even a foolproof mac ‘n cheese recipe, for those kitchen-impaired guys out there.

Buy: $24.95.