Graduation is a great time to give useful and inspirational books--dictionaries, atlases, thesauruses, ramen cookbooks. Here are a few more ideas.
A Keel's Simple Diary from Taschen--these little books come in lots of colors. Mine is olive green, which means that a) I like polar bears, b) am reserved and/or c) dislike politicians. I am also informed that electricity is my friend, and to think of something unhealthy, but not to try it. These diaries are clever, a painless way of keeping track of yourself. You can rate a day by choosing a) driven into a frenzy, b) shattered or c) vibrant. What high school or college student (or newly minted lawyer) couldn't relate to that?
Maybe you want your graduate to spend more time mapping out a coherent future. Good luck, but check out Jack Otter's Worth It... Not Worth It? (Business Plus/Hachette)--a practical book that demystifies the basics, like shelter and buying a car. He also talks about family matters and retirement, so parents and grads could share. From Student Loan vs. Skip College (take the loan) and See the World vs. Get a Job (see the world) to Lease vs. Buy, Financial Advisor vs. Broker and Florida vs. Nicaragua for the retiree, Otter explains the world concisely, smartly and with no small dose of humor.
My pick in the big-tome category is a doorstop from Yale University Press, Lives of the Novelists: A History of Fiction in 294 Lives by John Sutherland. It's 800+ pages, starting with John Bunyan (1628-1688) and ending with Rana Dasgupta (1971-). Sutherland has selected writers who exemplify every kind of fiction--fantasy, gothic, romance, "high" literature. He can surprise with his incisive assessments, as well as tidbits of information. This is a fabulous book--it's impossible to stop at just one biography. --Marilyn Dahl, book review editor, Shelf Awareness