Reddit mentions of Great Maps: The World's Masterpieces Explored and Explained (Dk Smithsonian)

Hi, great that you're taking an interest to get him a book on cartography. I've recently began doing the same, and books are definitely superior over wikipedia etc.

• 'Great Maps' by Jerry Brotton: Very accessible, kind of a coffee table book that you can look into when you have some minutes to spend.
  
  
• 'A history of the world in 12 maps' by Jerry Brotton: Bought this one together with 'Great Maps'. Gives a more academic point of view on maps and on their origins/purposes. Haven't finished it yet though. Kind of unaccessible because there aren't really maps included (some maps, but pictures are way too small). Definitely recommend it, in combo with 'Great Maps'.
  
  
• As /u/churizurd mentioned, Atlas of Remote Islands is pretty fun too. Pricing seems kind of strange on Amazon (1130$ for paperback lolwat)
  
  
• Transit maps of the world is on my wishlist, looks cool

I recently picked up Great Maps, and think it's really good introduction to the history and the craft of mapmaking. It has great, large photos of the maps, detail insets, and excellent commentary. Both a great coffee table book and super informative.

Great Maps seems to come up sometimes when people are talking about good geography books, as well as Maps: Their Untold Stories. I have a list somewhere of good map books, I'll check when I get home.

For geology, Assembling California is pretty accessible, as are most of his books.

If they haven't read it, Guns, Germs, and Steel is pretty great for people who are interested in geography. It's more anthropology, but he talks a lot about how the physical spaces people built settlements in affected how they developed.

Do you know any more details of what kind of geology in particular they like?