My geeky 15yr DS and the weirdest Christmas list ever

[FuckingHateRats]

My son has asked for: headphones (standard), dried mango, dried banana chips, microfibre cloths to clean his glasses with, and one of those blue BIC pens that have the four coloured nibs to make notes in his classes 🤣🤣🤣 he's also added refills for his pilot BtP pens (a very specific request).

I have bought the usual slippers, a (Primark) oodie, pringles etc.

He has significantly less to open than his younger sisters.

I'm thinking of ordering Pi: A Comedy of Maths Errors amzn.eu/d/9NJkl9U THIS BOOK (he loves maths and coding so seems right up his street) but would love any ideas of (hopefully useful) bits and pieces he can open. He's asked for so little and says he is really lucky because he doesn't need anything🤷🏻‍♀️

He does not care about branded clothes, does not care about his hair etc, so things like aftershave and sporty t-shirts/joggers are out.

I read it in my late 30's so I would say not. I've also just read another book by the same author.

The Times Ultimate Killer Suduko (Amazon)

No suggestions I don’t have boys. But just wanted to say he sounds fabulous, what a lovely young man.

I have a very similar son (age 15, autistic, never asks for anything). However last year he did ask for headphones. I decided to go all out for him and bought the apple air pro max (he hates in ear head phones). Although cripplingly expensive they have been - in his words - the best gift he’s ever received, and he wears them nearly every waking hour either playing music, listening to something else, or as ear defenders.

I almost went the raspberry pi route. I discussed it with him afterwards. He’s glad I didn’t, as although he’s very interested in that area, it’s just not for him. They have it in school. Worth considering as it’s an expensive layout.

We’ve all read that book in this house, from teen dcs (16 and 17yo) to us parents (50 ish…).
it’s a good book and not baby ish.
Its also from the adult section in bookshops….

Does he like to read fiction at all? I find the Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett, or Neil Gaimen's stuff appeals to some of my more geeky friends/ family members. Both are light enough for young adults.

To add to the fiction suggestions - Hitchhiker's Guide?

Why don't you go fancy with the pens and get some from Muji. My nerd husband and son are always completely stoked with a gift of a Muji pen.

DIY bat detector kit? It comes with circuit board, microphone, etc, to assemble.

How about a label maker? Or a laminator - I have both and absolutely love them!

Also - try Present Indicative site. Lots of quite 'academic' gifts for people who like to get their geek on. Have bought DS some awesome books from there in the past...

Exactly.

How about an Escape Room game? Amazon sell them.

Depending on what you're looking to spend, you could get an Arduino Kit.
or Raspberry Pi
as a stocking filler, Shashibo fidget cube.

He sounds mega!

Ooh, what about those escape-room style puzzles you do at home?

Mystery Agency do them, and they look good - but I've not tried them.

How about the classic book Cosmos by Carl Sagan?

There's also a Pulitzer Prize winning book from the 1980s "Soul of a New Machine " that describes the race to create computers; it reads like a novel and is riveting. If he's into computing it would be useful to know some Silicon Valley history. Book is on Amazon.

Telescope?

MOLECULAR MODELS would they interest him?

If you get a large set he will be able to build all of them, if there are enough pieces.

Rather than breaking them up and building again, but guess you can decide on how many depending on his interest in them

Another similar DS here.
Stuff he liked and easy to buy with less than a week to go are;
Soldering kit. Loves this.
A salt lamp to take negative ions out of his room. Looks cool too.
An electronic light bulb - use the app to control it remotely or Alexa
Framed poster. Mine still likes his Minecraft one as it’s “retro”.
A tape measure with a timeline of the universe on.
A bonsai tree
Lego Apollo 13. ( ok, this one is hard to find at a good price).
Expensive nail clippers that collect trimmings and are super sharp. He loves these so much everyone is getting them as Christmas presents this year. He’s not interested in clothes/ looks at all except nails and hair.

I'm not so sure about all the Asimov recommendations, they haven't aged well, and whilst his three laws of robotics are sound the novels themselves are very much of their time.

If he's into hard science fiction I'd recommend Stephen Baxer (anything from his Xeelee sequence) or Alistair Reynolds. Both have backgrounds in maths/physics so their novels are packed with really big ideas that have a sound scientific basis and both are brilliant writers.

I cannot explain how helpful these replies have been. The recommendations of writers he'd like and the Terraforming Mars board game especially. I have bookmarked this and will be coming back to it for his birthday in June too!!

Thank you all.

How about Madeline L'Engle's books?

A Wrinkle In Time.

Asimov.

Lord of the Rings?

I got my 16 yo Chemistry nerd a t shirt from Amazon that had the periodic table of marvel on it - it’s the add on gift that I actually think will be his fav gift

He seems to like stationery and studying - so a nice notebook like a dotted leuchturm1917 and a book about bullet journaling technique perhaps? (Although I'm a Rhodia girl myself- look up "RHODIA 118778C - Bullet Journal Goalbook" for my idea of stationery heaven!).

If you go this route the original creator of the method is Ryder Carrol, so buying his 'how to' book would be nice, as there are a lot of copycats making money from his method, the actual core concept of it he has given away for free for years.

Add a nice rotary pencil, I bet he'd like that, too!

If he likes maths, My dd enjoyed the book " things to make and do in the 4th dimension". I think she read it about that age, maybe 6th form.

You’ve had a few recommendations for the what of books by Randall Munro, there’s also one called thing explainer which is funny and interesting.

This is my favourite thread on Mumsnet ever. My 14DD is like your DS and I was struggling with her stocking. She has zero interest in cosmetics, hair stuff, bath bombs, perfumes etc.

I've ordered the Code book from WH Smith after reading this thread. Sticking around for more ideas 😁

Wrap loads of £1 coins or £5 notes in different sized boxes until it is evened up