7 Father’s Day Book Picks for Every Kind of Dad

What to Read Next with Emily Darlow

Why did the scarecrow win an award?

Because he was outstanding in his field.

Now that we’ve got the obligatory dad joke out of the way, there’s still the small matter of finding Dad something he’ll want to unwrap this Father’s Day.

Books are a safe bet, particularly when you match the read to the man. Whether your dad can recite obscure footy statistics, spends far too much time talking about cars, appreciates a bit of dark humour or prefers something with a little more substance, these reads cover plenty of ground.

Dad Jokes: All-Time Classics – Dad Says Jokes
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If Dad considers making everyone groan a sign of a joke well told, you may as well give him some new material. Dad Jokes: All-Time Classics is the latest collection from the team behind the hugely popular @DadSaysJokes social media accounts, bringing together plenty of gloriously corny jokes for dads who believe there is no pun too obvious and no audience too embarrassed. The Dad Says Jokes community was inspired by the daily jokes of Andrew Chilvers, father of founder Kit Chilvers, and has grown into a social media phenomenon with millions of followers. It’s an easy, funny Father’s Day gift – although there is every chance you’ll regret providing him with 272 pages of fresh material.

Useless Footy Stats – Aaron Delaporte and Bill Skelton
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For the dad who knows exactly how his team performed three seasons ago but can never remember where he left his keys, Useless Footy Stats should be right up his alley. Aaron Delaporte and Bill Skelton have compiled more than 100 hilarious and completely irrelevant Aussie Rules statistics covering the questions footy fans never knew they needed answered. Want to know which jumper number has won the most premierships? Who is the least accurate goal-kicker of all time? Or how many supermoons there have been since Essendon won a final? These are the stats unlikely to help anyone understand the game better, but they may provide Dad with plenty of material for the next family gathering.

Drives A Bit Funny – Stephen Corby
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If Dad is a certified car tragic, motoring journalist Stephen Corby has turned a lifetime of automotive adventures into Drives A Bit Funny. Part memoir and part collection of motoring stories, the book takes readers from the battered Land Rover Corby’s grandfather taught him to drive in to the humble Holden Astra he bought when his first child came along. There are crashes, memorable cars and plenty of laughs, but there are also more reflective stories about the way cars become tied to different stages of our lives, including why the sight of an old Audi TT can make Corby cry. A journalist for more than 35 years and a former editor of Top Gear Australia and Wheels, Corby has accumulated more than enough motoring stories to keep a car-loving dad entertained.

That Was Close! – Philip Blake
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Philip Blake probably shouldn’t be alive. The veteran Targa Tasmania competitor has fallen off a mountain, been blown out of bed by a bomb and survived more close calls on the road than most of us would care to contemplate. Born in Northern Ireland and raised in Belfast during the Troubles, Blake moved to Tasmania in 1974 and went on to become a writer, advertising copywriter and competition driver and co-driver. He has competed in Targa Tasmania 25 times, is a member of the Targa Hall of Fame and has twice won major Targa Tasmania competitions. In That Was Close!, Blake races through a life packed with cars, competition, adventure and brushes with danger. It’s a good pick for the dad who loves motorsport, adventure and, most importantly, a cracking yarn.

Post-Mortem – Tim Booth
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This one is for the dad with a slightly darker sense of humour. Intensive care paramedic and bestselling author Tim Booth turns his attention to the people whose working lives bring them face-to-face with death. Post-Mortem explores the experiences of professionals including crime scene cleaners, organ procurement coordinators, gravediggers, combat medics and emergency nurses, revealing the strange, confronting and sometimes downright absurd situations that can come with jobs most of us know very little about. Booth knows something about unusual working lives himself. A former motoring journalist for Top Gear Australia, he swapped writing about cars for driving ambulances and spent six years working as a paramedic in south-west Sydney. The result is a book that mixes the macabre and bizarre with humour and moments of poignancy.

Better Man – Ben Vasiliou
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For something more thought-provoking, Better Man tackles one of the bigger conversations happening around men and boys today: what does healthy masculinity look like? Author Ben Vasiliou is the CEO of The Man Cave, an organisation working with boys and young men to build emotional strength, self-awareness and healthy relationships. Drawing on two decades of work with boys and men, as well as his own experiences, Vasiliou explores issues including shame, insecurity, rigid stereotypes and the conflicting messages men can receive about masculinity. Rather than simply focusing on what men shouldn’t be, the book offers practical ideas and tools for developing a healthier and more expansive approach to masculinity. It’s not only a book for dads raising boys, either. Better Man is written for anyone raising, teaching, loving – or being – a man.

Holding on to Happiness – Jim Rogers and Millie Robinson
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Some Father’s Day books are designed to make Dad laugh. Others stay with you for much longer. Jim Rogers was just 55 when he was diagnosed with young-onset Alzheimer’s disease. Written with his daughter Millie Robinson, Holding on to Happiness tells the story of a life that had already been shaped by enormous love and loss. Rogers lost his wife and was left to raise their three young children through grief before eventually finding love again and rebuilding his family with his husband.
Following his Alzheimer’s diagnosis, Rogers became a recognisable Australian advocate for people living with dementia and their loved ones. His memoir explores much more than his diagnosis, looking back at fatherhood, family, grief, love and the search for meaning when life doesn’t unfold as expected. For the dad who prefers a memoir with plenty to think about, this is a particularly meaningful choice to finish the Father’s Day reading pile.