In case you’ve been immune to the advertising blitz over the past month, Father’s Day is this Sunday. You may find this pitifully boring, but I plan on giving Pops a book for the special day. For one thing, I can’t exactly mail a brand new gril across the country where he lives, and secondly, he’s a fairly avid book reader.

But if mine and Molly’s research for Stuff Mom Never Told You is correct, then I shouldn’t pluck a title off my personal reading list and assume that he’ll dig it, too. In our podcast* on the differences between male and female reading habits, Molly and I discussed the surprisingly well-studied conundrum of men’s general distaste for fiction. Don’t believe me? NPR says that gals make up a whopping 80 percent of the fiction market.

According to a 2008 survey conducted by the Harris Poll, I should beeline for historical nonfiction when I go shopping for Dad. That’s because the most popular book genres for men, in order, are:

•    History
•    Mystery/Thriller/Crime Fiction (women actually read more of these)
•    Science Fiction
•    Biography

Granted, these stats are mere generalizations of individual habits, but guys just aren’t as prone to devour, say, Jane Austen — although “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” by Seth Graham-Smith might be more on mark. Most of the news stories, studies and blog posts about men’s anti-novel attitudes concede that men want to learn patent facts from what they read, rather than diving into a fictional plotline. Taking a cue from that and the genres that men peruse the most, picking out a book for Dad just got a bit easier.

I can cross out sci-fi because I know that isn’t his thing, and Mom brings home stacks of thrillers that he could browse anytime. So by process of elimination, I’m left with history and biography. Right now, “Legacy of Ashes: The History of CIA” is at the top of my list. It won a Pulitzer, and after Dad (hopefully) finishes it, I’d like to read it myself — if only to debunk these male/female reading stereotypes.

Anyone else have other Dad’s Day book ideas?

More on books:
9 Surprising Banned Books
14 Best-Selling Books Repeatedly Rejected by Publishers
21 Best-Selling Books of All Time

*The podcast won’t be published on iTunes a couple of weeks, so watch out for it.