In a post on JavaLobby, Meera presents her TOP5 of technical books published in 2008.
I definitely agree with the first three:  a new book from Robert C.  Martin, the second edition of the great Effective Java and a collection of articles from ThoughtWorks.
I haven’t read yet the first one but i liked his “Agile Software Development” and the initial reviews are quite good.
The new edition of Effective Java contains 21 new items and presents 1.5 language features such as enum, generics and annotations and also updates items related to improved features e.g.  items in the concurrency section.
An interesting reading is also the ThoughtWorks Anthology, a collection of essays on various IT topics, ranging from software methodology advices to ant build files optimization tips.
If you are a software developer or if you know one, this time of the year is the right time to buy one of these books.
Let me add a few more titles, that even if not published in 2008 (or not technical) could be good gift ideas:

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Open-source electronics platforms for rapid prototyping have already been around for a while, i can think of Arduino board but surely there are more of them.
The low cost, the wide variety of inputs/outputs, the ability to interact with sensors ot to control motors, the ease of use and the community, make these platforms a perfect fit for hobbyist’s and artist’s projects.
Regarding the ease of use, Arduino can be programmed in a c-like language ( additional straightforward libraries to access the board’s functions are provided ) and has a development environment based on the famous Processing.
And now, SUN Spot.
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