Reddit reviews Weapons: An International Encyclopedia From 5000 B.C. to 2000 A.D.

This reminds me of one of my favorite books growing up: "Weapons" from the Diagram Group.

http://www.amazon.com/Weapons-International-Encyclopedia-From-5000/dp/0312039506

Anything relating to very recent firearms is going to be fairly dated as things change fairly quickly in the world of firearms.

The way I see it, there's electronic media for learning about the latest offerings from Ruger or Smith & Wesson.

I'd say get him a nice reference book. Ian Hogg was a prolific weaponry author, and he had many books on pistols, rifles, machine guns, artillery, what have you, and most are still in print or easy to get a hold of.

When I was a kid, my middle school had this book in the library:

http://www.amazon.com/Weapons-International-Encyclopedia-D-Updated/dp/0312039506/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1345619493&sr=1-3&keywords=weapons+encyclopedia

I basically had it checked out throughout fifth and sixth grade. It's a bit dated, but it's a fantastic read. I'm pretty sure I eventually bought a copy and have it somewhere in my garage.

This is one that I referenced a huge amount while growing up;

https://www.amazon.com/Weapons-International-Encyclopedia-5000-D/dp/0312039506/ref=sr_1_12

It is pretty dated by now. However, if you are interested in the history of weapons and the beginnings of the firearm, it is a place to start. Once you find an epoch that interests you the most, using a guide like this one, you can start looking into more specific eras and types.

As with just about everything, guns have a deep and storied history and there simply isn't one source that will give you all the knowledge there is on them. There is A LOT of ground to cover, it might be best to use an overview like this one to decide what you will focus on. Guns are like any tool; people have adapted them throughout history for their own needs and because of this, you'll find that there is so much to know that you'll never learn it all.

My personal favorite gun subject would be the AK. I have about a dozen books about it from technical manuals, to pieces that absolutely condemn it, to pieces that treat it as a marvel like it were part of a religion, to pieces that give a general history about it with no discernible slant at all.

I hope you enjoy whatever you end up finding.