Young adult suggestions:
1. Paste Magazine subscription (if he likes music--it comes with CD every month of all different artists and sometimes a DVD of short films)
2. The Week Magazine subscription (I love this magazine)
3. Latham's Quarterly (for the intellectual--very good reading)
4. The Sun magazine for creative writers/appreciative readers
5. Harpers Magazine
6. Make Magazine for those who like to tinker/invent
7. VEX Robotics kit (a little costly--maybe $150) but might get him interested in robotics because they're so cool and have a blog & quite a community
8. I don't know if the young man has any interest in mentoring kids but I imagine a 20-yr old gifted person as an ideal coach to inspire kids...specifically volunteering to do a Math Club at a middle school or Future Problem Solving Program (FPSP) club, or Book Club afterschool or on weekends, or Destination Imagination or Science Olympiad--all these cool possibilities that teachers have no time to do but benefit kids so much.
9. Tickets to community theater production?
10. Membership to the local museum (either art or science or whatever's nearby that matches his interests)--at our museums, members get invited to open houses with receptions, lectures, and other cool perks that could make it a hobby (especially if he is interested enough to become a docent, or take a pottery wheel class, or other adult education type class.
11. Our adult center has about a hundred classes for people over 18. They have bridge & competitions/clubs, billiards & competitions, jewelry making, foreign languages, BALLROOM DANCING! (how cool is that?!), all kinds of art classes, shop, line dancing, etc. Maybe paying tuition and offering to be his partner (or finding a willing surrogate partner)...
Just some ideas.
