Chosen Books

Invited designers and commentators have chosen these as the books that inspire them and that have shaped their worldview or their ideas about design.

author z–a

Nonfiction, Art and Cultural History

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240 books

Sheherezade Janet Zweig et al. On Warren Lehrer’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Malevich Larissa A. Zhadova On Paula Scher’s Book List Add to My Reading List	L’Art des Cyclades Christian Zervos On George Lois’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Making of Classical Edinburgh 1750–1840 Alexander John Brown Youngson On Alan Balfour’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Unknown Craftsman Soetsu Yanagi On Harry Pearce’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Kandy-Kolored Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby Tom Wolfe On Michael Bierut’s Book List On Denise Scott Brown’s Book List On Robert Venturi’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Fabulous Life of Diego Rivera Bertram Wolfe On Nancye Green’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Hand Frank Wilson On Milton Glaser’s Book List Add to My Reading List
Art and Politics in the Weimar Period John Willett On Abbott Miller’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Museum Legs Amy Whitaker On John Maeda’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Seeing Is Forgetting the Name of the Thing One Sees Lawrence Weschler On Maya Lin’s Book List On Glenn Pushelberg’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Ai Weiwei’s Blog: Writings, Interviews, and Digital Rants, 2006–2009 Ai Weiwei On Amanda Dameron’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Philosophy of Andy Warhol (from A to B and Back Again) Andy Warhol On Carin Goldberg’s Book List On Karim Rashid’s Book List On Jonathan Adler’s Book List On Jonathan Barnbrook’s Book List On Victoria Meyers’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting, 1679–1701 Gai Wang On Diana Balmori’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Fritz Kahn: Man Machine Uta and Thilo von Debschitz On Seymour Chwast’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Exactitudes Ari Versluis et al. On Nathalie de Vries’s Book List Add to My Reading List
The Lives of the Artists Giorgio Vasari On Alexa Hampton’s Book List Add to My Reading List	A Fine Disregard Kirk Varnedoe On Ken Carbone’s Book List On Wendell Castle’s Book List Add to My Reading List	High & Low Kirk Varnedoe et al. On Paula Scher’s Book List On George Tscherny’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Bart van der Leck Toos van Kooten On Michael Maharam’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Introduction to the Method of Leonardo da Vinci Paul Valéry On Cino Zucchi’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Cy Twombly: Zeichnungen 1953–1973 Cy Twombly et al. On Ivan Chermayeff’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Robert Smithson Eugenie Tsai On Paula Scher’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Daybook: The Journey of an Artist Ann Truitt On Jessica Helfand’s Book List Add to My Reading List
J.W. Waterhouse Peter Trippi On Anna Sui’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Living Well Is the Best Revenge Calvin Tomkins On George Lois’s Book List On Cynthia Rowley’s Book List On David Easton’s Current Reading list Add to My Reading List	Lives of the Artists Calvin Tomkins On Cynthia Rowley’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Duchamp: A Biography Calvin Tomkins On Harry Pearce’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Shadow of the Silk Road Colin Thubron On Alan Balfour’s Book List Add to My Reading List	At the Edge of History William Irwin Thompson On Nancye Green’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Invisible Art The Art Brothers On Seymour Chwast’s Book List Add to My Reading List	In Praise of Shadows Jun’ichiro Tanizaki On Antoine Predock’s Book List On Akiko Fukai’s Book List On Paul Marantz’s Book List On Tom Kundig’s Book List On David Adjaye’s Book List On Ada Tolla’s Book List On Giuseppe Lignano’s Book List On Craig Dykers’s Book List On Marco Romanelli’s Book List On Ian Ritchie’s Book List Add to My Reading List
Interpreting the Renaissance (Ricerca dell’Rinascimento) Manfredo Tafuri On Jorge Silvetti’s Book List Add to My Reading List	De Kooning: An American Master Mark Stevens et al. On Jessica Helfand’s Book List On Matteo Thun’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Passport Saul Steinberg On Tom Geismar’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Leonardo’s Incessant Last Supper Leo Steinberg On Milton Glaser’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Notebooks of Paul Klee, vol. 2: The Nature of Nature Jürg Spiller, ed. On Richard Saul Wurman’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Notebooks of Paul Klee, vol. 1: The Thinking Eye Jürg Spiller, ed. On Richard Saul Wurman’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Masterpieces from the House of Fabergé Alexander von Solodkoff On Richard Sachs’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Cover to Cover Michael Snow On Warren Lehrer’s Book List Add to My Reading List

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Announcements

Total Armageddon: A Slanted Reader on Design edited by Ian Lynam

Total Armageddon: A Slanted Reader on Design

Edited by Ian Lynam
Publisher: Slanted Publishers
Published: March 2019

Total Armageddon is about design. And culture. And complexity, notably how we, as a global civilization, deal with science fiction, taste, social media, the cities we live in, aesthetics, PowerPoint, burkas, Big Tech, full-contact sports, and other thorny topics. The book celebrates 15 years of independent publishing and brings together a who’s who of authors and essays from 32 issues of Slanted Magazine.

Order from Slanted Publishers.

A Field Guide to Color by Lisa Solomon

A Field Guide to Color: A Watercolor Workbook

By Lisa Solomon
Publisher: Roost Books
Published: August 2019

In this creative workbook you’ll discover fresh ways to connect with color in your art and life. Using watercolors, gouache, or any other water-based medium, explore color theory while playing with paint through a balanced blend of color experiments and loose color meditations. This inspiring workbook will change the way you relate to color

Order from Roost Books.

Five Oceans in a Teaspoon by Dennis Bernstein and Warren Lehrer

Five Oceans in a Teaspoon

Poems by Dennis Bernstein
Visualizations by Warren Lehrer
Introduction by Steven Heller
Publisher: Paper Crown Press
Published: September 19, 2019

“From a kidnap note for a world held hostage by an A-bomb, to a Holocaust survivor’s tattooed arms where the numbers just don’t add up, Five Oceans in a Teaspoon re-envisions a poetry memoir via a textual kaleidoscope... Bernstein and Lehrer are the Rodgers and Hart of Visual Poetry.” — Bob Holman, poet, poetry activist and chronicler, and founder of the Bowery Poetry Club

Pre-order the book.

Ballpark: Baseball in the American City by Paul Goldberger

Ballpark: Baseball in the American City

By Paul Goldberger
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Published: May 2019

An illustrated, entirely new look at the history of baseball: told through the stories of the vibrant and ever-changing ballparks where the game was and is staged, by the Pulitzer Prize-winning architectural critic.

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Charleston Fancy by Witold Rybczynski

Charleston Fancy: Little Houses and Big Dreams in the Holy City

By Witold Rybczynski
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: May 2019

Charleston, South Carolina, which boasts America’s first historic district, is known for its palmetto-lined streets and picturesque houses. The Holy City, named for its profusion of churches, exudes an irresistible charm. Award-winning author and cultural critic Witold Rybczynski unfolds a series of stories about a group of youthful architects, builders, and developers based in Charleston: a self-taught home builder, an Air Force pilot, a fledgling architect, and a bluegrass mandolin player.

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Teaching Graphic Design History by Steven Heller

Teaching Graphic Design History

By Steven Heller
Publisher: Allworth Press
Published: June 2019

An examination of the concerted efforts, happy accidents, and key influences of the practice throughout the years, Teaching Graphic Design History is an illuminating resource for students, practitioners, and future teachers of the subject.

Order the book.