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.

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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

Louis Kahn: Architecture as Philosophy by John Lobell

Louis Kahn: Architecture as Philosophy

By John Lobell
Publisher: The Monacelli Press
Published: June 2020

Noted Louis I.Kahn expert John Lobell explores how Kahn’s focus on structure, respect for materials, clarity of program, and reverence for details come together to manifest an overall philosophy.

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Our Days Are Like Full Years: A Memoir with Letters from Louis Kahn by Harriet Pattison

Our Days Are Like Full Years: A Memoir with Letters from Louis Kahn

By Harriet Pattison
Publisher: Yale University Press
Forthcoming: October 2020

An intimate glimpse into the professional and romantic relationship between Harriet Pattison and the renowned architect Louis Kahn. Harriet Pattison, FASLA, is a distinguished landscape architect. She was Louis Kahn’s romantic partner from 1959 to 1974, and his collaborator on the landscapes of the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, and the F.D.R. Memorial/Four Freedoms Park, New York. She is the mother of their son, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Nathaniel Kahn.

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Louis I. Kahn: The Nordic Latitudes

Louis I. Kahn: The Nordic Latitudes

By Per Olaf Fjeld and Emily Randall Fjeld
Publisher: University of Arkansas Press
Published: October 4, 2019

A new and personal reading of the architecture, teachings, and legacy of Louis I. Kahn from Per Olaf Fjeld’s perspective as a former student. The book explores Kahn’s life and work, offering a unique take on one of the twentieth century’s most important architects. Kahn’s Nordic and European ties are emphasized in this study that also covers his early childhood in Estonia, his travels, and his relationships with other architects, including the Norwegian architect Arne Korsmo.

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Reading Graphic Design History: Image, Text, and Context by David Raizman

Reading Graphic Design History: Image, Text, and Context

By David Raizman
Publisher: Bloomsbury Visual Arts
Published: December 2020

An innovative approach to graphic design that uses a series of key artifacts from the history of print culture in light of their specific historical contexts. It encourages the reader to look carefully and critically at print advertising, illustration, posters, magazine art direction, and typography, often addressing issues of class, race, and gender.

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David King: Designer, Activist, Visual Historian by Rick Poynor

David King: Designer, Activist, Visual Historian

By Rick Poynor
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: September 2020

A comprehensive overview of the work and legacy of David King (1943–2016), whose fascinating career bridged journalism, graphic design, photography, and collecting. King launched his career at Britain’s Sunday Times Magazine in the 1960s, starting as a designer and later branching out into image-led journalism, blending political activism with his design work.

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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.

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