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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2000 books

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer Patrick Suskind On Craig Dykers’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Valley of the Dolls Jacqueline Susann On Debbie Millman’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Less and More: The Design Ethos of Dieter Rams Suntory Museum, ed. On Erik Spiekermann’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Georgian London John Summerson On Denise Scott Brown’s Book List On Robert Venturi’s Book List On Jaquelin Robertson’s Book List On Mohsen Mostafavi’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Life and Work of John Nash, Architect John Summerson On Alexander Cooper’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Architecture in Britain 1530–1830 John Summerson On Jaquelin Robertson’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Heavenly Mansions and Other Essays on Architecture John Summerson On Jaquelin Robertson’s Book List On Paul Goldberger’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Classical Language of Architecture John Summerson On Barry Bergdoll’s Book List Add to My Reading List
Jean Prouvé: Complete Works, Volume 1 Peter Sulzer On Juergen Riehm’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Jean Prouvé: Complete Works, Volume 2 Peter Sulzer On Juergen Riehm’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Jean Prouvé: Complete Works, Volume 3 Peter Sulzer On Juergen Riehm’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Kindergarten Chats and Other Writings Louis Sullivan On Richard Meier’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Edifice Complex Deyan Sudjic On Julie Iovine’s Book List Add to My Reading List	New Directions in British Architecture Deyan Sudjic On Mels Crouwel’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The 100 Mile City Deyan Sudjic On Norman Foster’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Language of Things Deyan Sudjic On Adam Tihany’s Book List On Zoë Ryan’s Book List Add to My Reading List
The Awakened Self Lucien Stryk On Ian Ritchie’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Elements of Style (illustrated) William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White et al. On Véronique Vienne’s Book List On Paul Marantz’s Book List On Barry Bergdoll’s Book List On Ellen Lupton’s Book List On list of Books by Maira Kalman On Gail Anderson’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Ten Points Bill Strickland On Richard Sachs’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Poetics of Music in the Form of Six Lessons Igor Stravinsky On Chris Bangle’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Man and Camel Mark Strand On Cleto Munari’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Design Like You Give a Damn Kate Stohr and Cameron Sinclair of Architecture for Humanity, eds. On Zoë Ryan’s Book List On list of Books by Kate Stohr Add to My Reading List	A Field Guide to Landmarks of Modern Architecture in Europe Miriam F. Stimpson On Amanda Dameron’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Alongshore John R. Stilgoe On Paul Marantz’s Book List Add to My Reading List
Outside Lies Magic John R. Stilgoe On Deborah Berke’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Poems of Our Climate Wallace Stevens On Abbott Miller’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	Tristram Shandy Lawrence Sterne On Michael Sorkin’s Book List On Jürgen Mayer H.’s Book List On Debbie Millman’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Au Revoir to All That Michael Sternberger On Penny Drue Baird’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Paradise Planned Robert A.M. Stern et al. On Witold Rybczynski’s Notable Books of 2013 list Add to My Reading List	New York 1930 Robert A. M. Stern et al. On Peter Pennoyer’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Architecture on the Edge of Postmodernism Robert A. M. Stern et al. On Peter Pennoyer’s Book List Add to My Reading List
Shaping Things Bruce Sterling On Tucker Viemeister’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Diamond Age Neal Stephenson On Julie Iovine’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Snow Crash Neal Stephenson On Elizabeth Diller’s Book List On Ricardo Scofidio’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Quicksilver (The Baroque Cycle, Vol. I) Neal Stephenson On Tucker Viemeister’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Charterhouse of Parma Stendhal On Eric Owen Moss’s Book List On Jaquelin Robertson’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Red and the Black Stendhal On Eric Owen Moss’s Book List On Jaquelin Robertson’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Steinberg Saul Steinberg On Bob Gill’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Passport Saul Steinberg On Tom Geismar’s Book List Add to My Reading List

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Announcements

Now is Better by Stefan Sagmeister

Now is Better

By Stefan Sagmeister
Publisher: Phaidon Press
Published: October 2023

Combining art, design, history, and quantitative analysis, transforms data sets into stunning artworks that underscore his positive view of human progress, inspiring us to think about the future with much-needed hope.

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Design Emergency: Building a Better Future by Alice Rawsthorn and Paola Antonelli

Design Emergency: Building a Better Future

By Alice Rawsthorn and Paola Antonelli
Publisher: Phaidon Press
Published: May 2022

Rawsthorn and Antonelli tell the stories of the remarkable designers, architects, engineers, artists, scientists, and activists who are at the forefront of positive change worldwide. Focusing on four themes—Technology, Society, Communication, and Ecology—the authors present a unique portrait of how our great creative minds are developing new design solutions to the major challenges of our time, while helping us to benefit from advances in science and technology.

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Why Design Matters: Conversations with the World’s Most Creative People by Debbie Millman

Why Design Matters: Conversations with the World's Most Creative People

By Debbie Millman
Publisher: Harper Design
Published: February 22, 2022

Debbie Millman—author, educator, brand consultant, and host of the widely successful and award-winning podcast “Design Matters”—showcases dozens of her most exciting interviews, bringing together insights and reflections from today’s leading creative minds from across diverse fields.

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Milton Glaser: POP by Steven Heller, Mirko Ilić, and Beth Kleber

Milton Glaser: POP

By Steven Heller, Mirko Ilić, and Beth Kleber
Publisher: The Monacelli Press
Published: March 2023

This collection of work from graphci design legend Milton Glaser’s Pop period features hundreds of examples of the designer’s work that have not been seen since their original publication, demonstrating the graphic revolution that transformed design and popular culture.

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Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall by Alexandra Lange

Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall

By Alexandra Lange
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Published: June 2022

Chronicles postwar architects’ and merchants’ invention of the shopping mall, revealing how the design of these marketplaces played an integral role in their cultural ascent. Publishers Weekly writes, “Contending that malls answer ‘the basic human need’ of bringing people together, influential design critic Lange advocates for retrofitting abandoned shopping centers into college campuses, senior housing, and ‘ethnocentric marketplaces’ catering to immigrant communities. Lucid and well researched, this is an insightful study of an overlooked and undervalued architectural form.”

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Die Fläche: Design and Lettering of the Vienna Secession, 1902–1911 (Facsimile Edition) by Diane V. Silverthorne, Dan Reynolds, and Megan Brandow-Faller

Die Fläche: Design and Lettering of the Vienna Secession, 1902–1911 (Facsimile Edition)

By Diane V. Silverthorne, Dan Reynolds, and Megan Brandow-Faller
Publisher: Letterform Archives Books
Published: October 2023

This facsimile edition of Die Fläche, recreates every page of the formative design periodical in full color and at original size, accompanied by essays that contextualize the work, highlighting contributions by pathbreaking women, innovative lettering artists, and key practitioners of the new “surface art,” including Rudolf von Larisch, Alfred Roller, and Wiener Werkstätte founders Koloman Moser and Josef Hoffmann.

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