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

Kurt Schwitters: Color and Collage Isabel Schulz, ed. On Ivan Chermayeff’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Chicago’s Famous Buildings Franz Schulze et al. On Paul Goldberger’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Mies van der Rohe: A Critical Biography Franz Schulze On Paul Goldberger’s Book List On Wim Crouwel’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Philip Johnson: Life and Work Franz Schulze On Paul Goldberger’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Mies van de Rohe: Critical Essays Franz Schulze On Mels Crouwel’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Culture of the Copy Hillel Schwartz On Jürgen Mayer H.’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Wiener Werkstätte: Kunst und Handwerk, 1903–1932 Werner Schweiger On Carin Goldberg’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Wine-Dark Sea Leonardo Sciascia On Louise Fili’s Book List Add to My Reading List
Ant Farm Felicity Scott On Galia Solomonoff’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Architecture of Humanism: A Study in the History of Taste Geoffrey Scott On Witold Rybczynski’s Book List On Paul Goldberger’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Ivanhoe Sir Walter Scott On Eric Owen Moss’s Book List Add to My Reading List	American Architecture and Urbanism Vincent Scully On Norman Foster’s Book List On Andrés Duany’s Book List On Paul Goldberger’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Architecture: The Natural and the Manmade Vincent Scully On Norman Foster’s Book List On Witold Rybczynski’s Book List On Gijs Bakker’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Modern Architecture and Other Essays Vincent Scully On Denise Scott Brown’s Book List On Robert Venturi’s Book List On Paul Goldberger’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Earth, the Temple, and the Gods Vincent Scully On Norman Foster’s Book List On Eric Owen Moss’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Shingle Style and the Stick Style Vincent Scully On Denise Scott Brown’s Book List On Robert Venturi’s Book List Add to My Reading List
The Shingle Style Today Vincent Scully On Jaquelin Robertson’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Seize the Time Bobby Seale On David Weeks’s Book List Add to My Reading List	After Nature W. G. Sebald On Alexander Cooper’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Emigrants W. G. Sebald On Sheila Levrant de Bretteville’s Book List On Maira Kalman’s Book List On Mohsen Mostafavi’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Austerlitz W. G. Sebald On Barry Bergdoll’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Rings of Saturn W. G. Sebald On Maira Kalman’s Book List On Alan Balfour’s Book List On Prem Krishnamurthy’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Patti Smith: Dream of Life Steven Sebring On Reed Krakoff’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Frank Lloyd Wright Meryle Secrest On Paul Goldberger’s Book List Add to My Reading List
I Like You Amy Sedaris On Todd Oldham’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules David Sedaris On Todd Oldham’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim David Sedaris On Sheila Bridges’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Snow Flower and the Secret Fan Lisa See On Deborah Sussman’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Artists at Work: Inside the Studios of Today’s Most Celebrated Artists David Seidner On Kit Hinrichs’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea Charles Seife On Dan Formosa’s Book List Add to My Reading List	SANAA: Spiel der Gegensätze/The Play of Opposites Kazuyo Sejima et al. On Fritz Frenkler’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa, Sanaa Works 1995–2003 Kazuyo Sejima et al. On Aldo Bakker’s Book List Add to My Reading List
The Book of Dave Will Self On Fiona Raby’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Style in the Technical and Tectonic Arts; or, Practical Aesthetics Gottfried Semper On David Adjaye’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Fifth Discipline Peter Senge On Nancye Green’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Hidden Injuries of Class Richard Sennett et al. On Milton Glaser’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Craftsman Richard Sennett On Milton Glaser’s Book List On Alice Rawsthorn’s Book List On Carola Zwick’s Book List On Richard Sachs’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Horton Hears a Who! Dr. Seuss On Bob Gill’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are? Dr. Seuss On Alexa Hampton’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Green Eggs and Ham Dr. Seuss On Sheila Bridges’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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