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 a–z

all genres

covers

view as:
covers
list

2000 books

Perché un libro su Enzo Mari (Why Write a Book on Enzo Mari) François Burkhardt et al. On Michael Maharam’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Plan of Chicago, 1909 Daniel Hudson Burnham et al. On Denise Scott Brown’s Book List On Robert Venturi’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Poems and Songs of Robert Burns Robert Burns On Ian Ritchie’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Maynard Dixon: Artist of the West Wesley M. Burnside On Kit Hinrichs’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Historical Color Guide: Primitive to Modern Times with Thirty Plates in Color Elizabeth Burris-Meyer On Abbott Miller’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Tarzan of the Apes Edgar Rice Burroughs On Jeffrey Bilhuber’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories Tim Burton On Jens Holm’s Book List Add to My Reading List	China Lover Ian Buruma On Florian Idenburg’s Book List Add to My Reading List
The Architecture of Sir Edwin Lutyens A.S.G. Butler On Peter Pennoyer’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Architetture nel Segno dei Maestri Claudio Buttafava et al. On Daniel Libeskind’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Matisse Stories A. S. Byatt On Carin Goldberg’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Dialogues with Marcel Duchamp Pierre Cabanne On Daniel Libeskind’s Book List On David Piscuskas’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Silence: Lectures and Writings John Cage On Antoine Predock’s Book List On Craig Hodgetts’s Book List On Victoria Meyers’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony Roberto Calasso On Tom Coward’s Book List On Daisy Froud’s Book List On Vincent Lacovara’s Book List On Geoff Shearcroft’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Calder Jewelry Alexander Calder On Marion Fasel’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Architecture of Truth François Cali On Michael Maharam’s Book List Add to My Reading List
Invisible Cities Italo Calvino On Norman Foster’s Book List On Massimo Vignelli’s Book List On Juhani Pallasmaa’s Book List On Enrique Norten’s Book List On Jeanne Gang’s Book List On James Biber’s Book List On David Piscuskas’s Book List On Aric Chen’s Book List On Prem Krishnamurthy’s Book List On Craig Dykers’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Six Memos for the Next Millennium Italo Calvino On Terence Riley’s Book List On Alberto Alessi’s Book List On Karim Rashid’s Book List On Michael Manfredi’s Book List On Matteo Thun’s Book List On Marco Romanelli’s Book List On Thom Mayne’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Nonexistent Knight and The Cloven Viscount Italo Calvino On Massimo Vignelli’s Book List Add to My Reading List	If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler Italo Calvino On Angus Hyland’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Concrete Dragon Thomas J. Campanella On Nathalie de Vries’s Book List On Julie Iovine’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Masks of God Joseph Campbell On Calvin Tsao’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Power of Myth Joseph Campbell On Zack McKown’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Fall Albert Camus On Eric Owen Moss’s Book List On Jaquelin Robertson’s Book List Add to My Reading List
The Plague Albert Camus On Eric Owen Moss’s Book List On Jaquelin Robertson’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Crowds and Power Elias Canetti On Eric Owen Moss’s Book List On Craig Dykers’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Conscience of Words Elias Canetti On Eric Owen Moss’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The History of the Future Christophe Canto et al. On Nancye Green’s Book List Add to My Reading List	By Design Ralph Caplan On Nancye Green’s Book List On Jennifer Morla’s Book List On Jeffrey Bernett’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Answered Prayers Truman Capote On Ralph Rucci’s Book List Add to My Reading List	A Christmas Memory Truman Capote On André Leon Talley’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Tao of Physics Fritjof Capra On Dan Formosa’s Book List Add to My Reading List
Ender’s Game Orson Scott Card On Nancye Green’s Book List On Philip Freelon’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Very Hungry Caterpillar Eric Carle On Eric Owen Moss’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Power Broker Robert Caro On Nancye Green’s Book List On Jaquelin Robertson’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland Lewis Carroll On Sagi Haviv’s Book List On Deborah Sussman’s Book List On Angus Hyland’s Book List On Maira Kalman’s Book List On Zuzana Licko’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Alice in Wonderland: Illustrated by Ralph Steadman Lewis Carroll On Daniel Libeskind’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Nox Anne Carson On Jessica Helfand’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Silent Spring Rachel Carson On Nancye Green’s Book List On Michael Sorkin’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Decisive Moment Henri Cartier-Bresson On George Tscherny’s Book List Add to My Reading List

comments powered by Disqus

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.

Order the book.

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.

Order the book.

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.

Order the book.

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.

Order the book.

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.”

Order the book.

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.

Order the book.