Like most designers, I have an extensive and indispensable library of books on art and design. These books have always been and will continue to be the most important set of tools I use as a designer and a teacher. I was a product of the 1950s boom generation when television began to dominate the culture. For the most part, reading wasn’t particularly encouraged in my suburban public school or at home. I spent many years embarrassed by my literary limitations until I became a book jacket designer and had the opportunity to read hundreds and hundreds of manuscripts over the course of 15 years. It was then, albeit late, that I became a reader.

Reading is like working a muscle: the more one exercises the muscle the stronger and more supple it gets. My new, buff reading muscle allowed me to read faster and retain more, and consequently awarded me with a hunger to read more. This list is a spontaneous recollection of the books that have influenced my life and work. But it is my work and my ambition that have inadvertently facilitated my love for and dependency on books.