Deborah Berke’s Book List
I have always loved books—books of all kinds. I like reading books, I like being in rooms where there are books, I get inspiration from books, I like giving books as gifts, I like having a book with me.
My list is an eclectic one of books I have enjoyed and books I have learned from. I always have a large pile of books—fiction and nonfiction, books with images and books without, poetry, plays, collections and surveys, essays—on my nightstand, and always a book in my bag.
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This book includes some of Susan Sontag’s best-known essays. My favorite, “Against Interpretation,” has this to say: “Our task is not to find the maximum amount of content in a work of art, much less to squeeze more content out of the work than is already there. Our task is to cut back content so that we can see the thing at all.”
The original version of this indispensable guidebook, by Norval White and Elliot Willensky, was the first architecture-related book I received as a gift. That copy was much used and is now really beat-up. Fran Leadon did a great job with Norval White in creating this carefully updated version, still full of opinions as well as useful information. A must-own book for all New Yorkers.
This is a very serious collection of essays that had a huge impact on the way I think about the world and about art and architecture. Ken Frampton’s essay “Towards a Critical Regionalism: Six Points for an Architecture of Resistance” is one every architect should be familiar with, but the value of this volume is also in the essays of Rosalind Krauss and Fredric Jameson, among others.
I have enjoyed her stories and her essays, but connect best to Grace Paley’s poetry. Read anything by her.
This is a great book about a New York that doesn’t really exist anymore. Mitchell’s observations and descriptions of it are perfect. Very few of us write as well as Joseph Mitchell did, but this book should be an encouragement to go out and carefully observe your city, wherever it may be.
Amy Hempel writes with such exquisite precision that one savors every carefully selected word and each elegantly constructed sentence.
I first discovered Banham through his incredible book on Los Angeles. As a New Yorker I appreciated the way he parsed and explained that city. However, as a way to connect with Banham’s broader architectural thinking and insights, this book of collected essays is the one to dip into.
This wonderful book examines all types of infrastructure. As a child my favorite part of trips headed out of New York was the industrial and infrastructural detritus along the New Jersey Turnpike. Perhaps because of this, this book really appeals to me. It’s a field manual for all that—old and new. The author is a scientist or maybe a scientific writer—I don’t know for sure—but he gets this stuff and he photographs it with real care and affection. Great images and descriptions.
Alan Colquhoun is one of the great architectural writers and critics around. Too little known in the United States, in my opinion, this collection is a great way to experience his writing and thinking.
This is a riff on, a tribute to, the word “blue.” It is really beautifully written. Reading it makes you focus on what you know, what you see, and how you think about it.
Walk away from your desk, go outside, keep your eyes open and remember what you see and ask why it is that way. A great exhortation to all of us to be questioning observers.
I always enjoy reading Hertzberg’s column in The New Yorker and find this collection of essays to contain some of his best.
Beautiful as an object and impossible to put down as a read. And while I love my library, it made me wish I also could spend a few days in Richard Prince’s library from time to time.
This book is fun to read and covers a broad range of design-related subjects in some very brief essays—perfect for those with short attention spans or limited time to read. There are pieces in the collection that make you laugh. Can’t say that about very many design books.
The subtitle tells all: “On the relationship between where art is made and where art is displayed.” A beautiful object and a compelling little book.
In everything she does A.M. Homes shows us the dark and the weird in late 20th- and early 21st-century America. Her writing is brilliantly funny.
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.
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
Published: 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.
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.
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.
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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