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

Nonfiction, Art and Cultural History

covers

view as:
covers
list

240 books

Mayhew’s London On Alan Balfour’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Deposition of Richard Prince: In the Case of Cariou V. Prince et al. Greg Allen, ed. On Prem Krishnamurthy’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Conformismo e Trasgressione Annamaria Andreoli On Isaac Mizrahi’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Art of Florence Glenn M. Andres et al. On Alexa Hampton’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Storia dell’Arte Italiana (3 vols.) Giulio Carlo Argan On Massimo Vignelli’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Ocean Flowers Carol Armstrong et al. On Ken Carbone’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Art and Visual Perception Rudolf Arnheim On Milton Glaser’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Power of the Center Rudolf Arnheim On Milton Glaser’s Book List Add to My Reading List
Visual Thinking Rudolf Arnheim On Milton Glaser’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Super Constellation Christoph Asendorf On Christian Wassmann’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Constantin Brancusi Friedrich Teja Bach On Christian Wassmann’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Punk’s Dead Simon Barker et al. On Anna Sui’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Masters of Modern Art Alfred Barr On Emilio Ambasz’s Book List Add to My Reading List	American Stories: Paintings of Everyday Life Carrie Barratt et al. On Jeffrey Bilhuber’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Magritte and Contemporary Art Stephanie Barron On Bob Gill’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Mythologies Roland Barthes On Calvin Tsao’s Book List On Alice Rawsthorn’s Book List On Shashi Caan’s Book List On Abbott Miller’s Book List On Massimo Pitis’s Book List On Jorge Silvetti’s Book List Add to My Reading List
Système de la Mode (The Fashion System) Roland Barthes On Christian Lacroix’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Empire of Signs Roland Barthes On Marco Romanelli’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Artist’s Library Erinn Batykefer et al. On list of Books by Laura Damon-Moore On list of Books by Erinn Batykefer Add to My Reading List	La Sparizione dell’Arte (The Disappearance of Art) Jean Baudrillard On Stefano Giovannoni’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Painting and Experience in Fifteenth-Century Italy Michael Baxandall On Ralph Rucci’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Art & Fear David Bayles et al. On Ken Carbone’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Füssli, the Wild Swiss (Fuseli, the Wild Swiss) Christoph Becker, ed. On Alexander Haldemann’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Duveen S. N. Behrman On George Lois’s Book List Add to My Reading List
The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction Walter Benjamin On Elizabeth Diller’s Book List On Ricardo Scofidio’s Book List On Cino Zucchi’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Arcades Project Walter Benjamin On Akiko Fukai’s Book List On David Piscuskas’s Book List On Farshid Moussavi’s Book List On Ian Ritchie’s Book List Add to My Reading List	About Looking John Berger On Milton Glaser’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Shape of a Pocket John Berger On Milton Glaser’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Ways of Seeing John Berger On Milton Glaser’s Book List On Mark Fox’s Book List On Jennifer Morla’s Book List On Véronique Vienne’s Book List On Angus Hyland’s Book List On Alexa Hampton’s Book List On Ian Ritchie’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Rediscovered Masterpieces of Mesoamerica Gerald Berjonneau et al. On Lisa Jenks’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Cent ans d’histoire de France Emmanuel Berl On Christian Lacroix’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Friedrich Kiesler: Architekt, Maler, Bildhauer, 1890–1965 Dieter Bogner, ed. On Jürgen Mayer H.’s Book List Add to My Reading List
Cleopatra’s Nose Daniel J. Boorstin On Jens Holm’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Picabia Maria Lluisa Borras On Paula Scher’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Relational Aesthetics Nicolas Bourriaud On David Adjaye’s Book List On Florian Idenburg’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Mark Rothko: A Biography James E. B. Breslin On Harry Pearce’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Marianne Brandt Hans Brockhage et al. On Michael Maharam’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	Dialogues with Marcel Duchamp Pierre Cabanne On Daniel Libeskind’s Book List On David Piscuskas’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.

Love Letter to a Garden by Debbie Millman

Love Letter to a Garden

By Debbie Millman
Contributions by Roxane Gay
Publisher: Timber Press
Published: April 15, 2025

From the award-winning artist, designer, and the host of the podcast Design Matters, Debbie Millman, this book tells the visual story of falling in love with gardening—and the philosophies that work conjures. Spread throughout are simple recipes using the garden’s ingredients from Millman’s wife, best-selling author Roxane Gay.

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.