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

David Hicks on Decoration—with Fabrics David Hicks On Dominique Browning’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Style and Design David Hicks On Alexa Hampton’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Design Since 1945 Kathryn Hiesinger, ed. On R. Craig Miller’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Problem of Form in Painting and Sculpture Adolf von Hildebrand On Neil Denari’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Antonio Stradivari William Henry Hill On Richard Sachs’s Book List Add to My Reading List	A Woman in Berlin Marta Hillers On Inga Sempé’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Be My Guest Conrad Hilton On Jeffrey Beers’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy E. D. Hirsch et al. On Ken Carbone’s Book List Add to My Reading List
Hirschfeld: Art and Recollections from Eight Decades Al Hirschfeld On Kit Hinrichs’s Book List Add to My Reading List	I Want to Spend the Rest of My Life Everywhere, with Everyone, One to One, Always, Forever, Now Damien Hirst On Karim Rashid’s Book List Add to My Reading List	In the Nature of Materials Henry-Russell Hitchcock On Norman Foster’s Book List On Richard Meier’s Book List On Emilio Ambasz’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Architecture of H. H. Richardson and His Times Henry-Russell Hitchcock On Denise Scott Brown’s Book List On Robert Venturi’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Modern Architecture: Romanticism and Reintegration Henry-Russell Hitchcock On R. Craig Miller’s Book List On Richard Meier’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The International Style Henry-Russell Hitchcock et al. On R. Craig Miller’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Hitch-22: A Memoir Christopher Hitchens On Carl Magnusson’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Invention of Tradition Eric Hobsbawm et al. On Barry Bergdoll’s Book List Add to My Reading List
Die Welt als Labyrinth (The World as a Labyrinth) Gustav René Hocke On Juergen Riehm’s Book List Add to My Reading List	China Diary David Hockney et al. On Alexander Cooper’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House Eric Hodgins On Paul Goldberger’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Libraries Candida Hofer et al. On Sou Fujimoto’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Graphic Design Manual Armin Hofmann On Michael Bierut’s Book List On Angus Hyland’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Metamagical Themas Douglas Hofstadter On Cino Zucchi’s Book List Add to My Reading List	From Cave Painting to Comic Strip Lancelot Hogben On Tom Geismar’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Pamphlet Architecture 7 Steven Holl On Galia Solomonoff’s Book List Add to My Reading List
Against Architecture Denis Hollier 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	Londongrad Mark Hollingsworth et al. On Carl Magnusson’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Swiss Graphic Design Richard Hollis On Angus Hyland’s Book List On Rick Poynor’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Graphic Design: A Concise History Richard Hollis On Ellen Lupton’s Book List On Massimo Pitis’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Pictorial Maps Nigel Holmes On Kit Hinrichs’s Book List Add to My Reading List	How Brands Become Icons Douglas B. Holt On Jens Martin Skibsted’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The New Art—the New Life Harry Holtzman et al. On Sagi Haviv’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Iliad Homer On George Lois’s Book List On Eric Owen Moss’s Book List Add to My Reading List
The Odyssey Homer On Eric Owen Moss’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Things You Should Know A. M. Homes On Deborah Berke’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Tokyo Suburbia Takashi Homma On Florian Idenburg’s Book List Add to My Reading List	William Tell Warja Honnegger-Lavater On Temple St. Clair’s Book List Add to My Reading List	In Praise of Slowness Carl Honoré On Zoë Ryan’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Micrographia Robert Hooke 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	High Fidelity Nick Hornby On Alexa Hampton’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Fever Pitch Nick Hornby On Alexa Hampton’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.