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.

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2000 books

Playing and Reality D. W. Winnicott On Alberto Alessi’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Pleasure of Finding Things Out Richard Feynman On Tim Brown’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Pleasure of the Text Roland Barthes On Jorge Silvetti’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	The Poems of Our Climate Wallace Stevens On Abbott Miller’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Poems of Paul Celan Paul Celan On Daniel Libeskind’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Poems to Eimhir Sorley Maclean On Ian Ritchie’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Poesias Completas Federico Garcia Lorca On Enrique Norten’s Book List Add to My Reading List
Poetics of Music in the Form of Six Lessons Igor Stravinsky On Chris Bangle’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Poetry of Robert Frost Robert Frost On Margaret McCurry’s Book List On Victoria Meyers’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Poetry, Language, Thought Martin Heidegger On Alberto Alessi’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Poised for Grace Douglas Brooks On Richard Sachs’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Politics, Planning, and the Public Interest Martin Meyerson et al. On Denise Scott Brown’s Book List On Robert Venturi’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Politics: Observations and Arguments, 1966–2004 Hendrik Hertzberg On Deborah Berke’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Pomona Houses Marcia Hafif On Prem Krishnamurthy’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Pop-Up City Jeroen Beekmans et al. On David Rockwell’s Book List Add to My Reading List
Popular Culture and High Culture Herbert J. Gans On Denise Scott Brown’s Book List On Robert Venturi’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Population Bomb Paul Ehrlich On Nancye Green’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Portable Dorothy Parker Dorothy Parker On Todd Oldham’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Portnoy’s Complaint Philip Roth On Richard Meier’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Portrait of Picasso as a Young Man Norman Mailer On Richard Meier’s Book List Add to My Reading List	A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man James Joyce On Eric Owen Moss’s Book List Add to My Reading List	A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (German edition, Ein Porträt des Künstlers als junger Mann) James Joyce On Thomas Girst’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Portraits Richard Avedon On Carin Goldberg’s Book List Add to My Reading List
Portraits: Talking with Artists at the Met, the Modern, the Louvre and Elsewhere Michael Kimmelman On Jennifer Morla’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Poseidon’s Steed Helen Scales On Temple St. Clair’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Positron Margaret Atwood On Fiona Raby’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Posters by the Members of the Alliance Graphique Internationale 1960–1985 Rudolph de Harak On Kit Hinrichs’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	The Power Elite C. Wright Mills On Sheila Levrant de Bretteville’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 Power of the Center Rudolf Arnheim On Milton Glaser’s Book List Add to My Reading List
The Practice of Everyday Life Michel de Certeau On Nathalie de Vries’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Prague–New York Ladislav Sutnar On Paula Scher’s Book List Add to My Reading List	A Prayer for Owen Meany John Irving On Jonathan Adler’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Precolonial Black Africa Cheikh Anta Diop On David Adjaye’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Prefab Architecture: A Guide to Modular Design and Construction Ryan E. Smith On Amanda Dameron’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Presence of Mies Detlef Mertins On Terence Riley’s Book List Add to My Reading List	Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen On Margaret McCurry’s Book List On Michael Sorkin’s Book List On Maira Kalman’s Book List On Alexa Hampton’s Book List Add to My Reading List	The Prince of Tides Pat Conroy On Alexa Hampton’s Book List Add to My Reading List

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.”

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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.

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