Hartmut Esslinger
Hartmut Esslinger’s Book List
Decisions—decisions . . . Here are “my” books. Actually I have two walls of books, one here in San Francisco and another in Germany.
In addition to the fiction on my list, I read a lot of history—currently American: politics, design, and biographies.
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Crazy story—computing whether a life will be valuable in God’s judgment. Beautiful language.
I would also include Hemingway’s short stories, such as “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” and “The Short and Happy Life of Francis Macomber.”
Having lived for 15 years next to Steinbeck’s house in Los Gatos, California, this book is a “natural” for me. Driving from Salinas to Monterey in heavy fog makes the story come alive. The movie with James Dean helps, too. The book also resonates as I grew up on a farm in a tiny village.
Very poetic and naturally a bit over-quoted by mindless people. I had to study it in French and its simplicity fascinates.
Among the many reasons to keep returning to this book:
—“As a leader, do what you have to do and don’t try to be popular.”
—“Why would you care for fame with those who aren’t even born yet?”
I was 13 when I read “Rashomon” for the first time. I even made a chart showing how the different facts could match up so differently from each person’s point of view. Then I saw the movie by Akira Kurasawa. And finally I learned in Japan that Ryunosuke Akutagawa had been both a genius and a mentally ill man, ultimately taking his own life.
A timeless record of the beginning of “Western culture” and philosophy. (I didn’t like it so much when we had to study it in high school.) One always comes back to it (“sightseers of the truth”)—especially when reading modern philosphers like Ludwig Wittgenstein (“what can be shown cannot be said”).
One of many reasons to read it again and again: “A vessel is defined by the space where there is nothing.”
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.
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.
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.”
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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