Shashi Caan
Shashi Caan’s Book List
Intrigued with interactions, phenomena, and life’s pervasive yet seemingly intangible aspects, I love pondering experience and language. Words are our expression and our power. Communication fosters connection and exchange. Thinking gives meaning to the subject of pondering, which utilizes words. As the experimental psychologist Steven Pinker says, “Language is so tightly woven into human expression that it is scarcely possible to imagine life without it. Chances are that if you find two or more people together anywhere on earth they will soon be exchanging words. When there is no one to talk with, people talk to themselves, to their dogs, even to their plants.” (Stephen Pinker, The Language Instinct, 1994).
As a product of an amalgamation of three of the world’s distinct regions—with an Asian heritage, a European education and the last two decades spent in America—I am an embodiment of my interpretation of the confluence of sometimes conflicting cultural views and constructs. Very much aware of the diversity of societal mores and values, my understanding of people and cultures is fundamentally impacted by books and literature from around the world. Seeking to comprehend the core and unifying criteria binding all of humanity (outside of human biology), I find people remain as much the same as they are different.
With these ruminations, my selected list of ten books, reflecting my readings over the past three decades, is eclectic yet narrow. The ideas in these books inform my design thinking but are not specific to design. These are some of my favorites, which continue to stimulate and provide insight and satisfaction. Mostly, these and other readings have helped me to gain cultural liberation, providing a personal sense of freedom toward the shaping of a thoughtful and necessary 21st-century world society.
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This story reminds me of life’s journey and the conditions we encounter. By association, it reminds of the potential for interpretation and alternate possibilities—and our solemn responsibility for our deeper consideration of the consequences of our actions within society and culture.
An extraordinary life story, this factual and well-written book is often hard to believe or imagine. It reminds me to remain open to incredible possibilities and that there is much in life which remains a mystery and unknown.
A clever and easy to read book on "how to better punctuate" in the English language, this is an essential companion for improving one’s writing ability. Delightful and witty in its delivery, it is as good a read as it is educational.
Written with simplicity and imagination, this satirical parable is entertaining and educational. It challenges us to expand our capacity to rethink the possibility of other-dimensional life within our vast universe, and inspires the cultivation of greater conceptual prospects. Implicit in the story is the human acceptance of limitations and the status quo. These ideas are required to be rethought and possibly challenged by the designer.
Short chapters that are magnificent in their breadth of subject matter and depth of meaning. Exploring the ordinary and everyday objects and happenings, Barthes provides a critique that is intriguing in its consideration of the shaping of changed meanings, by design, in society and culture. He also inspires the questioning of myth, our reality, and the related significance.
Grounded in his thoughts of the shaping of a better English society, this book presents Morris’s image of a superior future though his personal lens of an idealized version of the past. It is especially relevant now given the current resurgence of interest in craft and the importance of local expression in many nations around the world.
Storytelling at its best, this brilliant book simultaneously stimulates the imagination and intellect. The narrative flattens dimensional time and human existence, while seamlessly flip-flopping between the real and the surreal. It also provides a view into an aspect of the psyche of the uniquely Mexican/Latin imagination.
While depicting life in the society and era of a bygone India, these captivating and vivid stories shed insight into our commonly shared human nature.
This accessible color theory book is both illuminating and surprising. Since the book is devoid of pictures, reconstructing the experiments by following the writing results in experiential learning. This is a “must read” for anyone interested in better understanding human response to our physical world. It explains the phenomenological interactions of light, color, and form that help to shape our daily experiences. This book and the writings of Johannes Itten and Josef Albers, other equally important color theoreticians, are foundational reading for anyone interested in architecture and design.
Not the easiest of reads, this book is exemplary in the expression of ideas through observation and the dissection of contemporary society and culture. Eco is inspirational in his multifaceted exploration of writing from different vantage points, including scholarship, mass media (newspapers and magazines), and fiction.
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.
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.
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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