A working library is an exploration of—and advocate for—
the reading experience. by Mandy Brown

I Read Where I Am

Geert Lovink, Mieke Gerritzen, Minke Kampman

A collection of short reflections on the future of reading, including those from Ellen Lupton, James Bridle, Erik Spiekermann, and N. Katharine Hayles. Independently, none of the essays are especially compelling; but collectively, they reveal our shared unease (the loss of print, increased distraction, information overload) and make clear that none of us has any idea what the future will bring. Which, of course, is what makes the future interesting. Unfortunately, the typesetting (words are colored in different shades of gray depending on their frequency of use) is interesting in theory but incredibly annoying in practice; perhaps it is an attempt to prove that a stubborn reader will suffer through even the worst of reading experiences in order to get at the words?

The Information

James Gleick

Glieck’s loosely organized tome details the many ways we’ve organized and communicated information over the ages; or, as is more often the case, failed to do so. Less a catalog of solutions than a long, unfinished tale of struggle.

The Ecocriticism Reader

Cheryll Glotfelty, Harold Fromm

An introductory collection in literary ecology, the movement that aims to do for environmentalism what gender and race studies did for civil rights.

Linchpin

Seth Godin

Godin’s newest work argues that what the economy needs are artists—“people with a genius for finding a new answer, a new connection, or a new way of getting things done.” These people are linchpins—indispensable people that hold organizations together. A spirited yet pragmatic call to arms for workers everywhere.

Standard Operating Procedure

Errol Morris, Philip Gourevitch

The book companion to Errol Morris’ movie of the same name. Where Morris tells the story with video and photography, Gourevitch communicates with words alone. The effect is less emotional or tactile than the film, but it’s indictment of the war is more strident.

Design and Truth

Robert Grudin

A wide-ranging and philosophical approach to user-centered design. Grudin argues compellingly that design that does not consider the user is dishonest. See also: my review in the Barnes&Noble Review.

Time and the Art of Living

Robert Grudin

Short, almost journal-like essays on our relationship to (and against) time. In the aggregate, Grudin describes a means of living purposefully, experiencing what time we have as completely as possible.

Content Strategy for the Web

Kristina Halvorson

The book on the new(ish) field of content strategy, or, how we’re going to save the web. Required reading for anyone interested in how words can reach their potential now that they are freed from the page.

Designing Design

Kenya Hara

Detail in typography

Jost Hochuli

The Gift

Lewis Hyde

The original subtitle of this book defined it as “Imagination and the Erotic Life of Property,” which, in addition to being more lyrical, also hints at the real message better than the revision: that real art, no matter the price, is always a gift from the artist to the audience. Cf. Godin on emotional labor.

Common as Air

Lewis Hyde

Hyde addresses the history of copyright, and demonstrates that the founding fathers were not at all fans of it. Rather, they understood that a cultural commons needed to be regulated and protected, much as an agricultural commons needs to be defended against enclosure. As such, any encroachment on the commons must be limited and temporary, and designed for the public good, not private gain.

Trickster Makes This World

Lewis Hyde

Hyde exceeds the terrain of “creative nonfiction” (a term I always find slightly disparaging) to write academic tomes that feel alive, unlike the usual ivory tower fare. Trickster shows how our most playful, devious stories are also (perhaps not surprisingly) our most revealing.

Clout

Colleen Jones

Colleen Jones clearly and (perhaps not surprisingly) persuasively explains how to create content that not only informs, but influences. She discusses what makes for influential content, as well as how to go about the potentially daunting process of producing it and evaluating its success. Even as someone fairly well-versed in the art of rhetoric, I learned a few things. And the general approach—considering and measuring your content’s impact—is one we should all have at the ready.

HTML5 for Web Designers

Jeremy Keith

The inaugural book from A Book Apart, the new publisher for which I am co-founder and editor. When Jeffrey Zeldman, Jason Santa Maria, and I decided to launch a small press for people who make websites, there was no topic more important than HTML5, and no one better suited to write about it than Jeremy Keith. Required reading for web designers everywhere.

What Technology Wants

Kevin Kelly

Kevin Kelly (one of the founders and a former executive editor of Wired, and a veteran of the Whole Earth Catalog) argues that technology (or, as he calls it “the technium”), has evolved into something like a co-dependent existence—an extension of humankind, with as much if not more intelligence. Kelly is an apologist for many of the same things that Jaron Lanier warns about, and I find myself disagreeing with much of what they both have to say. But where the first two parts of What Technology Wants prattle on at length, the latter half is more than worth the cover price: Kelly’s analysis of technology’s needs vis-à-vis our own is an insightful approach to making choices about technology in our own lives, now and into the future.

Fateless

Imre Kertesz

An autobiographical novel, in which Kertész addresses his childhood in Auschwitz and Buchenwald. Kertész’s writing is spare and damning, akin to the filmmaking of Michael Haneke.

King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking

King Arthur Flour

A wonderfully written primer on cooking with whole grains, with excellent recipes as well as guidance on equipment and techniques. My favorite recipes are the tortillas (139), pizza dough (128), and pie crust (349). The pie crust is especially good with bright, tart apples—the nuttiness of the whole wheat flour contrasts with the apples beautifully. The cover is printed directly on the case, so the jacket can be discarded if (when) it becomes soiled.

Unjustified texts

Robin Kinross

Modern typography

Robin Kinross

A rare object—a book on typography that is as beautifully written as it is designed.