Each year we ask our friends, colleagues, and clients for recommendations of books that have influences their work and design thinking, or that they have simply enjoyed reading. Here you can find our bookshelf of favorite reads.
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Dragonfish by Vu Tran
Recommended by Jeffrey Scales, The New York Times
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The Mandibles: A Family 2029-2047 by Lionel Shriver
Recommended by Jennifer Cegielski, The New York Times
“If our current state of affairs makes you wonder “Could things get any worse?,” a scary answer can be found in the satire of this near-future novel, which explores the effect of America’s apocalyptic economic collapse on the extended members of the once-prosperous Mandible family.“
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Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan
Recommended by Jeffrey Scales and Katherine Schulten, The New York Times
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Since We Fell by Dennis Lehane
Recommended by Jeffrey Scales, The New York Times
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Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
Recommended by Katherine Schulten, The New York Times
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Now You See It and Other Essays on Design by Michael Bierut
Recommended by Melissa Jun, The New York Times
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Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
Recommended by Anke Stohlmann, Li’l Robin/Li’l Stories, The New York Times
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The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery
Recommended by Kelly Doe, The New York Times
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H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald
Recommended by Kelly Doe and Melissa Jun, The New York Times
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My Struggle by Karl Ove Knausgaard
Recommended by William Van Roden, The New York Times, Studio: William Van Roden
"Though this was published a few years ago, it might take a good year or more to read! I started this journey as some reading on my travels to Norway. The books are about 3,600 pages about him writing a book. Why the hell would anyone want to read that? Well, writing the book that you’re reading is certainly a foundation, but he goes in so many other directions with his own history. It’s clear he has done some therapy, and writes about his childhood experiences that entail magic, innocence and also abuse and trauma. How these events all connect and relate to each other becomes the real-time narrative unfolding in the books. Pick it up, put it down, or just keep plowing through it."
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Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
Recommended by Jennifer Cegielski, The New York Times
“Saunders took home the Man Booker Prize for this inventive novel about life and what comes after, in the days surrounding Abraham Lincoln’s young son’s death. The story is told in dialogue by spirits “in the bardo” (the holding place between death and the afterlife), and while it does take some time to get into the rhythm of reading a novel this way, there are some beautiful, lyrical moments and reflections on mortality.“
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Landmarks by Robert Macfarlane
Recommended by Barbara deWilde, The New York Times
"Landmarks is one of those rare books about language and landscape. The author pursues and catalogs vanishing terminology for bogs and lichens, or for the ripple formed by water moving over a rock. He is a hunter and gatherer of an entirely different sort and I loved reading through his lists."
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The Association of Small Bombs by Karan Mahajan
Recommended by Anke Stohlmann, Li’l Robin/Li’l Stories, The New York Times
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News of the World by Paulette Jiles
Recommended by Katherine Schulten, The New York Times
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Georgia O'Keeffe: Living Modern by Wanda M. Corn
Recommended by Jennifer Cegielski, The New York Times
“While the fascination with O’Keeffe’s work comes in and out of fashion, this look into the development of O’Keeffe as a person and artist comes from the blockbuster show at the Brooklyn Museum. The exploration of her personal style and vision of her own image in relation to her craft is an inspiration. A great catalogue whether you were able to make it to the exhibition or not (especially if not).”
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Kill 'Em and Leave: Searching for James Brown and the American Soul by James McBride
Recommended by Jeffrey Scales, The New York Times
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The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
Recommended by Anke Stohlmann, Li’l Robin/Li’l Stories, The New York Times
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