Kaeru Male, 29, In a relationship. Utrecht, Netherlands

This book literally changes the way you look at cities. It's main argument is delivered in a small number of pages (which is good) but the additional material in the back nicely complements it. I loved the little sketches in the margins that illustrated concepts in the main text and the many maps th ... (continue)

“In the end, the design of technology cannot leave us as spectators or consumers, but must let us actively practice at something, however humble. Taking part in locale is one such activity.”

For anyone who believes design is about more than "problem-solving", the appropriate response to emergi ... (continue)

You don't need me to tell you this is an awesome book. I particularly enjoyed the way Burgess plays with language -- the "nadsat" slang he invented is poetic and gives the book an otherworldly character. I was also struck by the way this book prophesies the way we deal with problematic youth nowaday ... (continue)

Every bit as good as the film. Scratch that - even better. This book is stylistically inventive, and has a story that hits you like a sledgehammer. It is gruesome and dark, but in a strange way also reassuring.

I absolutely loved this book. It contains three strange, dark detective stories that seem connected in some indeterminable way. Identities get mixed up in vague ways that seem only possible in books (with the characters at times seeming aware of their own fictitious nature). There is a constant sens ... (continue)

A collection of beautiful, poetic descriptions of impossible cities. Sometimes humorous, sometimes saddening, always inventive.

Clever piece of speculative fiction that hits home hard (and I imagine does so even harder when you're an American). The art is top-notch too. Looking forward to picking up subsequent volumes.

It took a little while to get into this, but once I did, I absolutely loved it. Although Brand writes about buildings, virtually every bit of his argument can be applied to other systems inhabited by people. It is a manifesto for adaptive design. It took me much longer to complete this book that I e ... (continue)

Possibly my favorite comic – excuse me, graphic novel – ever.

Update: I guess I should explain why I like this so much. It's because you can almost taste the oppressive atmosphere. And also, because Moore pulls no punches. There are sequences in this book that made me sick to the ... (continue)

I can only hope as many designers as possible read this. It takes a little while to get going, but once the authors dive into their vision of eco-effective, cradle-to-cradle design, I could not put this down. This is one of those books that changes the way you look at the world. The best part is - t ... (continue)

I know some people are annoyed by Taleb's style. I, on the other hand, thoroughly enjoyed it. This is one of the best popular science books I have read in a long time. The message is an important one, and I found plenty of bits applicable in my design practice.

Bought this mainly for the articles by Bogost and McGonigal (which you can find for free online as well). Both are solid pieces of writing on ways in which games can be used beyond entertainment that I figured were worth having in dead-tree format.

Benioff alternates wry humour with gruesome descriptions of wartime atrocities. Once the book gets going it is hard to put down. Has some likeable characters with proper depth to them.

A menacing atmosphere permeates this book. I was pleasantly surprised by the descriptions of several historical events in Europe of the last century, as well as the author's musings on the continent's ultimate fate. The finale, however, let me down a bit. It wasn't as shocking as I had expected it t ... (continue)

A very comprehensive discussion of contemporary game design practice. This book provides a theoretical foundation for game design, and a description of the position of the game designer in today's industry, but where it really shines is its structured, step-by-step description of how to design a ga ... (continue)

I always found Umberto Eco's fiction a joy to read, so I decided to see what these essays were like. Some are very enjoyable, particularly the first one - ‘Travels in Hyperreality’, which dissects the USA’s unique brand of artificiality. Others I found less interesting, either because of the histori ... (continue)

This is a short and enjoyable read that provides some nice insights into the life and mind of Murakami-san. I'm not a runner, but parts of this book made me think I should give it a go sometime (other parts cured me of that thought, though).

Someone had to write this book, and I’m glad Dan Saffer was the one to pick up the gauntlet. This is a solid introduction to the field of gestural interfaces, seen from an interaction design perspective. It is more broad than deep, but in this case (contrary to Saffer’s previous effort) this is not ... (continue)

I prefer his second book (which has less talk and more demonstrations of design), but the section herein where Tufte redesigns some very common displays is great – a strong demonstration of how far you can go with minimalism.

I was clearly not the audience of this book, but it was interesting to read the arguments Cooper uses to 'sell' interaction design to managers.

The parts where Kelly discusses technology are dated, and worth skipping. But his overview of evolutionary biology is comprehensive, and the way he connects it to the realm of the made is inspirational and compelling. It's given me new starting points for thinking about complexity.

A quick read, unassumingly written. I really like the things Resnick has to say about the "centralized mindset" and how to combat it through education that employs playful computer simulations.

Not as good as the first collection (but then it's hard to beat the catastrophy that kicks off this series). This mostly feels like a couple of stories that set things up to build on later.

Many elements of Morrison's later work (The Invisibles, The Filth) are already present here, but in a less-refined way. The art, sadly, is a bit mediocre. Still, this is a delightfully weird and disturbing book.