(If you can’t wait until preorder, check out the website: http://www.predatorythinking.com/.)

I’ve been a big fan since his first book, Creative Mischief. This has been my most read, and lent-out book. I have started recommending it to everyone because although Dave is an Ad Man, the messages and stories are relatable to anyone.

As well as these books, I can recommend reading his blogs: http://www.cstthegate.com/davetrott/ and http://davetrott.campaignlive.co.uk/.

Finally some great videos on The Art of Persuasion from Dave: https://paulrandall.com/2012/11/03/dave-trott-on-the-art-of-persuasion/

That should keep you going until the book arrives!

Part history book, part modern day news stories, the editing makes the book feel awkward; like a cobbled-together school project made up of historic articles and personal opinions by the Author, Simon Garfield.

It is clear that he has an admiration for type, but having read and watched a fair few pieces on typography, very little of the content felt new. I would find myself remembering stories I had read in Type: The Secret History of Letters, or being reminded word-for-word the interviews with designers for the documentary film Helvetica.

By this book if…

You want a beginner-level book to read about type origins, type history, and some of the modern day stories about type, then this book is for you. But if you want a bit more substance I would recommend Type: The Secret History of Letters. In fact, I think I would suggest reading that book, and watching Helvetica over getting this book any day.

“We decided to recommend a straightforward sans serif font. Predictably, this recommendation was greeted by complaints. It was too generic, too mechanical, too unstylish, too unrefined. I had trouble responding until I added two more elements to the presentation.”

Does this look stylish to you? Does it communicate anything about fashion or taste?

The next slide…

Now what do you think?

It worked every time.

I’ve really enjoyed reading this book so far, and because they are short essays, you can pick it up and read a section in just a couple of minutes.

Type is a guide through the history of our letters and a study of their power. From fashion through propaganda and the development of mass literacy, author Simon Loxley shows how typography has changed our world.

This book tells a great story on the advancements of printing; from the Gutenberg press to digital PostScripting, it’s narrative flows more like a story than a history book. It catalogues the tastes and trends have changed over the years, from ‘Old English’ Blackletter and Fractur styles to sans-serifs like Futura and Helvetica, detailing the social changes that affected them.

It’s not only the faces that changed, but the way the letters were typeset. Due to the physical constraints of the movable type, negative letter-spacing and leading wasn’t possible until the inset of digital technologies, but it soon became a fashionable trend.

There certainly were some interesting characters in the world of type design over the years. From the self-promoting Frederic Goudy to the eccentric Eric Gill, who liked to wear medieval-style smocks and lived a controversial personal life.

The technologies that fell by the wayside are also catalogued; technologies such as Letraset and Photosetting, which are now obsolete thanks to the capabilities of the Personal Computer.

It took me a while to get into the book, mainly as I wasn’t as interested in the very early history of Gutenberg, but the history from the 1900’s onwards really made up for it, and the changes that happened over the last 100 years were fascinating and also insightful.

Buy This Book if…

Want to know a little more about the history of printing and the people behind the letters? Don’t know your Caslon from your Goudy, or your Zapf from your Frutiger? I found it a fascinating read, with some real gems, giving you a real insight into the history of typography.

After becoming increasingly interested in typography, I felt I needed a book that set out the fundamentals. After doing some research, I found Thinking with Type: A critical guide for designers, writers, editors and students.

This book is divided into three main sections, Letter, Text and Grid. Starting off with a little history lesson on letterforms, leading into the anatomy of type with great examples along the way. It then goes into more detail, covering spacing and alignment, followed by layouts and grids.

Each section has real-world examples to draw upon and feels much more than just a theory book; it is more than that! The way the book is written makes you appreciate the effort that goes into great typesetting.

“Design is as much an act of spacing as an act of marking. The typographer’s art concerns not only the positive grain of letterforms, but the negative gaps between and around them.”

If you are a newcomer to typography and want to learn more, I highly recommend this as a great book to get started on. For a more in-depth book on type, many people recommend The Elements of Typographic Style, which is on my bookshelf and awaiting a read. Expect a review shortly!

Buy This Book if…

If you are looking to know your stem from your bowl, or your leading from your kerning this book covers it all, and all in a way that doesn’t feel at all technical. If you work with type, or just want to know more and don’t have a book on it yet—this is the one to get.

When I heard that Mark Boulton was releasing a book, called A Practical Guide to Designing for the Web I was immediately interested. However, it was originally only available as a PDF. Now, I am not a huge fan of reading books online, and prefer to print out the A List Apart articles rather than read online, so I held off purchasing, and hoped that a printed version would appear. Luckily for me, the printed version (which was launched last week) is now available for £29, and having just received my copy, I can tell you that the quality of the book is excellent.

A solid yellow, matt laminated cover is striking to look at, and inside, the pages are designed with just as much attention to detail.

The book covers topics such as workflow, research, colour, typography, layout & design with plenty of diagrams and pictures. I have yet to read the book, but will post a short review once I have finished it.

For those who have not read the book, you can download a sample over at fivesimplesteps.co.uk.

This book is the first in a series of Five Simple Steps books which will include Designing Grid Systems and Designing the Invisible, due to be launched later in the year.