David Armano (Twitter)
Why I Want It: A book from Armano would most likely lie somewhere between The Back of The Napkin and Blink in terms of synthesizing complex ideas into easy visuals, and presenting something to make you think, not just a how-to. Also, a cowboy hat-including collectors edition would likely be a possibility.
What It Probably Will Be Called: Logic + Emotion: (Insert Explanatory Subtitle)
What It Should Be Called: Of Bathroom Sign People and Cowboy Hats, A David Armano story.

Jason Falls (Twitter)
Why I Want It: Jason has a knack for explaining things in clear, but intuitive ways. A book from him would probably be the kind of book you give to your boss and say “Here’s a quick primer on social media. Yes we can run ads there. And stop calling it “Facespace”. Low on ass-kissery, high on ass-kickery.
What It Probably Will Be Called: Social Media Explorer: Discover the Tools and Tactics of the New Web
What It Should Be Called: Heh.

Whitney Hess (Twitter)
Why I Want It: I learn something legitimate from almost every post that Whitney writes, and I think her style would translate really well into the bound medium. She makes UX feel simultaneously elemental and complex, which is hard to do.
What It Probably Will Be Called: Pleasure and Pain
What It Should Be Called: Do Your Users Want To Punch The Internet?

Scott Monty (Twitter)
Why I Want It: Scott Monty has the rare experience of having been a big part of emerging channels agency Crayon, and then transitioning to heading up social media at a little company called Ford Motors. One of the most genuine people in the business, and hands down the best dressed.
What It Probably Will Be Called: The New Big Business: Social Media for the Large Organization
What It Should Be Called: Suit-Point-Oh: Style for the Social Media-minded Man.

Bill Green (Twitter)
Why I Want It: Equal parts snark and commentary, Bill gets enough content onto his Make The Logo Bigger blog to have his own monthly magazine. While some of the best stuff is video content, there’s plenty of advertising gold to go around.
What It Probably Will Be Called: Make The Logo Bigger.
What It Should Be Called: Why I Went To Law School

Alan Wolk (Twitter)
Why I Want It: In most of my reading, I’m more interested by higher level strategy and thought-process type stuff than I am in the how-to’s of tips and tactics. Alan Wolk does a good job of blending the digital and traditional worlds to figure out what the hell is going on in advertising.
What It Probably Will Be Called: …Honestly I couldn’t guess.
What It Should Be Called: Return of the Tangerine Toad.

ABC’s Castle (which I really, really like) is now in it’s second season and has found a steady, growing following. If you’re not familiar with the show, the basic premise is that Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion), a hugely successful crime novelist uses his connections with the Mayor to be assigned as a tag-along with detective Kate Beckett (Stana Katic) where he helps solve cases in the name of “research” for his books. It’s a pretty unique twist on the old cop show, and I think it bears watching a few full episodes on hulu if you haven’t seen it.

And after the first season, Castle has written a new book loosely based on Beckett. The book, titled Heat Wave features Nikki Heat and her adventures. The first few episodes of the second season have more than a few moments revolving around the release of Heat Wave, which itself is nothing exciting. But the hitch is the book actually exists. It’s “written” by Richard Case, and you can go buy it on Amazon.com right now. It’s even got Fillion’s picture on the back cover.

Now that’s all well and good, but what’s even better is that it seems to be a good book. Hopefully the show will keep doing well, and they’ll keep cranking out quality crime/mystery novels that go with it. It lets you follow along at home folks!

And, obviously, you can follow Richard Castle on Twitter.

I could have written a long review, but I think this gets the point across. Pick up Six Pixels of Separation by Mitch Joel here.

Pygmy – Chuck Palahinuk – Classic Palahinuk. Intense, ridiculous, and not for the faint of heart. Despite the “broken English” writing style, I really enjoyed this one. Pretty sharp satire of American consumerism and xenophobia.

A Whole New Mind – Daniel Pink (In Progress) I consider myself a “right-brainer”, so I was interested in seeing what Daniel Pink had to say about the subject. So far, I’m really into it. He’s got an easy writing style and keeps the information/ideas flowing. Recommended.

Thinkertoys – Michael Michalko (In Progress) Just started this one, but I love it already. If you’re looking for a creative kick-start or just a way to look at a problem differently, pick this up.

Ignore Everybody – Hugh MacLeod This book rocks. Read my full review here.

Ender’s Game – Orson Scott Card I read this book once every few years. One of my all time favorites, hands down. Even if you’re not into science fiction, take the time to check this one out. Total classic.

What I came back with was Thinking with Type: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors, & Students by Ellen Lupton. It looked like it covered most of the bases, and I decided it was going to be a great place to start. Keep in mind that the following short review is from the perspective of a complete beginner. If you’re a graphic designer, creative director, type aficionado, etc. then you might not feel the same way. But if this is your first crack at really understanding typography, then we’re probably on the same page.

To start off, I think it’s worth mentioning that I blew through this book in about two days. It’s not overly long (176 pages), but I still got through it pretty quickly. It wasn’t the “can’t put it down!” type of feeling that you get with suspense thrillers, but I felt like I was continually learning things (ask me about x-heights!), and was eager to see what the next page held. Lupton has a great, easy style that manages to simultaneously be simple enough for beginners and in-depth enough for more experienced readers.

From a structural standpoint, the book is broken into three sections: Letter, Text, and Grid. Letter focuses on the history, theory, and construction of individual font faces. This was my favorite section of the book, because as a complete beginner I had no idea how much there was to learn. Text talks about spacing, alignment and organization. I found this section really helpful from an overall perspective, and am now working hard to eliminate “type crimes” from my written work. The last section, Grid, covered the arrangement and presentation of bodies of text in a given field, and could be considered the most conceptual.

All in all, I really enjoyed Thinking With Type. It made a great starting place for my new interest in typography, but I also feel like there’s a lot of good stuff for someone with more experience. So if you’re a beginner looking to get rocking, or a pro looking for a little clarity, check out this book.

Some cool typography blogs:
I love Typography
Font Feed
Typies