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.

A lot has been said about Barnes and Noble’s new eBook reader, nook. It’s got a lot of innovative features, and it looks to be the first legitimate contender to the Amazon Kindle, the current king of the castle.

One feature that’s been getting a lot of press is the “LendMe” function which allows you to take a book you have purchased and “lend” it to a friend (with a nook) for a limited period of time. Just like a real book, when you lend something out, it gets removed from you library.

At first it seems like a pretty solid feature, but when you think about it, it misses the point. B&N is banking on the fact that people have this established behavior of lending books, and that when you lend a book you no longer have it in your possession. However, this behavior also operates on the notion of physical scarcity (i.e. “This is my singular copy, you may take it from me”). With digital distribution, there is no scarcity. Due to the nature of the medium, just because I have one, doesn’t mean you can’t. We can both have it at the same time because it exists in 1′s and 0′s not covers and pages.

I know this idea goes contrary to their business model, but one has to think that if a company continues to build business models on outdated ideas and concepts, they’re backing themselves into a corner already.

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