A brief and practical introduction to create an effective brand. In addition to social media, branding and marketing strategist Karen Leland explains the important of developing a modern, marketing-oriented website:

In my experience, many business people (especially entrepreneurs and small-business owners) glossy underestimate the impact and importance of their websites. I can tell you with absolute certainty that the quality of your website is critical to your customers, potential customers, and even members of the media.

In other word, setting up your site on SquareSpace or Wix won’t help your brand. Take it from the branding expert and president of Sterling Marketing Group, not to be confused with Sterling Brands as I did.

An early Christmas gift to web designers from the one and only Jeremy Keith, Resilient Web Design takes us back to the beginning of the World Wide Web, shows us what makes the web resilient, and guides us in building a web that would last. As always, Keith’s writing is clear, concise, and thoughtful. His approach to web design sums up in three steps:

1. Identify core functionality.
2. Make that functionality available using the simplest possible technology.
3. Enhance!

In addition to being free, the best part about the book is using the web as a publishing platform. It makes perfect sense for a book written about the web to be read on the web (or offline via Service Worker). Typeset in ET Book, the design of the book website is as beautiful as it is readable. Without a doubt, Resilient Web Design is a required reading for web designers and front-end developers everywhere.

A to Z reveals Vignelli’s approach to design and showcases a wide range of his projects ranging from furniture to clothing to graphic design. Although I disagree with his limitation of using only six typefaces, I wish I could execute Helvetica and Bodoni as well as he could. His works, particularly in graphic design, remain timeless yet modern.

From the invention of paper to the revolution of typesetting to the art of binding, Keith Houston’s The Book explores the fascinating history of bookmaking dating back to more than fifteen hundred years ago. If you are interested in reading about “the most powerful object of our time,” you will find Houston’s thorough research and passionate writing enlightening. If you are interested in book design and typography, you will want to keep this beautifully designed book, which sets in Adobe Jenson Pro Light designed by Robert Slimbach, for reference and inspiration.

As the title suggests, this book is not only painless, but also pleasurable to read. Elliott’s clear explanations and excellent examples make learning the rules of grammar and punctuation approachable. Her advice on “Cleaning Up Messy Writing” is invaluable to read and practice. The latest fourth edition is worth an update for reference.

A breezy and practical guide to grammar and punctuation. Clear examples and practical quizzes make it a useful tool for self-assessment. I could see why an instructor in a business grammar workshop recommended The Blue Book to us.

A brief, compelling guide to improve business communication. From business letters, reports, to emails, Garner helps make your case clear, concise, and engaging through the process of the MACJ:

• The Madman gathers material and generates ideas.
• The Architect organizes information by drawing up an outline, however simple.
• The Carpenter puts your thoughts into words, laying out sentences and paragraphs by following the Architect’s plan.
• The Judge is your quality-control character, polish the expression throughout—everything from tightening language to correcting grammar and punctuation.

This little book, recommended to me by a business-grammar instructor, has just what I need to communicate in my day-to-day job.

Garner’s superb grammar book provides a thorough and comprehensible guide to the parts of speech. He explains each part in granular details and with clear examples. I have learned a great deal on my first read and will return to it again and again for reference.

Here what I wrote about Greg Tate’s first book: “Never mind the ill-designed cover (horrendous use of typography and colors), Flyboy in the Buttermilk: Essays on Contemporary America is packed with Greg Tate’s ingenious criticisms ranging from music (jazz, funk, punk-rock and hip-hop) to book to film.” Typeset in Chaparral Pro, designed by Carol Twombly, Flyboy 2 is a huge improvement. If you’re fan of Tate’s insightful writing and thought-provoking criticism, Flyboy 2, a collection of his influential, critical essays in the past thirty years, is a delightful treat. Many topics he wrote, people he interviewed, and works he analyzed in this book I have never heard of; therefore, I will be re-reading it again and again in the future.

Like many beginner’s book on JavaScript, this one offers clear explanation of the basics including data types, conditional statements, and loops, but doesn’t provide practical exercise on how to use them in actual webpages. The only chapter that does that is on DOM scripting; therefore, I don’t find the book to be useful. If you want to learn the basic concepts and then put them to use with step-by-step instructions, I recommend John Pollock’s JavaScript: A Beginner’s Guide instead.