In the past few days, I immersed myself into the life of Miles Davis through the pen of John Szwed. I read from 10 pm (when the kids went to bed) until 1:30 in the morning, went to sleep with Miles in my head, and then got up at 5 am to read some more. Even though I have read a numerous books on Miles including his autobiography, I find Szwed’s So What enlightening. Most of Miles stories have been told before, but Szwed made some corrections through his extensive research and interviews of Miles’s family members. Once again, I lost count of how many women Miles had slept and slapped, but the way that he treated Frances Taylor, in particular, as told in this book is quite appalling.

Although Szwed claims in the introduction that this book is not a musical study, he had done anexcellent job of briefly discussing Miles’s albums from Birth of the Cool to Doo-Bop. If you want more in-depth studies of Miles’s music, however, make sure to pick up Richard Cook’s It’s About That Time: Miles Davis On and Off Record after finish reading this book.

“Out went symmetry, ornament and drawn illustration; in came white space, plain letterforms and photographs,” Richard Hollis writes in his insightful book that examines the progression of Swiss style dating from 1920s. Many theories (honest representation) and principles (grid systems) are still applicable to today’s design. With extensive documentation and visual presentation, I had to read it twice in a row to soak in all the information.

Alex W. White’s Thinking in Type is a concise, informative book on the practice of typography. Unfortunately, the design of the book itself is quite distracting with crammed examples. What’s the deal with square-triangle bullets throughout the book? White ought to focus on the content of the book and let someone else handle the design.

A brief, smart introduction to graphic design from the one and only Chip Kidd. The book is beautiful, filled with great examples and set in large Century Schoolbook. Go is a perfect gift to kids from 10 and above. Even if they are not interested in becoming a graphic designer, “it doesn’t hurt to know what its components are and how they work.”

In his exceptional biography of Louis Armstrong, Terry Teachout pointed out that jazz was in everything that Pops recorded. Even his poppiest hits including “Hello, Dolly!” and “What a Wonderful World,” Pops incorporated jazz elements into them. Pops is an engaging read as Teachout unfolds of the controversy of Armstrong’s “old-fashioned way of mixing high art with low comedy” and the dark side behind his happy face.

Teachout’s Duke is an engaging biography of an accomplished composer, renowned bandleader and skillful pianist who loved music, food and women. (Duke referred to himself as a “pussy freak.”) As an admirer of his work, particularly the Ellington effects, I find his composing process, which based on what he heard from his musicians, to be inspiring, but his way of treating women and his collaborators, especially how he took credits from the talented Billy Strayhorn, to be appalling. Then again, it is reassuring to know that even a great genius is deeply flawed just like the rest of us.

On an unrelated note on book design. Setting italic on long block quotes is quite distracting and hard to read.

Reading this book (as recommended from my professor in a course on professional design practices) depresses me. According to the pricing in this handbook, I need to triple my rate for my web design and development services. I do recognize that my rate is a bit cheaper than the industry standard. I take on freelance projects for the passion of web design more than to make money. As a result, I never make it on my own as a freelance designer. Have this book on hand if you want to make a living as a freelancer.

This is a required reading for my graduate course on professional design practices. Shaughnessy has great advices on making a living as a designer ranging from finding a job, running a studio, seeking new work to talking to clients. For example, here’s his rule when meeting clients:

I never talk about myself until they ask me to. Instead, I let them talk, I ask them questions about their business, and I allow them to have a center stage. Then, a little bit of magic occurs; they (usually) turn to me and say—OK, tell me about you.

His advice on interview is worth-noting too:

It is only by meeting people in both environments that we gain sufficient insight to allow us to decide which is best for us. In fact, here’s another little nostrum to add to the list that we’re accumulating: there’s no such thing as a bad interview. Even bad ones are good; I learned a lot about design and life from being interviewed by people.

I wrote a post on “The Art of Interview” two years ago; therefore, I concur with Shaughnessy that you can learn a great deal from being interviewed.

I recommend How to Be a Graphic Designer without Losing Your Soul to new designers, especially recent graduates, even though I find the book a bit dull. For one, I am no longer new to the game and I have heard of every tips in the book. For two, the book is set in Berthold Akzidenz Grotesk, which makes the reading experience incredibly bland, and the changes in layout interrupt the flow.

Rather than writing an exhaustive biography on The Amazing Bud Powell, Guthrie P. Ramsey, Jr. focuses on the development of bebop and Powell’s important contributions to the movement. Ramsey touches Powell’s troublesome life, but delves more into his musical genius. His exploration of Powell’s compositions is an engaging read for fans who are interested in the technicality of bebop.

Hendel’s book on book design is insightful and compelling. He speaks to leading designers in the industry about their process, philosophy and typography. The type choices that they made fascinate me. The designers have done their job if readers could get through the entire book without noticing anything about the texts they set. Hendel also managed to get Kent Lew to share his design of Whitman. Even though I probably will never design a book, I still find this book useful for someone whose interest is in designing a pleasure reading experience.