I am lucky enough to be included among an esteemed list of book lovers who are asked to list the books that had the biggest influence on them. My list of 18 books ranges from the obscure (Venezia Minore) to the most famous (Bauhaus) and from the sublime (A History of Garden Art) to the seemingly absurd (Pig 05049). But every one of them is a personal gem, and each changed my life in some important way. I would not be who I am without them.

Steve Kroeter, who has done everything from managing the Paris Review to consulting with Fallingwater, created this beautiful paean to the humble book, and describes the site's misson this way:

Designers & Books is devoted to publishing lists of books that members of the design community identify as personally important, meaningful, and formative—books that have shaped their values, their worldview, and their ideas about design.

From Vitruvius to William Morris to Frank Lloyd Wright to Edith Wharton to Le Corbusier to Paul Rand—there has always been a particularly special and robust relationship between designers and books: reading them, writing them, designing them, collecting them, learning from them, and being inspired by them. Designers & Books celebrate that relationship.

Their mission is to foster conversations that will challenge students, stimulate emerging designers, energize established designers, and be of value and interest to all members of the design community (and perhaps beyond, too, given the increased level of attention now being devoted to design).

In their latest interview, Michael Bierut visits James Biber’s “Book Cube” and talks with Biber about the books that have interested him and inspired him—from those that helped Biber decide to become an architect to the guidebooks he takes with him when visiting Rome.

View interview: In the Cube: James Biber Interviewed by Michael Bierut