Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan is probably only one of two books that define and encompass the entire genre of the graphic designer as protagonist novel. Penumbra's shadowy bookstore is all about the past, with its crafted typography, earthy, leather-embossed covers and punchcutting. Sloan illuminates the speed-of-light transformations and collisions of old-meets-new in our digital world, while poking fun at modern sensibilities.

Letterforms Bawdy Bad & Beautiful: The Evolution of Hand-Drawn, Humorous, Vernacular, and Experimental Type by by Steven Heller and Christine Thompson... tons of evocative, expressive examples of words and letters that help to explain how an ever-swinging pendulum defines good design.