Book lust.  

When I started
to assemble the quality MidCentury Modern furnishings I wanted when I moved from a small, cramped house to a bigger one, I figured it was essential to learn more, so I bought:
Knoll Furniture
Herman Miller Office
Fifties Furniture
Classic Herman Miller
-----all from Schiller Books
* Sourcebook of Modern Furniture (Norton books)
* Modern Retro (Ryland Peters & Small books)
* Italian Lighting Design 1945-2000 (Electa Architecture books)
* Alvar & Aino Aalto, Design (by Hate Cantz)
* Mid-Century Modern (by Bradley Quinn)
* Mid-Century Modern (by Cara Greenberg)
* 1000 Lights (volumes 1 and 2) (Taslen Books)
* Landmarks of Twentieth-Century Design (by Kathryn B. Hiesinger and George H. Marcus)
All of these were very helpful in teaching me what was what.

Anchovy Pizza....
with black olives and onions...YUM!

.
Heathcote :perhaps a bit "better"...quirky...I have never seen many of the houses and interiors.Bony:Im sure you have seen many of the interiors and most of the furniture.Both quality visuals.Heathcote: much of it does not "read"as 70s...

Thank you ..
guys, for the tips. Sorry for not checking in sooner (have been rather busy missing deadlines instead).
Azure, that's what I wanted to know, great ! :o) Thank you for the review, it's really quite helpful to me. So Bony seems the safe option for now, Heathcote I will check out first thing when I have the opportunity.
Barry, the list is much appreciated, however most of the Asteriks items I already own, or have decided I wasn't going for. And although I do not need a new book... I really want one ! (preferably one focussing on interiors, not those endless lists of lamp/ chair classics. Sorry, not that those books aren't great, but currently I am more interested in any documentation/ insights on how those classics are/ were combined/ in which looks/ in which decades..)
But I managed to forget all about the Knoll and Herman Miller books, so this is a pretty golden suggestion to me, thank you for bringing it to mind.
Ok, bookshopping will on the menu this weekend :o) Cheers guys

60-70
I've got the "les décorateurs des années 60-70", Norma Editions ISBN 978-2-9155-4206-6
It gives you a good idea of the great variety in styles from that period.
I do not know where you live in Belgium, but a trip to Ghent or Antwerp (Copyright) or Brussels (that artbookstore in the Galerie de le Reine) cannot be that far 😉

Ah, that sounds
great Erik ! Yep, I have recently been to Ghent and Antwerp both, but I always manage to get sidetracked once I get there. My only complaint with both cities is that there is too much too see. it ends up always being 6 pm before I even get near the bookstore..

Eeeew, black olives, onions,...
Eeeew, black olives, onions, anchovies! As far as new design books go, at the local Barnes and Noble at least, I tend to favor the residential architectural titles, 10 x 10, etc.
Also, the Case Study books have been out now a few years in a couple different formats, I think, and so maybe are getting more affordable. The Atomic Ranch book from a couple years ago seems pretty popular.
The book I have currently on order that I am most looking forward to is 'The Portable February,' a book of cartoons by David Berman, frontman of the now defunct band The Silver Jews, author of Actual Air.
Though not design, it's David Berman, and I don't think you can go too wrong from there.
*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVwamE7t_YQ

Well to each his own..
but my all time fav pizza is my husband's homemade Pizza Marguerite with either prosciutto or shrimp added. YUM!
My two fav design books are kinda off the beaten path from the ones mentioned. One is Vincente Wolf's 'Learning to See', the other, George Nelson's 'How to See'. Both spend a lot of time talking about composition, balance and harmony and that's the stuff that means the most to me in design. I also have a lot of color books including the original Josef Albers 'Interaction of Color'. That book is a masterpiece!
But one of my absolute favorite books for both reading and looking at is not really a design book at all. It's called 'Meetings with Remarkable Trees' by Thomas Pakenham. It's one of the most soul enriching books I have ever read. Nature is wonderous and the history of the trees in this book give such a sense of connection to both time and place. It's marvelous! I pull it out on dreary days when I want to feel good about the world.
http://www.amazon.com/Meetings-Remarkable-Trees-Thomas-Pakenham/dp/03757...

Since you raise the issue of trees...
"The oldest (non-clonal, acknowledged) living organism known is a bristlecone pine tree nicknamed "Methuselah" (after Methuselah, the longest-lived person in the Bible). Methuselah is located in the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest in the White Mountains of eastern California, however its precise location is undisclosed by the U.S. Forest Service to protect the tree from vandalism.[1] The age of Methuselah was measured by core samples in 1957 to be 4,789 years old."--Wikipedia
There are clonal trees up to 10k years old. I have not seen them. I have visited the Bristlecones and these are trees you can talk to, trees that humble you, because of their craggy defiance of the elements and predators they have endured and survived.
But my favorite tree is the Morton Bay Fig Tree in Santa Barbara, where so many fond moments of my life were shaded.
Genus: Ficus
Species: macrophylla
Common name: Fig, Moreton Bay
This tree, found in Santa Barbara, was nominated by C. S. Palmer in 1997. It measures 76 feet high, with a trunk circumference of 507 inches and a crown spread of 171 feet for a total of 626 points.

I love trees...
they definitely do, as you say, humble me.

Back to books.
Practical Encyclopedia of Good Decorating and Home Improvement, c. 1971.
18 volumes, 4000 photos (samples below).
There are usually a few sets for sale on Ebay; to search, click the link below the photos.
http://desc.shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=%2218+volume%22+eames&LH_TitleDesc=1

Although this would normally...
Although this would normally be out of my price range, I managed to get a new set of the second half, years 1950-1954, at a good price.
It should provide some good reading for the summer months.
http://www.taschen.com/pages/en/catalogue/architecture/all/03888/facts.a...

Drooling.. Fastfwd, these ar...
Drooling.. Fastfwd, these are stunning !! Absolutely wonderful pictures ! OK, that's it, if I can find them here, I am definitely buying them straight away (shipping all these kilos over the Atlantic is a bit of a downer).
Congratulations podboy, that's one great catch. However, as you say the pricing is rather steep. You've must have had good Hunting Spirits at your side. (Are there secret dances & sacrifices to please them ? Do spill the beans, please !) Perhaps if one takes the US Army squirrel for bargaining power ?
Hudson, yep, as a matter of fact one of our local bookstores now carries a large format/ slim volume of Taschen Case Study Houses book for, I believe 10 or 15 Euro. So it's not expensive at all. I've had it in my hands twice now - and diligently put it back again, as I currently have a bad case of Bookcase Overflow (think books in cardboard boxes on floor). I will try to limit the purchase to an interiors book & show self discipline. (At least, that's the intention so far.)

Don't drool too much.....
I too own the complete set and the pictures shown are about the extent of cool modern pictures on this massive set of books.
There's some interesting explanation of some terms, but the majority of the set is not to die for.