Over the holiday weekend I read (among other things*) Digital Design: A History by Steven Eskilson. I enjoy reading design books in general – a window into a more glamorous specialism than economics. This one covers a range of aspects, from the design of gadgets (from the IBM Selectric typewriter to Apple’s dominance in this arena) to fonts to web design to data visualisation to architecture. So it’s quite eclectic, and includes using digital tools to design (as in architecture) as well as the design of digital artefacts. But one theme that emerges across all these areas is the lasting influence of Bauhaus (about which I read a terrific book last year,  a biography of Gropius by Fiona McCarthy, a while back). Digital Design also a very handsome book with loads of images. * Robin Ince’s Bibliomaniac and two thirds of The Currency of Politics by Stefan Eich, which I’ll write about another time.