The Art of Things: Product Design Since 1945

This broad-minded survey of international design provides a visually stunning education. Written by contributing expert curators and art historians, the text is divided by nation, focusing mainly on Western countries%E2%80%94Scandinavia and Italy receive the most sustained attention%E2%80%94while also including a chapter on Japan. The writing is foremost informative with the tone of a textbook, but manages to sort through concepts, histories, and techniques with relative ease. When the text gets tedious, the vivid and generous images more than compensate to illuminate this visual history. To flip through these pages is to luxuriate in the incredible diversity of modern design, from objects as familiar as an Eames chair to those as unusual as a table with a giant frog carved upon it. Anyone with even a passing connection to the world of design will likely benefit from this comprehensive resource. (Sept.)