In The Language of Things Deyan Sudjic, Director of the Design Museum, decodes the things around us: their hidden meanings, our relationship with them, how they shape our lives and why we desire them. Design is everywhere. It seduces, pleases and inspires us. It makes us part with our money. It defines who we think we are. An iPhone, an anglepoise lamp, a Picasso, a banknote, an Armani suit, a William Morris textile, a Lucky Strike packet, a spacecraft - every object tells a story. And understanding their stories offers us a whole new way of seeing the world. 'Articulate and wonderfully...

What makes the rich and powerful want to leave their mark on the world? This timely book explores the intimate relationship between buildings, power, money and politics.

The companion of Phaidon's popular "The Endless City," " Living in the Endless City" will add the cities of Mumbai, Sao Paulo and Istanbul to the six cities of the first volume with the same mix of compelling photographs, in-depth and beautifully presented data, and smart writing by global thinkers. Each city is explored in a series of essays that address vital themes, from security to climate change, looking closely at the problems that face contemporary cities and examining a variety of solutions. Like the first book, the new one includes the best writing and information from the Urban Age...

This an essential tool kit for understanding the world around us. It's about our obsession with collecting, the quest for authenticity and the creation of national identities. It's about Hitchcock's film sets and why we value imperfection. It's about fashion and technology, about politics and art. "A memoir and a master class in musing on modern design...It's a collection of thoughtful, absorbing essays about many aspects of modern design, a subject nobody writes better about than Sudjic." (Evening Standard).

The director of the Design Museum defines the greatest artefact of all time: the cityWe live in a world that is now predominantly urban. So how do we define the city as it evolves in the twenty-first century? Drawing examples from across the globe, Deyan Sudjic decodes the underlying forces that shape our cities, such as resources and land, to the ideas that shape conscious elements of design, whether of buildings or of space. Erudite and entertaining, he considers the differences between capital cities and the rest to understand why it is that we often feel more comfortable in our identities...