Favorite books on artful, designerly, and literal exploration of space and the universe
This list of books that celebrate the artfulness of space and the universe is a place to share the gems in my library, along with a wish-list of narrative, historical, cultural, and curatorial accounts of our ongoing quest to understand ourselves within the universe.
There is often a mix of design and science, through industrial design and space architecture and through philosophy, psychology, and the lived experience.
I hope you will discover something new, be reminded of an old favorite, or think of someone else who might enjoy exploring these titles.
— Lee Anderson, founder and editor
The Moon: From Inner Worlds to Outer Space
Exhibition catalog from Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark, September 13, 2018 – January 20, 2019
A beautiful artifact, the book adds depth and dimension to our relationship with the moon throughout history. Unique in that we can see it and its texture with the naked eye, and have voyageurs who have been to its surface and returned to tell the tale, the moon still has an allure of mystery and of great opportunity that is beautifully expressed in these pages.
Read more and purchase at Artbook.com
Moving to Mars: Design for the Red Planet
Exhibition catalog from The Design Museum, London, 2019
What I love about this book is that it captures a spectrum of current projects and speculative work for a near-future reality, while still surprising the audience with sci-fi-aligned work that is currently underway. This exploratory moment is exactly when the public should have an opportunity to critically engage, and the exhibit and catalog allow us to do so through a cultural lens.
Read more and purchase at The Design Museum Shop
Universe: Exploring the Astronomical World
This book has provided endless moments of surprise and wonder at how many ways we have found to interpret and communicate the limits of our understanding of the universe over millennia. A reminder of the many languages and ways of communicating that humans have come up with, the incredibly well-curated selection of artworks leaves us with the certainty that, even today, we live at the edge of the unknown.
Preview some of the contents at Phaidon
