Scandinavian ​Design

Stieg Larsson - The ​Girl Who Played with Fire
The ​electrifying follow-up to the phenomenal best seller The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and this time it is Lisbeth Salander, the troubled, wise-beyond-her-years genius hacker, who is the focus and fierce heart of the story. Mikael Blomkvist - crusading journalist and publisher of the magazine Millennium - has decided to publish a story exposing an extensive sex trafficking operation between Eastern Europe and Sweden, implicating well-known and highly placed members of Swedish society, business, and government. On the eve of publication, the two reporters responsible for the story are brutally murdered. But perhaps more shocking for Blomkvist: the fingerprints found on the murder weapon belong to Lisbeth Salander. Now, as Blomkvist - alone in his belief in her innocence - plunges into his own investigation of the slayings, Salander is drawn into a murderous hunt in which she is the prey, and which compels her to revisit her dark past in an effort to settle with it once and for all.

Stieg Larsson - The ​Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Once ​you start The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, there's no turning back. This debut thriller--the first in a trilogy from the late Stieg Larsson--is a serious page-turner rivaling the best of Charlie Huston and Michael Connelly. Mikael Blomkvist, a once-respected financial journalist, watches his professional life rapidly crumble around him. Prospects appear bleak until an unexpected (and unsettling) offer to resurrect his name is extended by an old-school titan of Swedish industry. The catch--and there's always a catch--is that Blomkvist must first spend a year researching a mysterious disappearance that has remained unsolved for nearly four decades. With few other options, he accepts and enlists the help of investigator Lisbeth Salander, a misunderstood genius with a cache of authority issues. Little is as it seems in Larsson's novel, but there is at least one constant: you really don't want to mess with the girl with the dragon tattoo.

Joanne Harris - Runelight
Two ​girls. With new runes. And the End of the World is coming. Again. Six hundred miles apart, two girls each bear on their skin a runemark: a symbol of the Old Days when the known Worlds were ruled by the gods from their sky citadel, Asgard. Now Asgard lies in ruins, and the power of the gods has long since been destroyed. Or so everyone thinks. But nothing is lost for ever, and the gods haven't given up yet (nor stopped squabbling!) and they want the power of the runes borne by Maddy and Maggie - these new runes, which carry huge potential, their runelight shining out as a portent to the future. Soon both girls are swept into a maelstrom of cataclysmic events that are to draw them closer and closer to each other, and nearer and nearer to a horrific struggle where each must prove where their loyalty lies . . . Filled with inventive and humorous detail, trickery and treachery, carnage and lunacy, Runelight is the second title - following Runemarks - in a series of gloriously imaginative and dramatic tales about the Norse gods.

Snorri Sturluson - The ​Prose Edda
Written ​in Iceland a century after the close of the Viking Age, The Prose Edda is the source of most of what we know of Norse mythology. Its tales are peopled by giants, dwarves, and elves, superhuman heroes and indomitable warrior queens. Its gods live with the tragic knowledge of their own impending destruction in the cataclysmic battle of Ragnarok. Its time scale spans the eons from the world’s creation to its violent end. This robust new translation captures the magisterial sweep and startling psychological complexity of the Old Icelandic original.

Henning Mankell - The ​Dogs of Riga
Second ​in the Kurt Wallander series. On the Swedish coastline, two bodies, victims of grisly torture and cold execution, are discovered in a life raft. With no witnesses, no motives, and no crime scene, Detective Kurt Wallander is frustrated and uncertain he has the ability to solve a case as mysterious as it is heinous. But after the victims are traced to the Baltic state of Latvia, a country gripped by the upheaval of Soviet disintegration, Major Liepa of the Riga police takes over the investigation. Thinking his work done, Wallander slips into routine once more, until suddenly, he is called to Riga and plunged into an alien world where shadows are everywhere, everything is watched, and old regimes will do anything to stay alive.

Henning Mankell - The ​White Lioness
Inspector ​Wallander investigates the execution of a Swedish housewife, which uncovers a plot to assassinate Nelson Mandela and leads him into a tangle with the South African secret service.

Henning Mankell - Firewall
A ​body is found at an ATM the apparent victim of heart attack. Then two teenage girls are arrested for the brutal murder of a cab driver. The girls confess to the crime showing no remorse whatsoever. Two open and shut cases. At first these two incidents seem to have nothing in common, but as Wallander delves deeper into the mystery of why the girls murdered the cab driver he begins to unravel a plot much more involved complicated than he initially suspected. The two cases become one and lead to conspiracy that stretches to encompass a world larger than the borders of Sweden.

Henning Mankell - The ​Fifth Woman
Inspector ​Kurt Wallander is home from an idyllic holiday in Rome, full of energy and plans for the future. Autumn settles over the province of Skane, and Wallander prays the winter will be peaceful. But when he investigates the disappearance of an elderly bird-watcher he discovers a gruesome and meticulously planned murder - a body impaled in a trap of sharpened bamboo poles. Then another man is reported missing. And once again, Wallander's life is on hold as he and his close knit team work tirelessly to find a link between the series of viscous murders. Making progress not through revelation but through dogged police work, and forever battling to make sense of the violence of modern Sweden, Wallander will lead a massive investigation to find a killer whose crimes are the product of the new realities that make him despair.

Treena Crochet - Designer's ​Guide to Furniture Styles
Winner ​of the ASID Educational Foundation Joel Polsky Prize, 1999 The American Society of Interior Designers This book profiles the history of the development of various furniture styles, exploring the evolution of style in the context of the architectural setting, interior design, and decorative arts of each period. It presents a complete timeline—correlating political and cultural events to the development of furniture, architecture, and artistic movements—and considers the social, political, and economic factors that influence design trends and individual taste.

Susan J. Slotkis - Foundations ​of Interior Design
Foundations ​of Interior Design, 2nd Edition is a comprehensive introduction to the creative, technical, and business knowledge required by the interior design profession. The book encompasses color theory, design history, architectural elements, finishing touches, trend forecasting and the basics of running a business, and includes an integrated CD-ROM designed to help students apply what they learn in a hands-on fashion. This thoroughly updated 2nd edition, which addresses contemporary concerns such as sustainability, universal design and adaptive reuse, is richly illustrated with images that reflect current trends in products and interiors. The book is rooted in a practical approach to creating safe, comfortable and aesthetically pleasing spaces for residential and contract clients.

Judith Miller - Arts ​and Crafts
Whether ​you are looking for affordable collectables or classic antiques, this glorious guide from bestselling author Judith Miller will show you all you need to know to be an expert. Showcases over 1,000 items each individually valued, showcasing rugs, enamelled jewellery and stained glass plus coverage on all the major designers, factories and guilds. Combining historical info, price guides and useful tips, you can't afford to buy or sell without it.

Nick Georgano - Art ​of the American Automobile
The ​American automobile has always been more than a means of transportation. The inspired fusion of form and function has meant that for more than a century now men and women have been driving about their daily business in machines which can only be described as works of art on wheels. This is the story of how the great cars, such as Hudson, Packard, Duesenberg, Cord, Pontiac, Lincoln, Ford and Chrysler were created, and the men whose artistry shaped them. The lines of their bodies, the shapes of their fenders, hoods and trunks, the jewel-like array of colors, their emblems and their trims - every detail was the product of the creative teamwork in the hot-house atmosphere of the studios, where imagination was as important as engineering. Nick Georgano traces the history of the great designers, including Harley Earl, Bill Mitchell, John Tjaarda, Raymond Loewy, Gordon Buehrig and Bob Gregoire, and their automobiles from the beginning of the century to the present day. The book includes interviews with major figures and behind-the-scenes stories from their studios. The cars are captured in more than 250 spectacular color photographs by Nicky Wright, taken specially for this book. These are accompanied by many original designs and drawings.

Chris Buckley - Tibetan ​Furniture
This ​is a unique time in the history of Tibetan furniture, and this is the only comprehensive book on the subject. Tibetans value their painted furniture highly, but their reverence antiquities for their own sake is not particularly strong. The result is that antique Tibetan furniture is more highly valued outside of Tibet than it is within, and it is becoming increasing popular among Western collectors. Contacts with peoples all over Asia can be traced in the designs found on Tibetan furniture, recording a rich history of cultural and trading exchange. In recent centuries the dominant artistic and cultural force has been China and the influence of Chinese decorative arts is a constant theme running through Tibetan painted decoration from the 16th century onwards. Despite this influence Tibetan artisans rarely copied designs precisely; rather they adapted and modified the motifs and the decorative styles they saw to suit their own ends and to reflect their Tantric Buddhist outlook, so that Tibetan furniture cannot be mistaken or confused with work from other cultures. The first several chapters of this book explain the forms and uses of Tibetan furniture, the construction and decoration of the main types, and the history of many designs. Examples illustrate the range of types of furniture in Tibet and the range of decoration, both painted and carved. The last, largest chapter presents examples with descriptions that expand on themes developed earlier. In most cases aesthetic considerations have been the primary criterion for inclusion, but the book is more than a catalogue of attractive pieces. Attentive readers will learn to: identify the main types of Tibetan furniture; appreciate their origin and their uses; identify and understand the most common designs; judge the quality of pieces; and derive increased pleasure from Tibetan furniture they have bought.

Ina Saltz - Typography ​Essentials
A ​deep understanding of letterforms and knowledge of their effective use can only be obtained with constant observation and experimentation; it evolves over a lifetime of design practice and study. This comprehensive guide is intended to advance the progress of designers seeking to deepen their typographic expertise. Typography Essentials is a practical, hands-on resource to distill, organize, and compartmentalize—but not to oversimplify—the many complex issues surrounding the effective use of typography. It is for designers of every medium in which type plays a major role, and is organized and designed to make the process enjoyable and entertaining, as well as instructional. This book is divided into four easy-to-use sections: The Letter, The Word, The Paragraph, and The Page. Each of the 100 principles has an explanation and examples representing the principle in action.

Jo Nesbø - Police ​(angol)
When ​a police officer is found murdered at the scene of an old unsolved murder case that he was involved in investigating, it can hardly be a coincidence. When the same thing happens to two other officers in a matter of months the pattern is as clear as it is terrifying. None of the old cases were ever solved. The killings are extremely brutal and the police have no leads. What’s more, they’re missing their best investigator. At the same time, a severely wounded man is in a coma and kept alive at a hospital in Oslo. The police guard the room and the identity of the patient is kept secret. Once again Jo Nesbø delivers a devilishly clever story about the scope of human evil; a cat-and-mouse game that involves not only the victims and the police, but also the reader.

Ismeretlen szerző - Web ​Design: Portfolios
We’re ​been trawling the web looking for the most interesting and well-designed portfolios—of designers, photographers, artists, illustrators, and motion graphic pros—to profile the creators working behind the scenes. The focus is not so much the work presented, but the way the portfolios are designed. Presentation, elegance, and style are key, and the individuals and studios featured in this guide represent the best the web has to offer. Entries include screenshots, designers’ contacts, tools and content used (HTML, Flash, XML, music, video, etc.), awards received, and cost in hours per website for creation and maintenance. With designers hailing from 33 countries, from the United States to Croatia to Japan, this selection of portfolios demonstrates how today’s best designers are pushing the limits and experimenting with innovative ways of navigation outside of corporate contexts.

Dik Browne - Hägar ​the Horrible – The Epic Chronicles 3.
The ​continuing quest of Hagar the Horrible, the world's mildest marauder, to put food on the family table and loot in his coffers. Aided by his crew of odd-balls, misfits and miscreants, his sidekick Lucky Eddie and his long suffering wife Helga, Hagar is the most famous Viking in history. Read for yourself and find out what made Hagar the fastest syndicated newspaper strip of all time. With a foreword by writer/artist Walter Simonson (Fantastic Four, Manhunter), famous for the comic book adventures of that other Scandinavian superstar, The Mighty Thor.

Rosalind Ormiston - Michael Robinson - Art ​Deco
While ​the main focus for this intriguing book is centred on graphic art and illustration, numerous examples of other forms of Art Deco are also featured. Nestled amongst the posters and paintings, sculpture, objects d'art and jewellery assert their similarity, whether through line, form or theme. These echoes serve to show the creativity fertility of the period as styles and ideas traversed artistic media.

Anne Bony - Furniture ​& Interiors of the 1960s
Think ​plastic. Think inflatable PVC chairs and TV tables. It must be the 1960s, when radical furniture designs "popped" next to new art, traditional designs were recast with new materials, and the results were often mixed in one room. One of the boldest decades of design in the twentieth century, this a decade of contradictions in styles that only Anne Bony could capture all in one book. Furniture and Interiors of the 1960s pays homage to the vibrancy and buoyant energy of the decade's design trends and influences in 300 key designs that attract enormous interest and command unprecedented prices today. For the first time, America was leading a design revolution with Wendell Castle's Molar and Castle chairs, Estelle Lavergne's lucite furniture and the experiments of Ray and Charles Eames. Warren Planter, Hans Knoll, Harry Bertoia, Alexander Girard, and Robert Propst were world-ranked designers who pioneered new directions in furnishings and accessories that appeared in trendy homes and offices in Europe and Asia. This book is a new and well-timed resource for any 1960s enthusiast who seeks to recreate this innovative, and once again extremely cool look in their own retro home.

Anne Bony - Furniture ​& Interiors of the 1970s
The ​design of the 1970s was distinguished by a strong confluence of creativity and functionalism in furnishing and decor. We already recognize many '70s furniture designs as icons of mid-century modernism-and the proof is the prices they command at fine furniture auctions today.Bony examines the works of international designers whose creations exemplify this period, from the ergonomically-focused designers working in America to the pure design movement in Scandinavia and design innovators in Italy led by Archizoom, Alchymia, and Gaetano Pesce. This indispensable reference book chronicles the period's interior design trends with over 200 photographs focusing on artistic and decorative innovations that created the first intelligent and informed design conversation between two continents.