"George Nelson was an outstanding designer. We all know that. But my hunch is that, in a hundred years, he'll be even better remembered for his thinking and writing about design." ; Stanley Abercrombie, architect and writer.

George Nelson is one of the most important designers and thinkers of the 20th century, and equally a gifted writer. This year we have republished his influential classic book, How to See, which originally came out in 1977. The book has been updated in color, with a new graphic layout by Chris Pullman, who managed Nelson's graphic design office in the '70s and is currently Vice President of Design at WGBH. How to See is a collection of over 50 chapter-long essays, illustrated with hundreds of startling photographs, mostly from Nelson's personal archives, and a preface by DWR founder Rob Forbes, who was project director for this re-edition.

The chapters cover topics as diverse as Letterforms, Spirals, Erosion of Pedestrian Space, Bread, Patterns and Pismo Beach. In each chapter Nelson discusses a way to understand and interpret the visual information presented through the photographic illustrations-the book is appropriately subtitled "A Guide to Reading our Man Made Environment." The text, as well as the photographs, are insightful, inspiring, provocative and entertaining and will be appreciated by students and design buffs alike. We consider it to be perhaps the best $30 investment one could make towards a design education.

How to See is a limited edition, available exclusively at Design Within Reach.