Just read, non-fiction: Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst (at Amazon.co.uk, with good reviews). Best anything, bar everything, about typography I've every read. Typeface history, classification, fine-grained style-guide, book design, font choice, all with spectacular detail, explanations, in an exceptionally easy to read book (high recommendations also come from a friend who knows far more about this kind of thing than me). I'm now looking at the type around me thinking: hm, rationalist axis, hm, why did they choose that, what does it mean. Seriously, any book which suggests that picking an American typeface for a Mexican book is insensitive, or using a ligature invented only in the last thousand years for an Ancient Greek history is stupid -- any book that talks about that is worth reading.
Just read, non-fiction: Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst (at Amazon.co.uk, with good reviews). Best anything, bar everything, about typography I've every read. Typeface history, classification, fine-grained style-guide, book design, font choice, all with spectacular detail, explanations, in an exceptionally easy to read book (high recommendations also come from a friend who knows far more about this kind of thing than me). I'm now looking at the type around me thinking: hm, rationalist axis, hm, why did they choose that, what does it mean. Seriously, any book which suggests that picking an American typeface for a Mexican book is insensitive, or using a ligature invented only in the last thousand years for an Ancient Greek history is stupid -- any book that talks about that is worth reading.