Out of Print Clothing is a t-shirt company which celebrates the designs of classic—often out of date—book covers. It’s surprising how well some of them work. Plus, for every shirt purchased, Out of Print donates a book to a community in need with Books For Africa.

J.D.

mrgan:

On the day of his passing, remember J.D. Salinger by reading him. While Catcher in The Rye is really all that, may I suggest you pick up Nine Stories, one of the finest story collections ever? Read, shudder, laugh, think.

Catcher in The Rye is a great study in American literature, but I agree, Nine Stories, Franny & Zooey, and even Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters, are the best books I’ve ever read. RIP J.D.

Apple has introduced iBooks (I feel like I’ve heard that name before…). The home interface for iBooks is very comparable to the Classics app. The reading interface looks very pleasant, using a two-page layout when in landscape mode and one-page when in portrait. Books will be purchasable through an online store, and use the ePub standard for e-books (whereas the Amazon Kindle use a proprietary format).

The Book Cover Archive posts on the Top Ten Covers of the ’00s.

The Uncollected Stories of JD Salinger »

Salinger’s Nine Stories is my favorite collection of short stories to date, so this is like discovering a bit of gold. These twenty-two stories, published in various publications from 1940–1965, look like a fantastic addition to the collection.

The Awesome Book Giveaway

A lot of my friends, colleagues, and flat-out heros have released some excellent books recently. I’ve mentioned a few of them, but I think it would be fun to run a giveaway and help spread some of this fine knowledge around the community. Here are the books I am giving away:

Building iPhone Apps with HTML, CSS, and Javascript, Jonathan Stark
An excellent introduction to creating web applications on the iPhone. I’ve watched this book grow over the past few months and I can say with confidence that it’s ready to become a definitive reference for creating iPhone web apps. In addition to covering the basics, the book also includes a full chapter on jQTouch, my jQuery plugin for iPhone development.
Designing With Web Standards, Jeffrey Zeldman
For anyone getting into web development, Zeldman’s DWWS continues to serve as the ultimate introduction to web standards and best practices. I’ve trained a fair amount of budding designers, and this book is always first on my “required reading” list. Now in it’s third edition, the book continues to stay fresh and relevant.
Mobile Design and Development, Brian Fling
Brian’s a good friend of mine and colleague at pinch/zoom. His presentations on mobile design are beautiful, informative, and comprehensive. This book promises to be a wealth of insight into mobile design practices and industry trends.
Crush It, Gary Vaynerchuk
For anyone who hasn’t had the benefit of seeing Gary speak live, he is the creator of Wine Library TV and one of the most inspirational speakers on social media around. Crush It is not just about doing what you love and making great money while doing it, but shows just how accessible success is in today’s web culture.
Rework, 37Signals
Readers of this blog will note: 37Signals is one of my favorite companies around—it is an overwhelming business success built on principles like communicating clearly and charging for value. Their previous book, Getting Real, remains the authoritative guide on building web apps. This one, set to release early next year, will speak purely to business management—and will doubtlessly be full of exceptional advice.

To participate, just leave a reply below with the number corresponding to the book you want most, a quick note about what type of content you’d like to see more of on this blog, and your Twitter username. I’ll select winners randomly at the end of the week. Also, make sure you’re following me on Twitter so I can DM the details to the winners.

So, which book would you like?

Designing With Web Standards, by Jeffrey Zeldman, is one of those books that every web designer worth their salt has in their library. The third edition, which is almost complete, looks like a great improvement over the first two classics. Co-authored by Ethan Marcotte, the third edition will cover a bevy of new topics like HTML5, web fonts, and CSS3 — all with an added emphasis on “how” in addition to “why”.

Save 37% by pre-ordering the book on Amazon, or learn more about it through the mini-site or this blog post.

The back cover of Rework, 37signals soon-to-be-released book on business. I intensely admire 37signals company — they continuously demonstrate the power of small and simple in everything they do.