Ryan takes the reader through Grcic's career, placing him in a wider industrial design context while still paying close attention to his individual works. At 64 pages this feels like just the right kind of primer: Loads of photos of Grcic's work, as well as that of his contemporaries, collaborators and forebears, and a winning mix of history and historicization make this an eminently readable guide to the career of one of industrial design's bright lights.

And at a meager $16.95 you're not faced with a hefty exhibition catalog pricetag or tome. The fifth in the A+D Series, this book was published jointly by Yale University Press and the Art Institute of Chicago. Kudos to Ryan for a thoughful book that's bound to please Grcic rookies and wizened design-heads alike.