"How the rise of aesthetic value is remaking commerce, culture, and consciousness"
A good primer about why style matters and what we need to be aware of in designing our goods and services. The "look and feel" of people, places and things is more important than we think. Drawing from diverse fields, Postrel tells a compelling tale about why style is equal, if not at times more important than substance or function.
What struck me was a quote from Karim Rashid, who argues that the material is what lasts:
What really endures are artifacts, effigeis, things that speak about a time, place or civilazation. When people say to me that everything seems trivial or meaningless, I belive the opposite. Objects outlive us, and they are the symbols or our culture and history.
"...a celebration of pleasure" (Kurt Andersen)
