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Hello All I'm greatful to Ken Freedman for bringing this list to my attention. I have just read through the archive of contributions following Richard Buchanan's question about the'Canon' which I much enjoyed and to which I would like to add a acouple of thoughts. First, to declare my interest. My design field is information design and my primary interest these days is in the philosophy of design. I must also tell you that my capacity to take part in sustained contributions to lists is limited because of the nature of my other commitments. However, I do try. I think that Richard's original question is an excellent one and many of the suggested answers and critiques are useful in helping us all think through these issues. But I think Richard's questions is most valuable in drawing our attention to a set of question which are logically prior: ie what are the principles and criteria we use to select texts which are important to us and possibly to future students in our field? Attempting to answer these logically prior questions will tell us something about the ideas that inform our thinking as designers. In drawing attention to these logically prior questions I am not suggesting that we must resolve these questions before deciding on which texts to choose. Rather, I am suggesting that by making choices and arguing about them we will come to a better understanding of the implicit and unarticulated ideas that inform our thinking and which we hope will guide PhD students in the future. David -- Professor David Sless Director Communication Research Institute of Australia ** helping people communicate with people ** PO Box 398 Hawker ACT 2614 Australia Mobile: 0412 356 795 phone: +61 (0)262 598 671 fax: +61 (0)262 598 672 web: http://www.communication.org.au %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%