In The Language of Things Deyan Sudjic, Director of the Design Museum, decodes the things around us: their hidden meanings, our relationship with them, how they shape our lives and why we desire them.

Design is everywhere. It seduces, pleases and inspires us. It makes us part with our money. It defines who we think we are. An iPhone, an anglepoise lamp, a Picasso, a banknote, an Armani suit, a William Morris textile, a Lucky Strike packet, a spacecraft - every object tells a story. And understanding their stories offers us a whole new way of seeing the world.

''Articulate and wonderfully knowledgeable ... for anyone who takes an interest in the world around us''   Time Out

''A nightmare vision of a world drowning in objects ... witty, well observed and wide-ranging''   Guardian

''An elegant, witty and free-ranging survey, from Thomas Chippendale''s ponderous 18th-century manor-house furnishings to Jonathan Ive''s sprightly Macintosh iBooks''  Daily Telegraph

''Lively ... engaging''   Evening Standard

''Readable, sharp and worthwhile''   Financial Times

Director of the Design Museum, Deyan Sudjic was born in London of Yugoslav parents. He is a former architecture critic for the Observer, and a visiting professor at the Royal College of Art. Sudjic was Director of the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2002 and is author of The Edifice Complex, the much-praised 100-Miles City, the best-selling Architecture Pack, The Language of Things and monographs on John Pawson, Ron Arad and Richard Rogers.