The award-winning Bangladeshi photographer and activist Shahidul Alam tells us about the power of images and offers some striking examples of the photographer as artist, witness or activist.

Trees are the backbone of any garden, says award-winning garden designer, Arabella Lennox-Boyd. She recommends some great books to get you thinking about garden design.

One of the world’s leading garden photographers talks us through the many different styles employed in his field

The distinguished art critic and art historian Michael Fried talks about the importance of philosophy to his work. He recommends the best books on the ‘philosophical stakes of art.’

Art historian and TV presenter Dan Cruickshank explains the beauty of Palladian proportions, takes us on a tour of some key English country houses and describes the poetry of Le Corbusier’s Unité d’Habitation in Marseilles. He recommends the best books on ‘architectural history’

Bestselling author Harry Mount thinks that the British sell themselves short when they fail to appreciate their architecture. He also expresses his thanks that Christopher Wren didn’t redesign London on a Parisian/New York grid system following the 1666 fire.

Leading architectural historian, chooses books on art and culture in the Elizabethan era. From CS Lewis on literature, to the fantastic embroideries at Hardwick Hall, to baked rabbit and more.

The architect, writer, lecturer, and director of Kilburn Nightingale Architects says architecture should not be just about buildings, but about everything else in our environment

Award-winning novelist and playwright positions himself among a new breed of Israeli historians: “I think I am part of a new trend in Israel to be critical of the way we tell our history”

Architecture depends at the building stage on money and politics, and later on users, time and weather. Jeremy Till picks five books to allow you behind the scenes of the building sites.

The British design guru on which book to buy if you want to know how to design a racing car in the 1960s style, American pop culture, modern architecture, and how “Liverpool in the 1960s was like Florence in the 1440s”

Managing Director of design and decoration company says British interiors in 1615 were bright and colourful. Plus a bit of trivia: “lamp black” got its name because burning porcelain over a lamp produced the colour

The arts books publisher chooses a book about Rembrandt’s representation of his own nose, and tells the bigger story is about the way in which Rembrandt renders sense of flesh in his prints and his oil paintings

The architectural teacher and writer explores the origins and consequences of urban partition along ethnic lines and selects five books that focus on divided cities such as Jerusalem, Belfast and Beirut

Photographers Beth and Thom Atkinson, authors of the acclaimed photobook Missing Buildings, discuss five books that explore the mythology of war.