Design for the Real World has, since its first appearance twenty-five years ago, become a classic. Translated into twenty-three languages, it is one of the world's most widely read books on design. In this edition, Victor Papanek examines the attempts by designers to combat the tawdry, the unsafe, the frivolous, the useless product, once again providing a blueprint for sensible, responsible design in this world which is deficient in resources and energy

• What is design: a definition of the function complex
• Phylogenocide: a history of the industrial design profession
• The myth of the noble slob: design, “art,”and the crafts
• Do-it-yourself murder: social and moral responsibilities of design
• Our Kleenex culture: obsolescence and value
• Snake oil and thalidomide: mass leisure and phony fads
• Rebel with a cause: invention and innovation
• The tree of knowledge: biological prototypes in design
• Design responsibility: five myths and six directions
• Environmental design: pollution, crowding, ecology
• The neon blackboard: design education and design teams
• Design for survival and survival through design: a summation