Last night, around ten o’clock, I swooped a copy of Charlotte Rivers’s Poster-Art; three hours later, I set it down, not even halfway through the 150+ pages of incredible poster design. A compilation of mass-market, personal, and limited-edition work by both new and old designers, the internationally compiled coffee table-ish book not only introduces the reader to an enormous selection of the best concert/event/for no particular reason posters out there, it also discusses the creative inspiration behind the work. Because posters are capable of having so many layers of meaning and influence, and are more conducive to creative freedom than, say, a full-on advertisement, they have always been one of my favorite mediums from which to analyze graphic design — and with the book’s addition of a explanatory paragraph for each design, I’m in heaven. There’s an impossible amount of inspiration in Poster-Art, so if you’re in a dry spell, pick one up for 30 buckaroos here.