That Trawler in the Window

London isn't known for its high-rise residential living. If you're not in the Shard's £50m penthouse, or perched high up in the Barbican's brutalist towers you're unlikely to have a Manhattan view. But for said tower-happy capitals, built-in daybeds like the one pictured here at the W Taipei are a sure win.

Snuggling up to a pane of glass on the 30th floor with a copy of Monocle magazine and the changing lights of the city on your shoulder is quite something. The oriental style window platform comes closest to beating a classic Eames lounger and a fireplace for ultimate comfort in consuming design tomes.

King of Coffee Tables

King of the Elephants, Babar is an iconic and enduring character from the golden age of colonial, Tin Tin-esque adventure [and indeed, the young reporter's favourite flea market on the Place du Jeu de Balle in Brussels ranks amongst the best when it comes to big game design hunting].

In a world of conceited, over-sized and under-read coffee table monoliths, this first english edition, first in the series storybook from 1933 is my new favourite page turner. Beautifully worn, expect 'propper' books like these to soon replace Tom Ford retrospectives and anything from the 'Hip Hotels' stable.

Bowing House - Now in Hardback Flavour

It's official, Dom Arigato, the bowing house has been published in the 240 page hardback retrospective of the Arigato Project for Tokyo Designers Week. Available in stores and on-line through Gestalten. The second house after the Isomodal Container Townhouse; here's hoping that house #3 makes it through to the bricks and mortar stage. Book signings and new commissions welcome!

Rules for Living by UnhappyHipsters.com

Another excellent find from Livraria Cultura in Sao Paulo, It's Lonely in the Modern World is the sort of book that anyone that enjoys reading DesignTrawler.com should run out and buy immediately. A manifesto for all Saab driving, house proud modernists [or those aspiring to be such], the book lays out in spectacular detail 'the rules'.

The rules of what exactly? Take for example the extract that advises, when hosting a dinner party "The number of kitchen appliances on display should be inversely proportionate to the number of guests" or for the bathroom "Choose a steel seat and use it to hold a single folded towel". Of course, it's all a bit of fun... apart from of course, when it's all absolutely true, which is all of the time...

"Most people have become attached to the idea of 'comfort' when sitting. With modern furniture, however, it is important to rethink your concept of what is comfortable. In a thickly cushioned chair, your body may be supported - but at what price to your design values? Your intellect? It is better to focus on the pure joy of being close to high design than to slump into an overstuffed chair for a nap" - UnhappyHipsters.com

How to Build a Container House

Browsing recently in the excellent Livraria Cultura bookstore in Sao Paulo, I came across Container Atlas. Billed as 'a practical guide to container architecture' the 250 page bible is a fantastic read. Published before Design Trawler's Isomodal Townhouse was conceived [and unfortunatley therefore an incomplete collection of container architecture]

In a curious turn of fortune however, publishers Gestalten will be responsible for publishing Arigato; a 240 page retrospective of Tokyo Designers Week; including the bowing Dom Arigato house by Design Traweler's designer duo. Available in March 2012, stay tuned for the inevitable book launch party at the Mancave. Signed copies on request.

Damien Hirst | 松久 信幸 for Nobu / Japan

My first Hirst. This week Nobu Matsuhisa closed his London restaurants to the public to host a charity dinner for the victims of the Japan Earthquake. Young British Artist and enfant terrible of contemporary art, Damien Hirst designed a special edition of the Nobu West cookbook for the event.  The edition of 400 is triple signed by Hirst, Nobu Matsuhisa and head chef Mark Edwards.

Like a signature dish from the top notch eatery, the composition is masterful. Hirst is Britain's richest living artist and Nobu is one of the world's most successful culinary business people. Both have been subject to their fair share of controversy, have a penchant for seafood, and both both blur the lines between art and enterprise. Whatever your views, the stylised cookbook contributed to raising over half a million pounds for the Japan Earthquake Appeal.

American Power by Mich Epstein

The best thing about a coffee table is its ability to host some great coffee table books. Also due to the fact the mancave has few feature walls for displaying paintings, fine art photography books have a perfect home in the coffee table.

American Power is a collection of power stations, oil refineries, motorway junctions and juxtaposed landscapes breathtakingly shot over 5 years by Mitch Epstein. Read about this book in the Guardian while on the tube one weekend and picked up a signed copy in New York at the famous Strand Books.

[Man]Cave Paintings - Oil by Burtynski

A fantastic fine art photography book published by Steidl. Oil by Edward Burtynski is split into chapters charting the life of oil from extraction & refinement, transport & motor culture through to the end of oil. A bit depressing you might think; why not have a fine art photography book on the subject of mountains or sunsets?

Quite simply, mountains and sunsetsare nature's wonders. A cave is a creation of nature. A mancave is a creation of man. It's man's wonders that we should take more time to appreciate. Images like these are our modern day cave-paintings. They are a snapshot of our everyday life as humans- just as mud paintings of blokes hunting zebras were 30,000 years ago.