One for the Christmas list here, it's design commentator and author Max Fraser's latest edition of the wonderful London Design Guide. A comprehensive and fully up to date compendium of all that is cool and cutting edge and serving a decent cup of coffee in the capital. He has once again scoured the city to seek out the top shops, museums, galleries and cafes and grouped them together in ten neighbourhood chapters, with maps.

I'm particularly delighted to see he's bigging up independent shops some of which have already featured on this blog as Indie of the Week. The book also features essays by design experts and retailers who discuss the future of bricks and mortar shops, a subject which is particularly topical right now with high rents, a shaky economy and the surge in internet shopping.

The London Design Guide, out 12th September, published by Spotlight Press, £12.