Looks like a good primer on design:

This book is for design beginners. If you're not a designer but sometimes are asked to do design, then this book is for you. If you've just started out in design, or are at college or university, then this book is for you, too.

£35.00 for the paperback and digital editions. I have the first book they published, A Practical Guide to Designing for the Web that I frequently pull out for reference, ideas and inspiration.

It's just too bad that Five Simple Steps, the publisher, doesn't have a North American distribution because these books get expensive by the time you do the exchange and shipping.

Update: Thanks to a comment from the book's author, Rob Mills, it looks like I missed the blog post where Five Simple Steps announced their distribution plans in the USA. Thanks for the update Rob!