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»Universal Principles of Design« – Not inspiring per se, but very, very useful.

http://stuffcreators.com/upod/

Design and Form: The Basic Course at the Bauhaus and Later, by Johannes Itten Design for the real world: human ecology and social change, by Victor Papanek

A few colleagues and I have made a Pinterest board with some of our favorite design books. See: http://pinterest.com/jedmund/design-books/

Sketching User Experiences, Bill Buxton and I second the earlier note about Thinking with Type, Ellen Lupton

Type, Image, Message by Tom Wedell and Nancy Skolos

The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst

I agree with Dan, Munari's "Design as Art" has an inspiring collection of essays I keep going back to.

I always find Robin Kinross's books incredibly interesting as well. Even though they aren't entirely about the practice of design, both "Modern typography" and "Unjustified texts" are invaluable resources. Actually, anything published by Hyphen Press is worth a read—they've also published quite a few of Jost Hochuli's books on typography and book design.

Design by Nature, of Maggie Macnab, was my greatest found from 2012. An amazing and super inspiring book.

http://www.designbynaturebook.com/

Frank Chimero's "The Shape of Design" was a real delight to read. Very uplifting and inspiring. http://www.shapeofdesignbook.com/

Also more on the practical side, if you're dealing with clients, reading the "Design Is a Job" by Mike Monteiro is a no-brainer. http://www.abookapart.com/products/design-is-a-job

"Thinking with Type" by Ellen Lupton.

Any Dieter Rams / Naoto Fukasawa books with sexy pictures. Strictly industrial design, but inspiring nonetheless.

I enjoyed reading "The Design Of Everyday Things" by Donald Norman. It's a must-read.

I love Bruno Munari's "Design as Art" :)