Staying up late reading

I got a book for 1$ at the local library sale. "Garden Design Illustrated" by John and Carol Grant, from 1954. I got it because I noticed the authors names, I have a fabulous book on Trees and Shrubs for Seattle, that they wrote decades later.
They explain stuff I was having trouble with, like combining foliage colors, and most especially, planting perennials in drifts. I could never really get it, my drifts are always blobs, or look pretty random and unorganized, though I can see that when done well it totally works. Now I might be able to do it myself! None of the other books I have read really helped me with this much.