This is a great back to basic principles work, with many storys that illustrate well the ideas.
Tedious Read
Not exactly a page turner, it took me several months to get through this book. I enjoyed the content but the delivery was excruciating at times. Ultimately it was too textbooky for my liking. If you are looking for something that is engaging (a la anything by Malcolm Gladwell), look elsewhere.
Very Revealing - A great read if you build anything from software to houses.
This was a quick, but very fascinating read about the way people interact with the objects and devices that they encounter in their environment. This is a must read for anyone who designs just about anything and wants it to be useful rather than just elegant or attractive. I'd especially recommend it to software developers, hardware developers, and residential/commercial architects.
A word of caution, however. This book will open your eyes to just how badly the things around you have been designed, and finally put explanations why some things are so frustrating to work with. When you see how only a little bit of forethought in usability design could have improved your experience in dealing with doors, car dashboards, coffee pots, etc. it will make you a tad cranky about such issues for a few days after reading it.
"Required Reading" that became a favorite
It's not often that a book you are required to read for a college course becomes a favorite, but this one did. In fact, today I did a Google search for "norman door." Sure enough, Google has it cataloged. I even found a discussion on the term on a blog site. Even when the name of the book slips my mind, that term sticks. I Googled it because my copy of the book is packed away in a storage unit somewhere from two moves, and it's cheaper to buy another copy than spending 3 hours digging through boxes.
The ironic thing about this book being "required" is that it was requried for a masters level computer science user interface class at the University of Montana. It was the only textbook for the course, about 1/10 the price of normal textbooks and about 1/10 as heavy as normal textbooks. But the ideas are so very relevant. I will be recommending it to my own web development students, even though the book isn't about web development.
By the way, has anyone out there found any Norman signs lately? The Missoula Federal Credit Union has a sign touting their Saturday hours. Unfortunately, the sign failed to mention that that doesn't apply to Saturday on Memorial Day Weekend! Maybe they should read the book!
Still applicable and a great re-read/reference
I'd read this around 8 years ago and lost my copy, so I purchased it again. It's definately a timeless look at how humans interact with the design of everyday things. When I first read it, the information was an eye opener as I was newly introduced to a field called Human Factors/Usability/HCI etc. For me, it swayed my career choice and made me question the components, instructions, and layout of things humans interact with on a daily basis. Granted, not everyone runs a nuclear powerplant, but simple psychological aspects can reduce the workload and ease of use. I would recommend this as a great introduction and continual reference as we continually attempt to obtain seamless and logical interaction with objects/displays/products/etc etc.
