Human-Computer Interaction Books

It's short concise and to the point. That's what I like in a book. I think it's good for an introduction book, but has a lot of useful information for the seasoned veteran.

I bought this book for a class 2D interface Design class I was taking and even though I was "coerced" to buy it, I'd say its pretty decent.

It runs you through Interface design concepts rather competently, but that's where I have a problem with it. It never seems to push itself or the topic matter very hard. Its good reading but a bit dry and tedious in parts ... in fact it's as if it where ... (surprise, surprise) a text book ...

Nothing about it really stands out to me, there are no color illustrations and even the actual illustrations are unremarkable. Overall its a competent but unremarkable book. It will get you up to speed on all the things you need to know and i think it makes a decent reference book but outside of that I wouldn't spend money on it unless it was dirt cheap.

Try "Don't make me think" by Steve Krug instead

I teach a course in User Interface Design. I have used half a dozen different textbooks, never finding one that had the desired balance of theory and practice. I have just finished my first pass through Marc Silver's book and am please to report that I have finally found my book.

The book is very well written. Each chapter starts with an overview of what he is going to tell you and ends with a summary of what he has told you.

I would recommend this book to anyone that wants a good initial overview of user interface design both for Internet based application as well as client based applications.

Robert Springer, PhD

This is an excellent and thoughtful book on interface design. It's very practical and covers a lot of ground- how to create clear navigation, visually organize elements on a page, format text, improve your writing style- basically how to create interfaces that are intuitive for users. I especially appreciated the many images that illustrate examples of both good and problematic design, and the suggestions on how to improve them. The exercises really help you think through the most elegant solutions to different design problems.

The chapters on menus and controls and navigation are great for reference, explaining the advantages and disadvantages of common interface tools. I also really enjoyed the chapter on creativity and idea generation, and look forward to trying out the suggested techniques.

The author has a friendly, entertaining, and easy-to-read style. For students or people who are new to the field, this book is an excellent comprehensive introduction to interface design. And for people who are more experienced, it's a great reference and source of inspiration. I'd definitely recommend adding this to your library!

This is an excellent book. It works on many different levels. It gives the artistic and psychological theory of interface design and it offers nuts-and-bolts practical information on working with clients and getting projects done. It works as an instructional text for a beginner and it works as a reference for a practicing professional.

In addition to providing a solid and comprehensive foundation in the principles of design, this book provides innovative and orignal design ideas and creativity boosters.

And it all comes in a well organized, well written package!

As an instructional designer (and big fan of design in general) I will keep this book in arm's reach between my books by Donald Norman and Jakob Nielsen.

I'll start by admitting that I'm not a sci-fi thriller fan, but this book was recommended to me and I took a chance. I'm glad I did! This is an outstanding piece of work written by an individual who must know a great deal about high-technology advancements and the field of artificial intelligence. The book kept me enthralled and engaged every bit of the way. Anyone who likes thrillers, knows anything about computers and the advancements made, underway, and those yet to come, will find this book a must read. Mr. Rockwood has a promising future for writing and I look forward to reading more of his work.

When I read the opening of this novel, I had high hopes for it. Andy Rasmusson is a computer science professor at Cornell University and he has invented sentient non-organic beings. In other words, they are intelligent, self-aware computers. For lack of a better term, the computers are called Bee and Cee. The story opens with Bee being a guest on a television talk show hosted by a man named Ragu. There is a great deal of public animosity against the non-organic sentient entities and Ragu contributes to this hostility.
Shortly after the appearance, the administration and government agents try to get Andy to take a position on upcoming anti-sentient legislation. When he refuses, he is placed on unpaid administrative leave and asked to leave the university. The government then begins a program of persecution, intimidation and tries several times to arrange a fatal "accident." He is slowly being poisoned by the police bracelet and he is denied contact with his former colleagues who may be in a position to help him.
Andy eventually lands in the hospital due to the poisoning and the government plot is exposed. The poisoning has caused his liver and kidneys to fail, so the solution suggested by Cee is to have them regenerated using nanotechnological techniques. The conspiracy was so far ranging that it brings down the President of the United States and Andy is now a hero to the nation. A great deal of the prejudice against sentient non-organic beings now evaporates and the book closes with an episode of the Ragu show. This time Ragu is very respectful of the sentient non-organic beings and their future is assured.
The problem with this book is that once the opening is done, it becomes just another massive government conspiracy book. Government agents are ubiquitous in Andy's life; they plant bugs everywhere in his residence, have him under constant physical surveillance, block all his communications and cancel his credit cards. However, even though they have all this power, at the end the government agents prove inept and public pressure brings them down. It would have been so much better if the plot would have involved the decision-making process of the non-organic sentients. Something along the lines of Isaac Asimov's robot stories and the three laws of robotics. Fundamentally, the plot is not about the social and political consequences of a sentient computer and artificial intelligence. They are only background devices needed to launch a story about a government conspiracy.

So much of Science Fiction has been dominated by the techno-thriller prolepses of Gibson and the vast rambling scientific recreations of Stephenson and all their imitators that the philosophical and speculative roots of the genre seem all but lost at times. "How Noble in Reason" is a return to the brave, imaginative values of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne. Like those pioneers Rockwood begins with a daring and original speculation for a real future which he then explores through the lives of credible, conflicted characters about whom we come to care deeply.

The novel also feels almost Nietzschian at times, both in the way it rapidly and wryly touches numbers of philosophical issues and its central, highly original speculation. Nevertheless, like the stories of Wells and Verne, it is great fun to read. Rockwood is a scientist and Mathematician and he knows how human science actually is and how it's done. That experience lends the book the same level or authenticity that has made the books of Tom Clancy so successful.

Read the book because it is good, original Science Fiction. And don't be surprised if you find afterwards that you see the world you live in now in a very different way.

The genre of science fiction is not my forte', but I read this book because I've known Alyn from the time we were in grade school and wanted to be supportive of an old friend. I was impressed with Alyn's technical mastery of computers and of the idea of computers being designed to have feelings and character traits, an idea I had never considered. I was mostly impressed, however, with the symbolic nature of the book. I related to the theme of Job in the story, and ultimately of the restoration of things taken away, as Job also experienced. More than that, I was touched by the love a father has for a son, and tributes celebrating that love. Alyn contibutes to the lives of the masses through personal and individual accomplishment. I appreciated the insight I received as a result of reading this book.

It is the year 2051 and Dr. Andreas Rasmusson's comfortable existence is about to unravel. The underlying source of the destruction ... a three-year-old unsolved murder of his closest friend, Bee, a nonorganic sentient. Ostracized from the Cornell University academic community, Rasmusson finds temporary solace within the bucolic lifestyle of Colorado. Yet, peace is short-lived. In his quest to prove his innocence and solve the crime, Rasmusson is plunged into a world of deceit, espionage, and madness.

***

When I began reading How Noble in Reason, I anticipated it to be a murder mystery sci-fi thriller, and it was! The story takes the reader on an exciting emotional roller coaster ride with shocking plot twists and turns. Author Alyn Rockwood drops enough red herrings to confuse but not sidetrack to extreme.

So, what sets this novel apart from other techno-thrillers? How Noble in Reason is a powerful love story! The prevailing theme of unconditional love flows through the story on many levels: between human intelligence and artificial intelligence, father and son, boy and dog, husband and wife, lovers, friends, nature, and even enemies. In a futurist world, where artificial intelligence is a perceived threat to the human race, love is the one tie that binds humanity and machine.

Alyn Rockwood writes in a crisp Michael Crichton style, with the perfect blend of suspense, techno-speak, subtle humor, underlying romance, and human drama. It is one of the few books I have read with several "I never saw that coming" moments. How Noble in Reason is destined for the New York Times best-seller list!

Integrating Agile Development in the Real World is basically a manual on implementing Agile development in a real-world environment. The book is well written and clear. However, this book is not for the casual reader or developer.

The "Who should read this book" section in the front says it best; it indicates that this book was written for someone who already has a strong understanding of Agile development (you can check the section out for specifics) and is wanting to attempt to implement it in their own development.

Since Agile development is fairly flexible and can be applied to variety of disciplines, it also assumes you are familiar with one (for example, XP) and will be reading it with this in mind. If you aren't very familiar with these, this book is definitely not for you. If you are, then you could learn a lot from it.

If you have some familiarity with one or more disciplines, however, this book could be used as a guide to adding Agile development to a development department's "toolbox". It is written from a wide-scale, departmental point of view and not intended for the solitary developer.

I found some of the text to be a little too high-level and abstract to visualize. I normally feel very comfortable with the theoretical, but this book seemed almost a little too general. Again, this might be exactly what some others would want. A counter-argument could be made that should the book become too granular, it might become more of a "how to" book rather than a "why to" book. While it won't provide you the answer to your questions, it will provide the reader with the tools necessary to figure out for sure what questions your organization should ask.

I also really liked how the book was divided. It provides very distinct sections, acknowledging that not all development tasks are the same. For example, there is a separate section for testing software (a subject near and....dear to my heart as a QA Engineer). This focus on testing is very much in tune with XP and test-driven development.

So, overall, this is a good book. It's just not for the average programmer.

If you want to learn about how to take your theoretical understanding of agile development and implement it in the real word, this is a good book for you. Very well written. Very well organized to give concrete ideas in a logical manner for successful implementation.

This book does not spend too much time on teaching basic tenets of different agile methodologies other than providing a brief overview of different agile methodologies at the beginning. That's good enough considering the objective of the book which is to give real-life "how to" implement agile development practices in the real world.

The author does a good job of grouping agile practices as they apply to different sub-disciplines such as development, testing, documentation, project management, people management, communication management etc. This provides a nice way to pick and choose practices to attack some low hanging fruits first and then go for difficult ones later after getting a few successes under your belt.

People management which is treated with very little detail in many books finds a good measure of treatment in this book. That is certainly refreshing. One thing I would not forget from this book is something goes like this - "Skills can be learnt by anyone with varying degrees of speed and effectiveness. Nevertheless, they can be learnt by anyone given sufficient time and training. Experience naturally comes with time. But, character is one thing that is ingrained in a person. So, while hiring people do not focus only on skills and experience but pay close attention to the character." Of course, teaching how to hire right people is not one of the objectives of the book. But, the fact that the author recognizes the very important but hard to quantify character as one of the most important attributes while selecting team shows his maturity and hard earned battle proven expertise in the real world.

Best practices get very limited treatment in the areas of requirements engineering, documentation, integrating other important cross functional disciplines such as user training, outbound product management, tech support. However, while delivering a large software product, these functions play very important role and practicing agile may have serious impact on their work as well. Offshore development and large distributed development also gets very minimal treatment.

All in all a great book on the basics of how to do agile in real world.

Peter's book is a great tool for helping you solidify your Agile practices. As a consultant, I've found it extremely beneficial for tweaking our Agile methodology. My clients that use it have appreciated the very practical and straightforward advice as well. Appropriate for BOTH managers and developers... ;)

This book gives a project manager the "knowledge" needed to effectively manage a software product. The methods/processes defined by the author really work. I have first-hand experience that the project management techniques work and can bring a project to success, and on time.

This book provides excellent material for a transition from a traditional approach to an agile method. The book gives only a brief description of the agile methods (XP, Scrum, FDD, etc.), but you will find a detailed presentation of the best practices common to agile approaches. For each of them, the author exposes the purposes, the prerequisites, the implementation, the opportunities and obstacles.

The books provides an agile treatment of many of the daily problems of software development projects like database management, data conversion, test data management, project communication, documentation, end-user contacts or developers management. The most interesting point for me in this book is that the author recognises that you cannot always start with a white page and require an "all-agile" process. It provides information on how to integrate gradually agile practices in a traditional software development context.

Understanding the issues and challenges associated with virtual organisations is a subject area in its ascendancy. Whilst more structured ways of working (such as vertically integrated companies and long term supplier partnerships) will continue, virtual organisations will become an increasingly relevant feature in developed economies.

This book provides an essential contribution to the subject area. It is useful to readers seeking to gain an academic perspective on the issues and to practitioners and industrialists seeking to deploy these new ways of operating in order to deliver competitive advantage. Hence I thoroughly recommend it.

So far, most serious publications about `virtual organizations' I came across are fragmented and theoretical. There seems to be a lot of talking and thinking about the subject but there is little experience and accomplished successes to report on. Under these circumstances, the editor of `Managing Virtual Web Organizations in the 21st Century' did a remarkable job to introduce a converging conception of the virtual organization (VO) and include theoretical knowledge, practical solutions and recent experiences with VO's.

The book contains 17 articles that elaborate on various issues ranging from the general conception of VO's to its legal format and from the business point of view to the underlying ICT-architecture. From the number of contributors and their various positions and geographical locations I might conclude that the undertaking of writing this book required a virtual organization itself. For many contributors this seems to be nothing new. In many articles it is stated that VO's have existed ever since people started to work together on the basis of trust. The new thing that the 21st century brings is the addition of ICT, which adds potentially more structure and scale to the VO. The book focuses largely on the design and management of such organizations. In most cases it takes the production and ebusiness environment as its object. Occasionally there is attention for web organizations in the professional services industries. For those who want to know on what the European Commission spent much of her billions for the `Information Society' (IST-program), the book provides a number of references to relevant IST-projects.

Some effort seems to be taken to make all articles fit into a general framework of the book, which could not prevent many contributors to start with a description of what they regard to be a virtual organization themselves. Happily for the editor, most contributors agree more or less on the underlying concept, which is remarkable, where-as the book lays out a quite specific and practical framework for this kind of organization.

For its riches in issues and practical models the book is a useful source for professionals and decision makers that want to keep up to date with key concepts and developments regarding `web organizations'. However, I don't think it is going to be `The Bible of VO's'. Therefore it is too specific on some issues and not encompassing enough on others. On many issues the book provides insight and useful ideas, but overall it leaves the reader with a lot of critical thinking to do himself. It seems the editor does have a clear view on the basic concept he likes to introduce. On top of that he is gathering and analyzing additional data and models. Little doubt next time he will come out with his bible after all.

Ulrich Franke and his co-authors give a broad overview over the Management of the relatively new organizational form of virtual enterprises. For all business people who are interested in strategic management or involved in networked economy this book is essential. The topic is structured quite well and shows a collection of different views given by international experts in the field of virtual organisations.

Many books and articles have been written about the intriguing puzzle of virtual organizations (VO). But many authors failed to deliver an integrated approach, too. Therefore, I have to congratulate Mr Franke twice. Het not only compiled a book surveying a broad range of aspects, but also revealed challenges from the managerial side. And the various authors, who put their expertise in this book, make this a guide through VOs and most crucially, more credible. There is no doubt, this is a highly recommandable book - particularly for managers and chief executives, who are boldly enough to take on the forthcoming challenges of the 21st century.

There are not many books dealing with virtual organisations and e-business after the internet bubble did burst! Did most writers models collapsed with the stock market? This book certainly shows that modern ICT is still an important issue leading, if applied in a coherent strategy, to a competitive advantage. It proves that the virtual organisation is an organisational form of the 21st century. This book is a must for people who are interested in strategy.

I have found this book to be very interesting as it was written by someone who learned the 8051/52 by doing in both hardware and software. Get this book!

This book is a very nice example of how to write a technical book on a reasonably complex subject without making any assumptions that the reader knows anything. I had never touched an 8051/8052 prior to this and haven't written any assembly since college. To give a point of reference, I have desigend a few reaonably simple applications on PIC processors (1 8bit and 1 16 bit) prior to being assigned a project on an 8051. After reading this book I realized a whole new level of understanding of things I was fumbling around and getting done, but never really quite grasped the down and dirty detail. I'd been designing my applications in c because I was convinced ASM is too dry and too hard.

Craig leads you down the garden path and before you know it, you actually feel like you should be doing certain things in assy rather than in C. Also, I've gotten a little vision of how things work in the background quite a bit better than before.

Good job! I'll recommend it to others transitioning to this device.

I thouroughly enjoyed this read.

Well written and complete technical books are hard to come by; this is one of them.
After reading this book one will have no troubles programming and applying the 8051/8052 MCU. I found no other books were necessary.

This guy REALLY knows his stuff, and the book is so easy to follow. I have NEVER done assembly programming, and didn't know ANY of the syntax. After a couple of chapters, I was programming in it like I had been doing it for years. The way the author lays things out makes it a breeze to learn how to open up the world of 8051/8052. I *loved* the book, and I use it as a reference ALL THE TIME.

Thanks Craig!!!!!!!

Josh

Overview
Mr. Steiner's writing is very clear--opening complex topics that I previously struggled to grasp. His prose is plain and easy to digest. This is a great tutorial and reference all in one.

Introduction
"The 8051/8052 Microcontroller" is broken into several sections including Architecture, Assembly Language, Hardware & Single Board Computer, Development Tools, Hardware Interface and Software Examples, and Reference & Appendixes. Each section covers the topic well with the strongest sections being Architecturee and Assembly Language. These sections provide an excellent method for "wading in" to gradually understand the concepts including special function registers (SFRs), memory--internal and external, timers, serial IO, and interrupts as well as helping raeders to understand and use assembly language in their projects.

What's Good
The book is targeted toward people who have some programming experience and understand basic logical constructs and it hits its target well. As a seasoned Windows programmer, it was simply a matter of reading through the text for me to understand most of the concepts on the first reading. I was riveted because I was understanding so much of it. Craig does a great job of not assuming you have certain foundational knowledge. I found myself at certain points in the text asking the question in my mind "yes, but what about...", only to moments later realize the text is explaining exactly what I was wondering about. Very well done.

For years I have struggled to learn assembly language for the sake of gaining a better understanding of computer architecture. This is the first time that it "clicked" for me. I get it and can now write code using Assembly. Now, I will be using C for my projects for the most part because it asbtracts certain aspects of writing the code that are arduous when done in Assembly, however, understanding Assembly has really helped me to see exactly what is going on.

What's Bad
There is really nothing bad about this book. It is not only a good text for deepening in your understanding of the 8051/8052 architecture, but is an excellent reference to keep on your shelf when you need to recall some specific details.

That being said, I would have liked to see a section dedicated to building and/or simply using a pre-built chip programmer. This is really not a criticism because the book is really comprehensive. For me to understand at a practical level, though, it would be helpful to learn how to take the most basic elements (the MCU, crystal, capacitors, etc.) and place them on a circuit board and see them work with code that I've just downloaded to the MCU.

The section on the SBC is really good, but it feels to me like it abstracts an important part of embedded system development--assembling the parts. I want to see how things work outside of the context of a development board. Maybe Craig will add a chapter dedicated to building a basic system from parts and a programmer in the next edition.

Conclusion
"The 8051/8052 Microcontroller" is an excellent book to use to get started as well as a great reference. I have several other 8051 books including "Programming and Customizing 8051 Microcontroller" by Predko, "C and the 8051" by Schultz, and "Embedded C" by Pont. They all have their good points, however, Steiner's book brings things together in a way and doesn't assume much about the reader's base knowledge and gave me many "aha" moments I hadn't experienced with the others. If you want to learn the 8051/8052 microcontroller, buy this book!

Roth and Amor provide a great book on how to simplify technology. If we do not try to simplify it, it will become unmanageable in the future. The book shows what the problems are and how to solve them. Unfortunately, production was weak and there are some figures are not very well readable. Please change this in the reprint.

This book talks about a radical change in IT. It shows how computers should be programmed. Not in a tool-centric way, but in a user-centric way, meaning that not the functionality is the main focus, but the usefulness of the system towards the user. In many cases, you can see systems that are full of features everyone and nobody needs. If these systems would only provide the functionality that I need at a given time, it would reduce the complexity of that system and would enable me to do my work faster. By connecting all sorts of devices and services, it is possible to create new me-centric service chains that can give better value to me.

The book provides a lot of good ideas how this can look like in the future, but also shows what is necessary from a development point of view to make this happen. Technical, social and business aspects are introduced and enable the solution architect for a new product/service to make it me-centric.

A must for product development!

Although it may seem simple, so far computers did not actually do work for us, the did the work instead of other tools. Word ist just an electronic typewriter, but did it write the text for me? No! The next generation of computers will be different. They will actually do work for us, they will make their own decisions and execute predefined work tasks in an intelligent way. Sounds spooky? Maybe, but if you trust your secretary, you should also trust your computer. Hayes-Roth and Amor show us how this brave, new world may look like. Very interesting read, indeed!

This book talks about a radical change in IT. It shows how computers should be programmed. Not in a tool-centric way, but in a user-centric way, meaning that not the functionality is the main focus, but the usefulness of the system towards the user. In many cases, you can see systems that are full of features everyone and nobody needs. If these systems would only provide the functionality that I need at a given time, it would reduce the complexity of that system and would enable me to do my work faster. By connecting all sorts of devices and services, it is possible to create new me-centric service chains that can give better value to me.

The book provides a lot of good ideas how this can look like in the future, but also shows what is necessary from a development point of view to make this happen. Technical, social and business aspects are introduced and enable the solution architect for a new product/service to make it me-centric.

A must for product development!

Although it may seem simple, so far computers did not actually do work for us, the did the work instead of other tools. Word ist just an electronic typewriter, but did it write the text for me? No! The next generation of computers will be different. They will actually do work for us, they will make their own decisions and execute predefined work tasks in an intelligent way. Sounds spooky? Maybe, but if you trust your secretary, you should also trust your computer. Hayes-Roth and Amor show us how this brave, new world may look like. Very interesting read, indeed!

Pierre Levy writes in French (or at least he did with his first three books) and stuff may be lost in translation. I have met him, he is one of the top minds in the emerging field of Collective Intelligence, and I recommend his other two books. The other reviews are great.

Collective Intelligence: Mankind's Emerging World in Cyberspace
Cyberculture (Electronic Mediations Series)

This is one of those rare books that will re-wire many minds. Lévy gives us a new way of seeing culture. He achieves this by linking specific cultural activities, and thereby humankind, to a fundamental process that is outside place and time - the process of virtualisation.

That the book produces its profound cognitive effect in so few words is stunning. Part of the credit for this feat must go to the translator, Bononno.

'Becoming Virtual' in my view surpasses that other classic,'Understanding Computers and Cognition' by Winograd and Flores. Lévy depicts cognition and action as both social process, and process occurring within the individual. He introduces concepts sparingly and tellingly, illustrating them with examples reaching from the dawn of the human era to the present day.

A book that can be read at one sitting, but will demand to be picked up again many, many times in the years ahead.

This book is extremely heavy on the esoteric, philosophical lingo. As a virtual environment systems designer, I found it to be essentially useless. My guess is that it would be of value only to academicians and others not directly involved in the technological aspects of VE and other digital domains. Although I suspect there might have been some useful stuff here, the writing is too tangled to unravel. If you speak academese, you might fare better than I did.

The word 'virtual' has had a fair amount of exercise in the last few decades, and it would be a pity if some were put off reading this wonderful book due to the misguided belief it may be populated with computer lingo and people with wetware engaged in simulated 'virtual' sex. Levy's understanding of the virtual extends far beyond information technology; he gives the concept a proper philosophical and even anthropological foundation, and even goes so far as to show that we have in fact always been virtual, and this is what has made us human.

Technology is probably what separates us from all other living creatures, or at least sophisticated technology, such as machines. Yes, other organisms utilise simple tools and what have you, but none of them are going to the moon in any sort of hurry. Levy's work is essentially about artifacts, be they software like language or symbols, or hardware like tools and machines. However, following on from the work of philosophers such as Deleuze and Serres, Levy is profoundly against the two common (mis)conceptions about them: that they 'dominate' us, or that they are simple tools in our hands, doing our bidding. Heidegger and his ilk were very keen on the domination idea, but that's only because they didn't really understand machines; sure, your VCR will seem to dominate you, if you can't work it, as many older people will tell you, but after a good dose of swearing and fumbling the usual result is a machine that just sits there doing nothing. Hardly despotism. Or you may have its measure, and say it's just a tool for capturing video images, for whatever purpose, and yet it changes the way you watch TV, capture memories of your kids, and the entire institutional set-up of the film industry. Quite a clever tool, that.

If you read this book (and you should), Levy will tell you that all artifacts, including less 'material' ones like language, virtualise our lives. That doesn't mean making them less real, the common usage of 'virtual'; it means problematising them, opening them up to possibilities. Making them MORE real. And this isn't naive techno-optimism, because not only are not all these possibilities not nice, but when you virtualise something you take on-board the requirements of the virtualising medium, which have to be met to keep it running, and you become entwined with the other people associated with these artifacts, such as video repair men. Technology can truly make you feel like a god, but it always needs to be fixed, and you have to undertake profound social relationships for it to happen at all (nobody builds an aircraft carrier alone in their backyard). Or take our oldest and most 'simple' artifact: language. Language, says Levy, virtualises 'real-time', by which he means our everyday interactions with other people. That's what it means to 'discuss' something, you take an immediate issue confronting two or more people, and you use language to open it up to different resolution paths which aren't immediately obvious. And again, this isn't artifact as god or slave: the language doesn't dominate you, although it has in-built constraints which you must adhere to if you want to be understood, and you can't just tell people what to do and see it happen, because not only are allowed meanings consensual or social, but also there is no direct causal link between utterance and action.

Levy explores the way we virtualise every aspect of our lives, from real-time interaction through language, to our actions through technology, and our social relations through institutions. And in each case the mechanism is the same: we create some artifact, more or less material, which allows us to shift what's at stake away from the immediate here-and-now and towards a problematic where new possibilities open up. And again Levy avoids simplistic determinism of any persuasion by emphasising that each of these artifacts simultaneously creates new social arrangements, and introduces new imperatives through the need for their upkeep. This is how the philosophy becomes anthropology, and why Levy says to be human IS to be virtual; it is our species that has taken these artifacts into our collectives, that has used the world to mediate our social lives. And the world extracts a price too, because artifacts impose requirements back upon us, if we want them to keep working, that is. The end of domination, either of artifact by human, or human by artifact.

This is Levy's most accessible book, in English, relatively free of the sometimes over-blown prose of Collective Intelligence. Like Bruno Latour, also an admirer of Serres and Deleuze, Levy allows us to see exactly how our technological, modern world is every bit as religious, barbaric, enlightened, enchanted, mystical or whatever as it has always been; you just have to understand artifacts. (It is also a tremendous asset for philosophy students who don't fully understand the scope of the Begsonian/Deleuzean 'virtual'.)

And as another reviewer has hinted, there's even theology in nuts and bolts, if you know where to look.

Laurel is quite the scholar - she's got experience and learning in the fields of theater and human-computer activities. Laurl applies Aristotle's Poetics to computer software design. I especially liked her comparison of computers to theatrical production - a tremendous amount of action goes on "behind the scenes." As Laurel points out, dramatic expression is a type of virtual reality; anything we develop with computers has a very long heritage. A must-read for the digerati

The idea that is perhaps most central to this book is that if you design the action involved in a user interface, the design of all other objects in the domain will follow. To support this, Laurel reconciles the seemingly disparate and relates user interface design with producing a play in theater. For example, the way she brings in the Freytag triangle works very well.

This said, I wish I wish that we would see a book from Laurel (or from one of her other usability guru companions) that treats with more recent issues-- particularly the Internet. I think she's one of the smartest people out there in the field, and I try to read what she's written, but I'm getting tired of reading about Habitat, Guides, and the Holodek on Star Trek. That's not the fault of the book, given that it came out pre-Internet hype, but it did inflect the reading experience with some weariness.

I finished reading "Computers as Theater" by Brenda Laural yesterday. The book has many good ideas in it, and it may well be worth reading just to pick these up.

It is also one of those books which does not do a good job of unifying its material, in my opinion. Rather than being a progression of ideas that builds to some intellectual climax, it meanders through various interesting points not quite aimlessly. The book introduces two useful diagrams: 'flying wedges' which describe how the space of possibilities in a drama go from the 'possible' to converge on the 'necessary', and 'freytag triangles', which measures the rise and fall of a plot. If these are used to describe this book (a slight abuse?), it doesn't fare well. The freytag diagram never peaks, and the wedge doesn't converge to the 'necessary'. This may be because the objectives for the book were not clear. As a reader, I didn't realize she was not (mostly) speaking to the modern commercial software world for quite a while into the book. The book also ended with two chapters about virtual reality (the substance, not the hype), and I was left wondering if perhaps *this* was what the book was really about (if so, I didn't see it coming).

All that said: there are many good ideas in the book, some of which will make you stop and think for a while (e.g. those diagrams). It is valuable because of this. As an individual, I simply wish the book had been better structured, for I'd have gotten more out of it.

... because it reminds me a great deal of Bruce Lee's "Tao of Jeet Kune Do." In that book, the reader is warned in the preface to approach the book actively with pencil in hand to jot notes and draw lines between connected ideas. I have done this with Brenda's book. It will take about 6-7 reads and lots of mental connections before everything starts to gel.

It is a new "Way" of thinking, and, indeed, is so far ahead of any way we design software now that many ideas that this book suggests still need extensive research to even understand how to implement. (e.g. Freytag graphs as a way of structuring software/task flow to provide a pleasing HCI, and Brenda's Principles of Intelligent Computer Agency as a means for implementing truly AI agents with personality and emotions).

Along with the wonderful head rush of compelling new theory, she also takes the second half of the book to explain principles of software design that you can implement in your programs _now_, and also takes the time to introduce you to fascinating HCI research offshoots like Programming by Demonstration.

It is wonderful writing, and her ideas and concepts continually refresh and remind me why I am in such an exciting field.

This book was recomended for me from my teacher (very very clever woman) in Uni. And i am very happy to have such one.

Constantine shows to us, where is the problem in typical software development project. He brings to light all known problems, what are related to all managers. Fascinating, that we all know these problems, but we don't see it without a help from outside (in this case from Constantine).

From other side i don't like some things, what Constantine has postulated. I disagree to his idea about "cowboy's and cowgirl's" and maverick's. But all other stuff is perfect.

Constantine's not-so-subtle pokes at Microsoft prompted him to write "... I will most probably never get an invitation to lunch in Redmond with 'The Bill.'" Perhaps not, but Constantine's free-wheeling writing style and dead-on assessments will probably win over the majority of his readers.

The book is a collection of essays from Computer Language Magazine, Software Development, and other places. Each essay is only a few pages and easily digested in a couple of minutes. Yet, most are thought provoking, entertaining, and may prompt a day's worth of discussions.

Reading this, I sometimes felt like I was in a time machine. For example, here's an excerpt from a 1992 article in Computer Language Magazine. "Shortly after [Plauger] started Whitesmiths, Ltd., I visited him at their New York 'headquarters,' a small apartment in Manhattan... At each terminal were two programmers! Of course, only one programmer was actually cutting code at each keyboard, but the others were peering over their shoulders... The room buzzed with a steady stream of questions about the algorithm, or whether the initial value was correct, suggestions about how to break out of a loop, or drawing attention to a syntax error... After a while the two programmers would switch places, and the one at the keyboard would become the professional nudge."

Years before Beck and Fowler would discuss Extreme Programming, Plauger had his team inching towards that methodology. Constantine immediately recognized its potential.

Constantine also has other gems worth sharing. "The truth is, recognition and rewards of any kind are a lot less frequent than most managers think. Some 80% of managers claim they give their subordinates sincere and thorough praise, but only one out of seven of their subordinates see it that way."

In an article from 1994, Constantine suggests "I'm now beginning to think that usability has to be everyone's job, that everyone on the development team has to be focused on end-product usability and take it seriously from the first brainstorm to the final box." How much different would the products of the last few years be if companies had taken that advice?

The book has some flaws and Constantine doesn't get everything right. Then again, few who bravely predict the future do. A new version will be published this year, perhaps with material between 1995 and the present. If it retains the quality of this version, it will be easy to recommend.

Larry Constantine's columns on peopleware issues are finally compiled into this single volume.

Although he shares the term "peopleware" with DeMarco and Lister's management classic "Peopleware," Constantine's book doesn't focus solely on management and workplace issues. Inside you'll find his insights on user interfaces, team construction, tool use, group learning, and more.

Because each chapter is a reproduction of an article previously published throughout various journals and at various times in Constantine's career, there's a lot of breadth. And it's easy to skip over things that aren't appropriate to your project or company. But each article is small, and it's easy to digest one or two a day while at work.

This book crosses many boundaries, intuitively feels "right", and inspires effort and excellence in those engaged in implementing business-oriented technological/software solutions (e.g. researchers, industrialists and consultants).

Over 30 articles cover: group development (decisions, roles, space, time management), cowboys and cowgirls (teams and mavericks), work organization (7 different models), tools and methods (CASE, modelling, HCI, methods), process improvements (visibility, reward & reuse, JIT, quality), software usability (consistentcy/conventions, complexity & scope creep, source, languages, usability, objects), and brave new software (interfaces, wizards, future faces).

Entertaining to read, with a depth of supported observations and guidance, this is a must-read together with the weightier thorough treatment of whichever methodology and toolset you use for your own business systems development.

This book really makes me ambivalent. It is essentially a collection of colums on the subject of "Human Interface" written for Apple's developer news magazine. Thus the number of topics covered by the book is immense. In 38 (!) chapters (that is 6 pages per chapter in average) Peter Bickford covers almost everything that has to do with interface design, ranging from database interface design, design of icons, the use of music, designing games, information systems, etc. etc. What makes me award this book three stars after all is the fact that it is a joy to read the book. It takes not more than a few hours to whizz through the pages which do contain several words of wizdom useful to everybody no matter their level of experience. The use of small case stories throughout the book is nice and adds positively to the overall experience. If you want to start a dialog with a user interface specialist (for whatever reason) this is certainly a great book to get you started. The design and layout of the book, is fairly dull and boring. There are only very few black and white illustrations which do not add much to the overall impression. Even though that white space is important for increased readability, I think some of this space (20% of the book) should have been used for better and more illustrations.

I really found this book helpful in developing my understanding of User Interface design. Although it was written more for designing UI for software I found the examples and explanations VERY applicable to designing web sites. This book also keeps your interest, the author throws in quite a bit of humor. I HIGHLY recommend it!

Like the topic it covers, this book has a friendly interface. Unlike most technical books, I found Bickford's text downright entertaining. For example, he uses the analogy of a good waiter in a fine restaurant to drive in the idea of transparent interface, and house-hunting to help designers understand how databases ought to work. Bickford is an excellent teacher - he knows how to make his subject appealing and accessible. (It figures -- given appeal and accessibility are his criteria for good interface.)

The book is somewhat Macintosh-centric, given the fact that most of the chapters originally appeared in an Apple Computer newsletter. Nontheless, his ideas and philosophy has helped me build better web sites.

All too often, books on interface design can be overly academic discussions of theoritcal design issues that are interesting only to other user interface designers.

Not so with this book. Mr. Bickford's writing style is accessible and geared toward general users, designers and developers. His coverage of the subject matter is informed and non-technical--you will certainly find it useful whether you are a commercial application developer, multimedia author, or designing applications and sites for the Internet. He argues very eloquently for concepts like elegance, intelligence and thoughtfulness--traits missing in much of today's bloated operating systems and applications (hello Redmond?). He covers both major desktop platforms, PC and Macintosh, citing examples of the virtues and pitfalls of each OS's operations. He also delves into other media, including an intelligent, if conservative, treatment of web design. I am hoping the next edition will be updated with more web coverage.

Mr. Bickford's credentials are impressive. He is a former writer for the Apple Directions developer newsletter writing regularly on usability and interface issues. He is very adept at making complex concepts simple through the use of metaphor, humor, and anecdotes gleaned from his years of real-world experience.

If you are looking for an accessible and entertaining book that will help you consider your interfaces from a more enlightened perspective, you should definitely pick this book up.