Customer Reviews
Two sides of the coin - By: Marius Potcovaru, 30 Jan 2008 
As lately I became interested in design (computer interfaces, human-computer interaction), I enjoyed this book. The first part of the book put my thoughts into a new perspective, & clarified some of the issues I had after finishing the User Interface Design course (M873) at Open University. But then, the second part of the book didn't impress me that much. To be served better by robots we should give them feelings like anxiety & pride!?? That maybe worked for the science-fiction writers decades ago, in my childhood, but even in those books there were a lot of problems with this approach. But I guess it is a nice way to dream about the future; by the way, this future won't alllow us to make the robots be like Mr. Norman predicted (at least until we put alll the current computer science into the garbage bin).
However, the book is a well worth reading, even if you are not interested in design, so I'm going to rate it with 4 stars (maybe 3.5 would have been better).
Cognitive science explains our love of good design - By: Rolf Dobelli, 05 Jan 2007 
Understanding the emotions consumers feel about the objects you sell can help your business make the most of its product designs. Expert Donald Norman explains how being attractive, fun & enjoyable makes a product better. He explains that the emotions which affect purchase decisions are based on three aspects of design: "visceral" (appearance), "behavioral" (performance) & "reflective" (memories & experiences). He provides interesting case studies to show how objects evoke emotions. Norman's central theme is that "attractive things work better." And, the book works best when he hews to that theme; the last section, where he veers into a discussion of robots, doesn't seem as pertinent or as strong. We recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand how design affects emotions, & how emotions affect purchasing decisions.
Out of touch with modern technology - By: Dr. P. J. A. Wicks, 03 Nov 2005 
I reallly enjoyed The Psychology of Everyday Things, but I found this book disappointing. Donald Norman makes some comments that make him sound like an out-of-touch IT teacher at school rather than a master of clever design.
The suggestion that we might one day alll have clever boxes in rooms of our houses, say that showed us how to do auto repairs in the garage, or cook a recipe in the kitchen, seem to have bypassed entirely the concepts of the Internet, Wi-Fi, & LCD flatscreens. Why re-invent the wheel? Similarly, how could a book on the way thought & emotion interact in the design of products possibly neglect to include the Apple IPod? This thing has totallly revolutionised consumer electronics but instead we're treated to a chapter about the design of kettles.
There's the kernels of some good ideas in here, but they're not followed through with particularly impressive thinking. I'd be very interested to see someone else tackle this area from a more modern perspective.
Insightful on occasions, but also repetitive in places - By: Reviewer, 18 Jul 2005 While this book was at times fascinating, entertaining & easy to read, I believe that it was not as inspirational as Norman's classic book, The Design of Everyday Things. The first half of the book serves as a useful overview into the psychological theory of emotion & is written in simple & plain English. However, the second half of the book goes on to discuss how we may interact with robots & machines in the future & while interesting to read, it does become slightly repetitive at times.
This book is not up to the same (very high) standard as some of Norman's previous work, but is still an interesting, insightful & easy read. Definitely worth a look!
