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Donald A. Norman
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Things That Make Us Smart (William Patrick Book) Paperback – April 21, 1994

by Donald A. Norman (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 71 ratings
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In Things That Make Us Smart, Donald A. Norman explores the complex interaction between human thought and the technology it creates, arguing for the development of machines that fit our minds, rather than minds that must conform to the machine.Humans have always worked with objects to extend our cognitive powers, from counting on our fingers to designing massive supercomputers. But advanced technology does more than merely assist with thought and memory—the machines we create begin to shape how we think and, at times, even what we value. Norman, in exploring this complex relationship between humans and machines, gives us the first steps towards demanding a person-centered redesign of the machines that surround our lives.
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  1. Print length
    304 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    April 21, 1994
  4. Dimensions
    0.87 x 6.12 x 9.12 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    0201626950
  6. ISBN-13
    978-0201626957
  7. See all details
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Things That Make Us Smart (William Patrick Book)
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The Design of Everyday Things: Revised and Expanded Edition
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4.4 out of 5 stars
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  • Bo Yan
    5.0 out of 5 stars change your perspective on the relationship between human and machine
    Reviewed in the United States on January 20, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    this is a very good book about the relationship between human and machine from the design and utility perspectives. the message is important, especially when technology becomes increasingly ubiquitous in our life. At times, the book is a bit repetitive. But, overall, a very good book with important message.
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  • turtlemonvh
    5.0 out of 5 stars Human cognition + artifacts = awesome
    Reviewed in the United States on October 29, 2014
    The central tenant of this book is that humans are not that impressive without "thinking aides" (called "artifacts" by the author) to help us solve problems. The author provides convincing evidence about this, then goes on to discuss what makes certain types of artifacts so successful.

    I enjoyed this book mainly because of the insight I received on how to determine whether an artifacts is effective, and how to make a tool a more effective cognitive artifact.

    If you work to design, architect, and construct things that people use to help themselves think better, this is a worthwhile book to read.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Erik
    4.0 out of 5 stars A summary look at the systematized theory behind Norman's usability analyses
    Reviewed in the United States on April 3, 2010
    Where The Design of Everyday Things is device-centered, this work analyzes device interaction with a similar degree of rigor but from a user perspective. Norman divides interaction into experiential and reflective modes while considering the strengths and weaknesses of humans and machines. Concluding that human strengths are pattern recognition, perception with spatial navigation and manipulation, and narration and that human weaknesses are poor memory for detail along with a vulnerability to tunnel vision, Norman proposes three guiding principles for design. The first two, the naturalness principle and the perceptual principle, respect human strengths. The former insists that a device's surface representation maps to its internal state in a comprehensible way. The perceptual principle insists that a device convey these state changes by perceptible changes, i.e. visually and aurally. These principles seem to follow directly from the affordances and feedback Norman emphasizes in The Design of Everyday Things.

    Alternatively, Norman's third, most novel, principle follows his analysis of human weaknesses. This appropriateness principle insists that machines provide exactly the info needed for a task, i.e. they should limit the detail of their reports and hide the method, though not the organization, of storing information. According to Norman, by following all these principles designers can produce devices that informate rather than automate, i.e. complement humans rather than substitute for humans. However, Norman laments that it is often easier for designers to allow machine needs for accuracy, quantifiable metrics and their insensitivity to physical constraints or user needs to drive design and thereby produce hard technology, which forces users to accommodate the machine, rather than soft technology, which shapes the machine to serve user needs.

    The arguments of this work seem more theoretical and less practical than those of The Design of Everyday Things. Further, most of the practical advice and applications of this work appear with greater detail in that book. Consequently, this work may be more gratifying to readers interested in psychology, including learning, as well as artificial intelligence. Unfortunately, Norman's distinction between experiential and reflective modes of interaction is underdeveloped in this work, only to be expanded in the subsequent Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things.
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  • Alicia Crumpton
    5.0 out of 5 stars Human Centered Design
    Reviewed in the United States on November 25, 2013
    One might assume by the title that this is yet another book exploring the relationship of technology and humans. And it is...but that is not its sole purpose. Norman is an incredible thinker about human centered or user centered design and useability. I see this more as a book for those interested in the design process, user centered design, affordances, and how to create use-able things, spaces, buildings.

    Read Normal alongside Henry Petroski to really get a good background in the design process. See also [...] for other resources by Donald Norman.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • K. Rocap
    5.0 out of 5 stars Making Peace with Machines
    Reviewed in the United States on July 29, 2000
    What if we put aside worrying about how computers will replace human thought and behavior and focused, instead, on the fundamental differences and complementary strengths of humans and machines? Perhaps then we could make best use of the things that have the potential to make us smart. Don Norman, author of The Design of Everyday Things, takes the insights he is famous for, regarding the design of everyday objects, and turns these towards a thoughtful consideration of the high tech objects in our lives.
    Norman contends that what machines are best at are memorization and calculation, and that part of our fears about them come from comparing ourselves mentally to computers with regard to these dimensions. This is a fundamentally flawed way to think about the relationships between humans and computers.
    He encourages us, instead, to optimize the powerful potential of computation in order to liberate ourselves for more important ends, such as the time and capacity for deep reflective thought. In this way, and in other ways, he advocates for a human-centered approach to technology.
    Humans make tools and build objects, or artifacts; and the artifacts we build help to make us smart. They remind us of important things and when designed well help us accomplish important things and provide "affordances" for desired behaviors and outcomes.
    We need to develop better and keener senses of design. With regard to computers, the more we can unload, the more conceptual knowledge that we can convert into "experiential" knowledge through the use of such things as powerful computer-based data representations, the more we will free ourselves for higher order reflective thought and human judgment.
    Norman convincingly argues that rather than locking ourselves in a battle of turf with machines, we should take advantage of the ways machines, like other human-designed objects, can, indeed, help to make us smart.
    33 people found this helpful
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  • Abhilash
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great book. Leant a lot!
    Reviewed in India on September 24, 2018
    Verified Purchase
    Another great work from Don. Thanks a lot. Enjoyed reading it. Makes very clear hat humans are good at.
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  • Dorian
    5.0 out of 5 stars Livre très intéressant
    Reviewed in France on April 4, 2017
    Verified Purchase
    Un livre sur les sciences cognitives très intéressant, en anglais bien sûr, qui traite de l'avenir de l'homme dans notre société et de tout ce qui le rend intelligent.
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