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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 69 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.
Previous page
  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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From the Publisher

future emotional norman
The Design of Future Things Emotional Design The Design of Everyday Things
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4.4 out of 5 stars
136
4.5 out of 5 stars
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4.6 out of 5 stars
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Price $15.99 $10.79 $13.49
Explore the Works of Don Norman This is a consumer-oriented look at the perils and promise of the smart objects of the future, and a cautionary tale for designers of these objects-many of which are already in use or development. From roller coasters to robots, sports cars to smartphones, attractive things work better. Whether designer or consumer, user or inventor, this book is the definitive guide to making Norman’s insights work for you. One of the world's great designers shares his vision of "the fundamental principles of great and meaningful design", that's "even more relevant today than it was when first published" (Tim Brown, CEO, IDEO).

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A thoughtful critique of "machine-centered" corporate technology from the author of The Design of Everyday Things .
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Back Cover

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.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Basic Books; Reprint edition (April 21, 1994)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0201626950
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0201626957
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13.3 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 0.87 x 6.12 x 9.12 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 69 ratings

About the author

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Donald A. Norman

Donald A. Norman

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Don Norman takes special delight in the interaction of people and technology. "Develop the skill of observation," he says, "and especially pay attention to the obvious, for this is where you will discover many hidden insights. What seems to be obvious often is not."

Business Week has named him one of "the world's most influential designers," the influence from his books, essays, courses and students, lectures, and consulting.

He is a fellow of many organizations, including the American Association of Arts and Sciences. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineers and former lots of things, including VP at Apple Computer, President of a startup, and co-founder of the Nielsen Norman group. He has honorary degrees from the University of Padua (Italy), the Technical University Delft (the Netherlands), and the University of San Marino. He was awarded the Benjamin Franklin medal in Computer and Cognitive Science and the Sir Misha Black medal for contributions to Design Education.

He is known for his books "The Design of Everyday Things," "Emotional Design," "Living with Complexity," and "The Design of Future Things," but he is most proud of his students all over the world, who put into practice his human-centered design philosophy.

His latest book is Design for a Better World: meaningful, sustainable, humanity centered" which draws upon his rich history to address some of the most pressing problems facing the world today. The real issues are not technical, nor can they be solved simply by technology. The most difficult is human behavior, which is why design can play such an important role. Design is a way of thinking, of solving the core underlying issues, combining a knowledge of technology, all areas of human activity, and most important of all, human behavior.

He lives at www.jnd.org, where you can find chapters from his books and loads of essays.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
69 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

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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Top reviews from other countries

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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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