Donald Norman's Things that make us smart book has probably been the funner read. I really enjoy reading Norman's material because it allows you to do some reflective thinking, I wonder about what he writes when I am reading his chapters. It is one of those books that are so interesting you can't put down. In the beginning of this book he emphasizes the fact that he is a cognitive scientists.
In the first chapter Norman wants people to focus on human-centered technology in the future. He believes that in the past, people have been designing machine-centered technology and this has long term effects on how humans perform. He also describes the two types of artifacts that aid cognition which are mental and physical. Norman describes the three types of learning which are accretion, tuning, and restructuring. Accretion is how add to our existing knowledge. Tuning is where people sharpen their skills, this is where the practice comes in. Restructuring is the most difficult type of learning. Chapters three and four describe which artifacts have aided humans in becoming smarter. Norman also points out how humans underestimate the ability of artifacts that aid us in learning processes and how much information we can hold. He gives an example where Socrates questions reflective reasoning. He also describes an experiment by his Ph. D. student who modifies the famous Tower of Hanoi to study cognition.
Discussion
I really like reading books like this one because it makes me want to analyze what the author is writing, and often I often find myself formulating ideas to question their ideas. I like the fact that it gives examples that actually relate to technology and are therefore easier to relate to computer-human interaction.
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