Customer Reviews:
 Great writing, very illustrative examples, definitely not a detailed how-to May 13, 2007
The strength of this book its clear and easy-to-read writing. Cooper's examples are instructive and the theory of why design-centric business approaches are the most powerful. It's supposed to be a business-case book but I'm quite sure all programmers and even designers would find the read very worthwhile.
My only wish for the book would be that Chapter 10 onwards seemed to be the really exciting stuff, detailing the how more than the why of design-centric approaches. This part feels like a rushed summary in comparison the the attention paid to the why aspect in the rest of the book. You may want to consider Cooper's newly revised "how" book although it is mainly a designer's handbook: About Face 3: The Essentials of Interaction Design
I'm not done with that About Face 3: The Essentials of Interaction Design but I'm starting to worry it's going to leave me wishing it had more specific methodologies as opposed to theories. Of course, it has much more methodological attention than The Inmates Are Running the Asylum: Why High Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity (2nd Edition) and there's no fault in what is written, only in what is omitted.
If you're really looking for the ultimate how-to, you might want to consider attending the four-day "Cooper U". Case in point: I had the chance to ask Alan Cooper where I could learn more about how to create the design documents he writes about in the last part of The Inmates Are Running the Asylum: Why High Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity (2nd Edition) and he really couldn't say what books would be able to instruct that (including his own) and that it would be covered in his course.
 this book changed my life February 21, 2007
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
I was a well-paid systems administrator/help desk guy until I read this book. This book really did inspire me to change careers!
The book basically outlines why engineers (and people who think like engineers) are INCAPABLE of designing effective interfaces. It delves into specifics and supplies some great examples.
I am amused by some of the reviewers here who display the same sort of arrogant contempt that the book outlines. OF COURSE programming a VCR is easy for YOU--you're a person with an "engineer mind". My mom can't program a VCR at all, and that's not because she didn't try hard enough or read the instructions. She can't use it because everything about it's interface is counter-intuitive to someone who does not understand machine/code logic.
Just because it's easy for you doesn't mean it doesn't stink. Just because it makes sense to you doesn't mean it can't be made better--to work intuitively for "regular" people. Buy this book. Read it. Demand more from your products. It's time to end the insanity.
 Blown out of proportion January 17, 2007
4 out of 28 found this review helpful
It's true that some products have poor interfaces, but in my experience this "problem" is blown way out of proportion with reality. The only people I know who couldn't figure out how to program their VCRs were people who did not try for more than 5 minutes. Read the instructions, both in the book and onscreen, and VCR programming is a snap, from the earliest models to today.
I think the real question should be: Why are so many users so lazy? This is more of a social problem than a technological one. Some think that if any effort is required to learn how to use a new device then it's poorly designed. Poppycock!
should be required reading for programmers January 10, 2007
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
I've been a programmer for over 25 years, and I think programmers (including me) should read more books like this. Too often, we're driven by our knowledge of what we can do with our languages, data structures, libraries, frameworks, dialog boxes, fonts, colors, etc. We write what's immediately doable given the tools, and lose sight of what would be most desireable. The results are often useful, but unintuitive, inelegant and painful to use. This is why people complain so much about the interfaces of computers, cell phones, PDAs, VCRs, cars, planes, themostats etc.
Alan Cooper argues that the cause of the problem is the culture that creates the products. Programmers are designing today's user interfaces. They naturally design interfaces that they like, so the interfaces are too technical. Cooper suggests a psychological basis for the underlying problem: programmers tend to be interverts that like complexity, so they like complex interfaces. Most programmers are predisposed to expect the human to adjust to the interface. Humans that can't or won't are considered stupid, so they don't really matter. This is many computer interfaces make us feel stupid. Ew're part of the problem, because when an interface fails, we often blame ourselves.
Cooper goes on to describe how to address the problem. One strategy resonated with me: instead of allowing programmers to think in terms of "the user", make them think in terms of several specific, defined, named "personas". This encourages programmers to imagine real interaction between users and an interface, which improves the thinking about the little details that distinguish a useable, boring, frustrating interface from a pleasant, intuitive, helpful interface.
Af course, Alan Cooper does a much better job describing this than I have. I recommend this book highly.
Great service for a wonderful book December 14, 2006
0 out of 5 found this review helpful
Haven't ever read a book that tackles this issue so well before, and in such an easy to read fashion
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