Psychology
Jonah Lehrer's book "How We Decide" is an interesting traipse through the field of decision theory from the perspective of cognitive psychology. He touches on a number of cognitive biases as well as digging into the physiology of the brain. Most of what he writes isn't brand new research but he does put it on a level that mere mortals (such as myself) can comprehend the subject.
The Love & Logic method of parenting can take a lot of the stress out of parenting. Foster Cline and Jim Fay apply their principles of parenting to the ever scary teen years in Parenting Teens with Love & Logic. The basic premise of Love & Logic is that children should be raised to be responsible yet most parents take actions that keep this from happening. By ensuring that kids feel loved and by applying logical thought to situations, Cline and Fay believe kids can learn from their own mistak
The Man Who Lied to His Laptop is a fascinating look into the world of human computer interaction. Clifford Nass has done extensive research into the concept of computers as social actors. For several decades he has explored the idea that people interact with computers in much the same way as they interact with other humans. This goes far beyond just the simple anthropomorphization that we witness when a frustrated user says his computer is stupid or when a bank customer yells at an ATM for n
Steven Johnson explores the phenomenon of emergence in Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software. Emergence theory is the study of how disparate local knowledge and local decisions can lead to higher level (or global) intelligence and global structure. We are programmed to think that without an overseer or man-in-charge, groups cannot self-organize. Drawing on examples as diverse as ant colonies to the rise and structure of the city of Manchester, UK, Johnson shows h
Dan Ariely is one of my new favorite authors. Probably because he delves into the field of behavioral economics which is my new favorite field... but still, I will give Ariely credit for writing absolutely fascinating books. The Upside of Irrationality: The Unexpected Benefits of Defying Logic at Work and at Home is an attempt to further the thoughts presented in Predictably Irrational. There is some overlap with the previous book but just enough to make this book able to stand on its own with
Good Work: When Excellence and Ethics Meet is the product of three psychologists from different fields. Howard Gardner is a cognitive psychologist best known for his theory of multiple intelligences. Csikszentmihalyi is a social psychologist best known for his concept of "flow", a state in which an individuals skills and challenges mesh and completely absorb the mind. (See his book Flow) William Damon is the author with which I am least familiar but he is a developmental psychologist who foc
Bridges out of Poverty: Strategies for Professionals and Communities is an insightful and yet practical look into the world of poverty. The premise of the book is that the culture of poverty is so different from the middle class and wealthy cultures that it is difficult for people living in the latter to help people out of the former. Much of the content resonated with me and reminded me of my experience years ago in the Little Village area of Chicago. Having the benefit of hindsight, I can se
Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience is the attempt by positive psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi to explain and encourage the idea of enjoying life. Much of the field of psychology is concerned with why people don't enjoy life; positive psychologists want to understand why some people do enjoy it, even though in many cases they have similar situations to those who don't. The concept of Flow is used to describe a state of enjoyment which people in all walks of life can reach regardles
Daniel Pink's Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us is a timely, practical and fairly well researched work that delves into the practical application of intrinsic motivation. Sprinkled with pop-culture references (TPS reports and Facebook) alongside the results of personal interviews with some well-known names (Deci and Csikszentmihalyi) the book is a quick and interesting read that pulls together a number of disparate ideas. I took a lot of notes in my read and this is just a sp
A Geography of Time: The temporal misadventures of a social psychology is a delightful and fascinating read by Robert Levine. Levine, a professor of social psychology, takes the reader around the world examining how various cultures and people's tell, interpret and use their time. In one of the chapters he takes a short diversion from the trip to examine a brief history of time and the telling of time. When I picked up this book I wasn't sure what to think of it but I am very glad I took the
If you read many books about behavioral economics or cognitive psychology, you will come across concepts that Scott Plous covers in The Psychology of Judgment and Decision Making. In about 300 pages, Plous covers so much ground that the book could easily be a textbook and yet it reads quickly and easily. Where many authors cover these topics with almost a sense of wonderment and amazement, Plous is pragmatic in both his presentation of the evidence and his analysis thereof. Because of the exha
Recently I read an article from the Journal of Information Architecture by Brigitte Kaltenbacher regarding the role of emotions in Human Computer Interaction research. She referenced Damasio's book, Looking for Spinoza: Joy, Sorry and the Feeling Brain and the idea intrigued me. Kaltenbacher's premise is that the human decision making process is highly influenced by emotion and therefore emotions and feelings cannot be ignored by the interaction designer. Antonio Damasio explores the connectio
Dan Ariely tells a fascinating story of pain at the beginning of his book, Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions. As a youth he was involved in an accident that left 70% of his body badly burned. During his recovery he explains that he began to view the ordinary and everyday experiences that he used to experience as though he were an outside observer. He began to analyze the "why" behind daily decision making. This led him to an interest in the field of behaviora
Alfie Kohn doesn't like B.F. Skinner. At least he spends the first 180 or so pages of his book, Punished by Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise and Other Bribes, ranting against the basic elements of Skinner's writings on behaviorism. He derisively calls refers to "pop-behaviorism" throughout his book as the "Do this and you'll get that" mentality of getting what you want out of people. If you are want to read a somewhat narcisstic and lopsided discussion of Koh
Gary Marcus provides an entertaining trip through some of the oddities and weirdnesses of the human mind. The title Kluge reveals Marcus' main premise: the brain is not a wonderfully architected organ but rather a system of subsystems that has been cobbled together by an imperfect process called evoltion to produce a workable but far from perfect solution. Within a few pages of starting the book, Marcus makes it plain that he is a highly educated professor used to spending time around those le
I confess that it's been 2 months since I read this book so these notes are stale so I apologize. Decoding the Universe: How the New Science of Information Is Explaining Everything in the Cosmos, from Our Brains to Black Holes, is a very fascinating read, although if you have read The User Illusion you will notice a great similarity between the books. In my opinion, Decoding was an easier read, albeit perhaps not as thorough as Illusion.
The underlying principles of Luke Hohmann's Innovation Games: Creating Breakthrough Products Through Collaborative Play are rock solid. Either Hohmann has a solid grasp of marketing principles, project management and cognitive psychology, or he is pretty good at buzz-word bingo. This is an intensely practical book without much meat so if you are looking for a "how-to" manual on getting good ideas from your customers, this book is for you. If you are looking for insight into why these kinds of
Ben Sherwood has experienced some of the toughest survival training in the world. As part of the research for his book, he went through the Aviation Survival Training program in Miramar, CA. There he learned what it's like to be drug across the ocean by a parachute, how it feels to be pulled up a cable in the rotor blast of a helicopter and what a helicopter crew goes through if their chopper crashes in the water. For Sherwood though, survival is about more than just military training and acc
I confess that I did not gain nearly as much from reading this book as I anticipated. My hope was to learn something useful about symbolism and the study of semiotics but instead I learned a lot of the psychology of dreams. If you are into that sort of thing then Carl Jung's Man and His Symbols is a must read. If, like me, you are quite skeptical of that sort of thing then you will be as disappointed as I was with this book. The illustrations in the hard cover book are fantastic, every page
In The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less, Barry Schwartz takes us on an interesting journey through the psychology of choice. Decision theory is an interesting field with many spurs and side-tracks, a number of which Schwartz takes us down. The book covers a lot of ground but manages to stay on theme, namely: too much opportunity for choice is not necessarily a good thing.