Rating: 
Summary: Great topic, weak execution
Review: I have greatly enjoyed and valued some of the author's previous work and ordered multiple copies of "The Invisible Computer" as soon as I heard about it in order to share with my colleagues. After reading the book twice (I was certain I had missed something the first time) I was disappointed in the quality of the arguments presented and lack of substance. The basic tenet - that computer should be submerged into our environment and serve highly specialized functions - cannot be disputed. I found the discussion of substitutable and non-substitutable items interesting and the most useful portion of the text.
Rating: 
Summary: Not his best work
Review: I'm a fan of Donald Norman's work so when I finally had a
chance to pick up "The Invisible Computer" I had high hopes.
Unfortunately, this work didn't provide the same insight and
focus as his previous books such as "The Design of Everyday
Things".Throughout the work Norman draws upon "Crossing the Chasm"
and "Inside the Tornado: Marketing Strategies from Silicon
Valley's Cutting Edge" [both by Geoffrey Moore]. Also
heavily emphasized are the ideas put forth by "The Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms
to Fail." All of these books are interesting--but I wanted
something from Norman himself. Chapter 7, "Being Analog", was more in line with what I had
come to expect from Norman. He ends this chapter with this:
"Alas, most of today's machines, especially the computer,
force people to use them on their own terms, terms that are
antithetical to the way people work and think. The result is
frustration, an increase in the rate of error (usually
blamed on the user--human error--instead of on faulty
design), and a general turning away from technology. Will
the interaction between people and machines be done
correctly in the future? Might schools of computer science
start teaching the human-centered approach that is necessary
to reverse the trend? I don't see why not." That's what I'm
looking for! If only the rest of the book had followed that
passion. Instead focusing on human factors and man-machine interface issues, Norman wanders discussing substitutable
goods vs. nonsubstitutable goods, a rehash of why software
is hard to write (and the mythical man month), and even some
embarrassing admissions now that he'd spent some time outside
academia and worked a bit in industry: "Time, or rather the
lack of it, I was starting to learn, is one of the greatest
barriers to quality". As my young nieces would say to me,
"duh!" Finally, although written in the late 1990's with the paperback edition published in 1998, I found the text to
already be a bit dated. You don't realize how quickly the
computer industry moves until you find a book frozen in time
like this one. My recommendation is to read Norman's other works and the
works he recommends here (Crossing the Chasm, Inside the
Tornado, and Innovator's Dilemma). Finally, I recommend
"Machine Beauty" by David Gelernter. It provides more
passion and keener insights than this work--and is generally
more fun to read!
Rating:
Summary: People's Information Appliance
Review: Many people have been taliking about usability for years. Eventhough there is nothing new presented in the book, it provides to thecorporate management, about the issues that need to be addressed forproducts. The usability made the biggest difference between Apple's Newton and 3Com's Palm Pilot, even though both are same similar in functionality - Apple's Newton was a failure, while Pilot was very successful. Both the products have the same core technologies - hand held computer with pen computing. Designers of Pilot had figured out the usability and this crossed the barrier to success. END
Rating:
Summary: Perhaps the weakest book by an excellent author
Review: Much of what Norman says in "The Invisible Computer" needs to be said, and based on his earlier work, I expected it to be said clearly. Unfortunately, this book appears to be a bunch of lectures put into book form with insufficent effort spent to remove overlaps between chapters. Much of the history is fascinating, particularly the idea of "peripherals" for electric motors around 1910, and the technological/business battles about phonograph standards. Overall an interesting book, but I expected better writing from Norman.
Rating: 
Summary: Save your money
Review: Short and sweet: Don't waste your money on even a used version of this book. If you want to buy a book see some of the recommendations made by other reviewers. Get something for your money.
Rating: 
Summary: Rambling but inspirational
Review: The book is a rallying cry for the technology industry, a call to arms for the geek troops. Sure, the writing is like a beta version that the publisher decided to go live with, but the essential concepts and emotion come through loud and clear. Norman builds a solid foundation for his arguments, citing historical cases and several written works. The book was a fun, easy read. When I finished Invisible Computer, I felt the same sort of illumination and clarity that came after reading Alan Cooper's About Face. His vision of ubiquitous information appliances and devices will undoubtedly come true in ways none of us can imagine. But what will become of the PC? Will I have 100 individual devices replacing the 100 software programs I have installed? Hardly. But the book doesn't really address the ongoing need for a general purpose computer. In the end, I would recommend this book to anyone involved in technology. It definitely altered my personal perception of where tech products have come from and where they are headed. Time will tell if his ideas are strong enough to truly help shape the future of software and product development.
Rating:
Summary: Not as provocative as the title
Review: The book is absolutely not as provocative as the title. There is some solid information in it about: * user-centered design, * the technology life cycle, * product design processes, and * why it is so hard to design easy to use products which are successful in the marketplace By way of example: If you are unfamiliar with Moore's book "Crossing the Chasm," there is a decent summary in Chapter 2 of Norman's book, and he covers issues like this reasonably well throughout the book, and ties them in to product design issues. None of this is new, though, and it might have little to do with information appliances. I was hoping for a bit of a harder sell from Norman, to see him stick his neck out and make a stronger call for an information-appliance-rich future, but he spent too much time on supporting information to ever cover his vision well. If you have read Moore's book, have read Mirrorworlds, and do human-centered design on a daily basis, then read: Chapter 3 ("The Move to Information Appliances"), Chapter 11 ("Disruptive Technologies"), and Chapter 12 ("A World of Information Appliances") ...and skip the rest of the book. If you who would like a broad brush overview of some of the bullet points listed earlier, consider this book. In fact, skip chapters 3,11, and 12. Just don't be confused about the originality of Norman's work, here: he may be an evangelist, but the gospel did not originate with him. If you want to read Don Norman, consider "Turn Signals are the Facial Expressions of Automobiles" and "The Design of Everyday Things" before you read "The Invisible Computer.
Rating:
Summary: Read the introduction and the appendix
Review: The book is persuasive in its central argument that today's PC is overgrown, difficult to use, and suffers from its fundamental architecture as a multipurpose device. The point is made adequately in the introduction and first chapter, however, and the rest of the meat of he book just belabors the point, often repeating the same points in the exact same words. The appendix on examples of information appliances is fun, as he finally gets to what he thinks will be the next generation of devices to replace the PC. This is what I was waiting for through the whole book. Unfortunately, this part is the thinnest of all with only a few obvious examples. Also, I sometimes found his arguments about market forces and the business model of the technology industry simplistic, even naive. I found it hard to believe at times that he worked at Apple all those years. Still, I enjoyed skimming it.
Rating:
Summary: The Case for Information Appliances
Review: The content strives to support the design of information appliances due to the complexity of the computer coupled with creeping featurism. Human centered design must be used to overcome the increasing complexity.
Chapters 7 (Being Analog) and 8 (Why is Everything So Difficult to Use) are reminiscent of Things that Make Us Smart and The Design of Everyday Things also by Norman.
Chapters 9 and 10 focus on human centered development by defining it as a process and then describing 'immutable principles' that should apply. Six disciplines of user experience are identified.
As I progressed through the book, I had to continually return to the cover and back pages, rereading the title and description to remind myself of what the book is about. Read the two referenced books first!
Rating:
Summary: Best for its explanation of infrastructure goods
Review: The historical case studies are fascinating -- but the best chapter, in my opinion, has little to do with "information appliances" and much to do with the nature of monopoly systems. I'm educated as an economist and found Norman's descriptions of an infrastructure market (historically the 'natural' monopoly market of power and telephone companies) a compelling read -- and a must read for anyone following the DOJ-MSFT trial. While I agree with his premise that the machines need to become 'simple to use' -- I'm still having trouble seeing lots of individual "appliances." However, I think the iMac may have captured some of Norman's philosophies.
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