Rating: 
Summary: Excellent, a seminal work of design psychology
Review: Although this book is a product of the 1980's, its essential premise is not dated nor obsolete. Dr. Norman vividly illustrates the good and bad of design, and provides an excellent guidebook for the understanding of basic user-centric design in products, fixtures, software, and the everyday things that make up our world.I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in the design and creation of software, architecture, or consumer products. You will find some dated, quaint information within its pages, such as the descriptions of the "computer notepad" and hypertext (both of which came to fruition with Palm Computers and the Web), but, as a whole, the book is a collection of relevant, interesting material. It is an excellent starting point for the study of design. For those interested in additional study on software and user interface design (programmers, such as I), I recommend Alan Cooper's books on user interface design, and ANY of Jakob Nielsen's books. In addition, the Edward Tufte trilogy on visual representations is extremely good, although not software-specific.
Rating: 
Summary: Helpful for any Field of Design
Review: As a game designer, I approached this book with an open mind, not knowing if I could pick anything up from it. It surprised me though. Although the book was written in 1987 and could use an updated version, the design principles stated there remain relevant up to today, even in a field that had been rarely touched upon when that book was written. (Yes, it does talk about games, but only in terms of difficulty level, and only pertaining to D&D.) In particular, the game designer could look at the Seven Stages of Action to see if her game is performing up to par on the usability front.
You might not find anything here that is imemediately useful in your design work, but all designers worth their salt should broaden their horizons and continuously search for things, both new and old to be able to use in their craft.
Rating: 
Summary: this is a smear
Review: Don Norman is the kind of smart, grandfatherly figure who has been allowed to reach the utmost of his personal limitations. If you see one of his cranky live appearances, you at once realize you've found someone whose self-regard is surpassed only by Edward Tufte. They're both curmudgeons of the first order who profess to know what is wrong with the design of objects and information. But with a quick glance at their books you can determine their actual worth. The most useful design lesson from this is the one he inadvertantly teaches: He previously published this book as The Psychology of Everday Things because he thought it was nifty that the initals spelled "P.O.E.T.." How that for a design rationale? Adding insult to injury he gave a later book the Oh-Come-On! title: "Turn Signals are the Facial Expressions of Automobiles." Aside from being a precious, dumb title, it's also an impossible read. On top of that, "Au-to-mo-biles?" This guy is old guard. This book dissappeared at some point in my travels and I didn't notice because it's advice is now so basic there's no need to refer to it again. I hope they eventually release this book on wax cylinder so I can listen to it on my Victrola.
Rating:
Summary: A New Perspective for Designers of Anything
Review: Donald Norman provides a new and interesting perspective to the design of ordinary objects. His title sums up the topic of his book perfectly. Throughout the book, Norman provides examples of objects that are either poorly designed or well designed. He makes us think about not only the objects in his book but also about objects we come across everyday. After reading this book, I found myself analyzing the design of ordinary items all the time. I recommend this book for anyone who is designing or inventing anything. The book is an easy read and appropriate for a wide range of audiences.
Rating:
Summary: Clever Thoghts about Dumb Things with a User Interface
Review: Have you ever been taking a shower in a hotel room, having no clue how to adjust the water temperature? Are your refrigerator cooling 24 hours/day because you never figured out the panels of buttons? Donald A. Norman takes a look at all those frustrating user experiences in a very funny and insightful manner, but instead of just pointing out all the stupidities, he also uses his knowledge of human psychology to explain exactly why so many user interfaces are so troublesome. This book is not about software design, but is nevertheless extremely useful for anybody involved in the development of software since Mr. Norman focusses his attention on topics which are fundamental for any kind of user interface (wheter in the form of door handles or advanced airplane controlling software applications). The design of the book itself is fairly boring with dull black and white photographs, simple line drawings and a general bad layout. In spite of this being a book on design, it is however not that important, since Mr. Norman delivers his message in a very elegant and witty manner. Therefore this book get 5 stars of 5 possible.
Rating: 
Summary: A major disappointment
Review: I found this book to be a major disappointment. The author does have a collection of anecdotes about poorly designed items he's encountered but the constant whining gets tiresome very quickly. He then promised to offer some insights into how to get the design process right but never quite managed. The best he could come up with was these four bullet points:
* make it easy to see what's possible
* make it easy to see what's not possible
* make it easy to see what happened
* make the mapping between action and effect obvious
Even if you do find those points insightful, you'll find that beyond examples of when those points are violated, there is precious little useful advice on how to achieve these things.
The physical book itself was hardly a model of good design. The margins were far too narrow with some headings disappearing completely into the binding area and random paragraphs were set in italics for no apparent reason.
Rating:
Summary: The Sound Basis for good functtional design
Review: I have really enjoyed reading this book, and I have been challenged by its message.
I have learnt ergonomics as part of a mechanical engineering degree and I can assure any of you that the basics presented there are well covered by this book. It has nothing on population data and such, but the essential foundation for good design is an understanding of the psychology of using things and performing tasks. Norman takes you through this psychology clearly and carefully.
This book deserves its modern classic status and will serve you well as a primer for user-centric design.
Rating:
Summary: THE Book for Designers
Review: If you are interested in the field of design or are currently within it, this is the book to read. Donald Norman's information readily applies to all different types of design: software, hardware, industrial, and more. I am a software designer (user interface design and usability predominantly) and Norman's work has really formed the building blocks of the way I do my job. Norman's explanation of conceptual models alone is worth the price of this book. Before going anywhere else and reading any specific design books (such as Alan Cooper for software...great book too), read this book.
Rating:
Summary: A must read for programmers and engineers alike!
Review: Norman does an excellent job of showing the reader that interface design is not simple a matter of putting a handle or some buttons on something. His in depth analysis of not only which interfaces are good or bad but why is an interesting and educational read for anyone who must create objects, devices, or interfaces that a person will interact with. The language is easy to understand and not heavily technical but still remains interesting. His examples are not specific to computer interfaces but to many different kinds of devices - telephones, light switches, etc. An excellent book for readers of any level - student or teacher, from junior high on up.
Rating:
Summary: See The Psychology of Everyday Things
Review: Take a look at the The Psychology of Everyday Things (the hardcover edition of this book). They changed the title for the paperback edition.
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