In 1996 I helped form an HCI reading group with my colleagues at Sun Microsystems. I am very proud that we kept it going for six years and over twenty books, and was pleased to recently learn that the reading group continued after I left Sun. The list of books that I want to read far exceeds my ability to actually read them, but the external commitment of a reading group goes a long way toward helping to stay on top of the reading list. Here, in reverse chronological order, are the books we read and discussed while I was at Sun, along with our post-discussion commentary on each book. The dates reflect when we completed the book.

	May 2002: Designing From Both Sides of the Screen by Ellen Isaacs & Alan Walendowski ~ © 2002   You won't find any revolutionary or bold new concepts in this book, but what it does do uniquely is to describe the design process from the perspectives of both a user interface designer and a software engineer. Using a real life case study, it shows how the design process is one of cooperation and relationship. In this, it is a unique and important contribution to the field. Ellen and Alan earn extra bonus points for setting up a nice web site in support of the book. Tom Spine
	January 2002: A Pattern Approach to Interaction Design by Jan Borchers ~ © 2001   I have been fascinated with the idea of applying a pattern language approach to Human Computer Interaction for years. While I have kept half an eye on the reports from the various HCI pattern workshops over the past several years, this book was my first opportunity to give the area some serious thought and consideration. After finishing the book, I have mixed feelings. One the one hand, Christopher Alexander's A Pattern Language seems so powerful; it resonates deeply within me whenever I pick it up. Somehow, however, all of the HCI pattern languages leave me cold; they feel like they are missing something essential, but I can't put my finger on what it is. One thing I know I want is for pattern languages to be powerful design tools, but I'm left thinking they are more suited as didactic tools than design tools. The idea of doing a style guide as a pattern language also still fascinates me, but that's only because of my rant about how almost all style guides are such colossal failures. Bottom line is that the few of us who did stick with this book all agree that were glad to read it, even if only because it was quick to read and it perhaps burst some of our pattern language bubbles. Tom Spine
	October 2001: The Playful World: Interactive Toys and the Future of Imagination by Mark Pesce ~ © 2000   This book contains a series of vignettes about "playful" technologies and the people behind their creation. There are chapters on the obviously playful ones such as virtual reality, Furbies, Lego Mindstorms, and the Playstation 2. A large portion of the book is also devoted to less obviously playful things like the hypertext, the web, and nanotechnology. Surprisingly, the section on nanotechnology is perhaps the most provocative, suggesting all manner of new possibilities for medical science and other exploration on a very small scale.   All in the all, the book has some interesting tidbits, but no particularly unifying theme. If you like hearing about the people behind technology, then this book is an interesting read. If you're looking for some overall point, there doesn't seem to be one. Nicole Yankelovich
	August 2001: The Innovator's Dilemma by Clayton M. Christensen ~ © 1997, 2000   This best selling management book is centered around the idea of disruptive technology. Using examples from industries as diverse as disk drives and mechanical excavators, the the author demonstrates how small upstart companies can succeed by targeting new products at emerging, rather than established, markets. Meanwhile, more established companies often fail by offering new disruptive technologies to existing customers who have no use for them.   Despite a small contingent of readers, we had excellent discussions about this provocative book. Among other things, we discussed whether Sun has turned the corner from an upstart company to an established company, and what impact this has on Sun's product development. We also explored whether we would like to work on disruptive versus sustaining technologies, examples of disruptive technologies, and whether the findings in the book are applicable outside the high-tech industry.   Highly recommended book! Erica Seidel and Tom Spine
	February 2001: The Art of Innovation: Lessons in Creativity from Ideo, America's Leading Design Firm by Tom Kelley, with Jonathan Littman ~ © 2001   The Art of Innovation discusses the creative process that the product design firm IDEO uses to design products. We found Chapter 4, "The Perfect Brainstorm," to be the most useful part of the book. It included Seven Secrets for Better Brainstorming, as well as Six Ways to Kill a Brainstormer. The book's drawback was that it didn't discuss any obstacles to building a similar culture. So it seemed overly fluffy and rosy to some readers. The book was written as if IDEO's creative process was simple to copy. We suspected that re-engineering a company's culture into an endlessly creative one would be much harder than the book tried to make us believe. We also thought IDEO's work hard/play hard culture would not scale in a company the size of Sun. Erica Seidel
	November 2000: The Humane Interface: New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems by Jeff Raskin ~ © 2000   The book started out well with a nice discussion of cognetics, including the locus of attention and habit formation. We liked the overview of GOMS as well as the discussion on modes. He presented good concepts and provided some thought provoking issues (for example, the portion on zooming). One problem with the book was the emphasis on his own (unsuccessful) projects which he did not describe in enough detail for us to fully understand. The book did provide for decent discussion, but a number of group members didn't like the book well enough to stick with it. Overall, we'd give this book mixed reviews. Nicole Yankelovich
	July 2000: GUI Bloopers: Don'ts and Do's for Software Developers and Web Designers by Jeff Johnson ~ © 2000   This turns out to not be a very good book for a discussion group. It's not that it is a bad book. It's just not a good book for generating discussion. There were several chapters where the discussion sessions just petered out in under 20-minutes. This was one of the few books that we punted without finishing. Nevertheless, I recommend reading this book -- just not in the format of a discussion group. Tom Spine
	March 2000: Information Appliances and Beyond by Eric Bergman ~ © 2000   This book was put together by none other than Sun's own Eric Bergman, and Eric even phoned in for one or two of the discussion sessions. How cool is that! Personally, I think the chapter that contains the interview with Rob Haitani on the design of the Palm user interface is worth its weight in gold. That chapter alone makes this book a winner, and the Don Norman interview was also a hit with us. Overall this was a great, thought-provoking (and discussion generating) book. Highly recommended for discussion groups. Tom Spine
	January 2000: The Inmates Are Running The Asylum: Why High-Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore The Sanity by Alan Cooper ~ © 1999   I am an unabashed Cooper fan. Oh sure, he comes across as a bit too strong and arrogant sometimes. And I don't agree with everything he says. But his primary points of view are hard to deny or refute -- most of our software development processes aren't resulting in products that make people more effective or happier. Tom Spine
	September 1999: The Trouble with Computers: Usefulness, Usability, and Productivity by Thomas Landauer ~ © 1996   This may be the most controversial book we have read, and it resulted in some excellent debates and discussions. Landauer uses macroeconomic analyses to argue that the enormous amounts of money spent on computing since the early 70s have not resulted in comparable increases in productivity. He goes on to point to complexity and lack of usability as the primary reasons for the lack of productivity gains, and he discusses user-centered development as the approach to use to improve the usefulness and usability of computer systems. The book is a little dated, as it was published just as the web was taking off, but it is still a thought-provoking read. Tom Spine
	July 1999: Ingenious Inventions: Why Didn't I Think of That? Bizarre Origins of Ingenious Inventions We Couldn't Live Without by Allyn Freeman ~ © 1997   This books falls in the "light reading" category. It takes a look at the stories behind products like Velcro, Bic pens, White Out, and Rollerblades. A quick and easy read. Tom Spine
	June 1999: When Things Start To Think by Neil Gershenfeld ~ © 1999   Neil Gershenfeld is (was?) director of MIT's Media Lab. This book is his foray into predicting the future. Part MIT Media Lab hype, part a crystal ball look into a future that includes computers in our shoes and three dimensional printers. Overall, we had mixed reactions to this book. Tom Spine
	February 1999: Set Phasers On Stun: and Other True Tales of Design, Technology, and Human Error by Steven Casey ~ © 1998   This book would be a great addition to an introduction to human factors engineering course. Combine it with the classic Human Factors in Engineering and Design textbook and a full appreciation of human factors engineering emerges. My concern with Casey's book in isolation is that it amounts to just a series of tales, sometimes amusing, sometimes tragic. It's too light on including the analysis of what should have happened, given appropriate human factors engineering in the process. This book amply illustrates the importance of considering human limitations and capabilities in design, but doesn't go far enough. Use with care. Tom Spine
	November 1998: Machine Beauty: Elegance and the Heart of Technology by David Gelernter ~ © 1999   Gelernter's thesis is that if something is truly well designed, it is beautiful and elegant. Gelernter argues that we can tell when something works well, when it is designed well. He calls this beauty, and say it should be the most important component of design. In a world of bloated software full of seldom-used features, we would benefit from a greater sense of art and beauty in engineering and science. Historical note: David Gelernter was one of the targets of the Unabomber. He was critically injured in a mail-bomb attack in 1993. Tom Spine
	May 1998: Interface Culture: How New Technology Transforms the Way We Create and Communicate by Steven Johnson ~ © 1997   I hated this book. Without any hesitation, I say it is my least favorite book of all that we've read in the reading group. The book reads like a book-length version of Johnson's PhD thesis, which is exactly what it is, I think. It is pretentious and full of obscure literary and historical references, all of which are dropped on the reader in a high-handed manner. His comparisons of today's internet and other information spaces to Gothic cities and 19th century novels is a stretch I could do without. Tom Spine
	December 1997: Information Architects by Richard Saul Wurman ~ © 1996   This book is a compilation of design work by 24 different designers or design groups. The chapter contents range from computerized photographic medical visualizations, to web site design, to print catalogs. At times insightful, at times pure advertising, the book is a mix. Tom Spine
	September 1997: The Media Equation: How People Treat Computers, Televisions, and New Media as Real People and Places by Byron Reeves and Clifford Nass ~ © 1996   Reeves and Nass discuss the results of numerous psychological studies that show that people treat computers, television, and other new media as real people and places. Tom Spine
	June 1997: Web Site Usability: A Designer's Guide by Jared Spool and company ~ 1997   We actually read User Interface Engineering's self-published version of this book, which was available for some months prior to this version of the book. The refreshing thing about this book, in 1997, was that its insights and recommendations were based on real study of actual users, rather than theory or opinion. The other thing that I always love about Jared (and company) is that they aren't afraid to point out the limitations of their studies. Three years later and I still recommend this book. Tom Spine
	June 1997: Things That Make Us Smart: Defending Human Attributes in the Age of the Machine by Donald Norman ~ © 1994   I seem to recall (as I write this in January 2001) that this was one of the very few books that we punted halfway through. I don't have my copy of the book here at hand, and I can honestly say that I don't remember a thing about it except that it isn't The Design of Everyday Things. If you haven't read any Norman yet, then you should. And you should start with The Design of Everyday Things, not Things That Make Us Smart. Tom Spine
	March 1997: Visual Explanations: Images and Quantities, Evidence and Narrative by Edward Tufte ~ © 1997   This is Tufte's third book on information design and display. All three are beautifully self-published to high standards of quality. All three contain numerous examples. All three are a wonderful source of inspiration. The first book, The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, discusses the display of numerical data on charts and graphs. It is a classic. The second book, Envisioning Information, expands to maps and other types of cartographic displays. In Visual Explanations, Tufte moves on to discuss the display of data that changes over time. In Tufte's own words, the three books are about "pictures of numbers, pictures of nouns, and pictures of verbs." Highly recommended -- all three. Tom Spine
	September 1996: Bringing Design to Software by Terry Winograd ~ © 1996   This book is a collection of essays that reflect on the software design process. Some are by people you probably have never heard of before. Some are by the obvious who should contribute to an effort like this (Don Norman, for example). Some are just plain classics (Mitch Kapor's "Software Design Manifesto"). Good book. Highly recommended. Tom Spine
	August 1996: About Face: The Essentials of User Interface Design by Alan Cooper ~ © 1995   We didn't read this, but instead I (Tom Spine) gave a one-session overview of the book. I loved About Face and I still highly recommend it. I think the key to this book is stated right up front. Cooper says the books contains two types of ideas, tactical and strategic. Tactical ideas are rules of thumb and guidelines. These are much the same as you can find in any number of user interface design books and style guides. Strategic ideas, however, are ways of thinking about user interfaces that are broader and deeper. I like to think of it this way: tactical ideas are like building codes, while strategic ideas are like architectural concepts. Building codes tell us to construct studs every 16 inches on center. Architectural concepts tell us we are building a modern victorian home. We have a plethora of building codes in user interface design today. We are sorely lacking architectural concepts, or as Cooper calls them, strategic ideas. While I don't agree with all of Cooper's strategic ideas, I applaud his efforts to try to develop them. Tom Spine
	May 1996: Designing Visual Interfaces: Communication Oriented Techniques by Kevin Mullet and Darrell Sano ~ © 1994   This book is an excellent discussion of user interface design from a visual design perspective. Tom Spine