The Humane Interface: New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems vs Rationality: From AI to Zombies
When comparing The Humane Interface: New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems vs Rationality: From AI to Zombies, the Slant community recommends The Humane Interface: New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems for most people. In the question“What are the most influential books every programmer should read?” The Humane Interface: New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems is ranked 19th while Rationality: From AI to Zombies is ranked 22nd. The most important reason people chose The Humane Interface: New Directions for Designing Interactive Systems is:
The author takes an in depth look at "cognitive engineering" and applying it to software design (ex. How users form habits when interacting with software).
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Looks at the psychology behind interaction design
The author takes an in depth look at "cognitive engineering" and applying it to software design (ex. How users form habits when interacting with software).
Pro Will make you smarter
Your intelligence is being used to defeat itself. Learn how to stop that.
Pro Mindblowing ideas
From (friendly) AI to (philosophical) zombies. Also Pebblesorters. And why humans are insane.
Pro Fictional interludes
These are quality science fiction short stories in their own right.
Pro Funny
Pro Engaging
Cons
Con The point is not often clear
The Human Interface can be a confusing read for a variety of reasons.
The author is frequently referencing one of his projects, Canon Cat, even when there is no beneficial/relevant reason to do so.
There are some contradictions throughout the book, and plenty of negativity towards the studies he mentions (however, he does not often use studies to back up his own claims).
The book does not have illustrations or screenshots, making it difficult to follow at times.
Con Not enough citations
Just Google it.
Con Has some highly technical references in places
Things like physics (relativity, quantum mechanics), mathematics and computer programming. Scared? Didn't think so.
Con Long
The chapters are relatively short and digestible essays and short stories. The problem: there are 333 of them. On paper, this would take volumes, but this is an ebook. You'll get a lot out of it long before you finish though.