The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman
Designerly Ways of Knowing by Nigel Cross
Review by Advait:
Conceptualises a third form of thinking/cognition – designerly thinking. This is separate from the goal of ‘science’ (seeks to understand natural phenomena through systematic investigation) and ‘humanities’ (interprets human experience through analysis); designers focus on creating artificial solutions to improve human situations. This sort of shows the 'is vs ought' distinction between sciences and design, where designers try to show ways how the world 'ought to be’. It also tried to get to a different form of ‘reasoning’ that designers do, which isn't necessarily inductive or deductive, it's kinda like abductive or retroductive. Also builds out an epistemology for designers that is a bit different from science or humanities.
How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy by Jenny Odell
Review by Amy:
I really like this book but I also thought she doesn’t do a great job when she veers into HCI, somewhere in the latter half when she discusses designs for limiting phone usage, etc. but it’s not really a design book. It is inspiring/has lots of great history and art related discussion.
The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why it Matters by Priya Parker
Review by Shreya:
Interesting read that talks about being intentional when designing spaces, gatherings, and the power of making meaningful connections. Definitely relevant to designing and architecting digital spaces and communities.
Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action by Elinor Ostrom
Review by Leijie:
It presents a detailed anthropological analysis of how local communities with common properties evolve their governance, inspiring a lot of studies about online communities today.
Flash Teams: Leading the Future of On-Demand, AI-Enhanced Work by Melissa Valentine & Michael Bernstein
The Networked Leviathan by Paul Gowder
Breaking the Social Media Prism: How to Make Our Platforms Less Polarizing by Chris Bail
Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
Alone Together by Sherry Turkle
Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age by Sherry Turkle
Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community by Robert D. Putnam
Crowdsourcing: Why the Power of the Crowd is Driving the Future of Business by Jeff Howe
