Rosenfeld, L., Orville, P., & Arango, J. (2015). Information architecture: For the web and beyond (4th edition). O'Reilly.

Information architecture (IA) refers to the structured approach to designing websites (or other information environments) to make the sites more usable. The em>Information Architecture book is well written and easy to read. It includes enough pictorial examples to make the text visible (some of the websites are getting a bit long in the tooth and should be replaced by more current examples). The book is divided into three sections: Introducing IA, Basic Principles of IA, and Getting IA Done,.

The book starts with four chapters that are foundations, related to what IA is and its place in the website world. If you've spent time of the web, then the first three chapters can be skimmed, although Chapter 4: Design for Understanding is worth a bit more time. The second section of the book is comprised of six chapters and really constitutes the meat of the book. Of special interest are chapters 6-8, addressing organizing, labeling, and navigating. On smaller sites, the organizing can be straight forward. For example, a local bookstore's website (Books and Crannies), has four main sections: About, Books, Events, Contact. But on larger sites (see Strand Books), the organization is a major challenge and there's no "correct" way to organize a site, at least algorithmically, but there are better and worse ways to organize a chapter.

Part of organizing is labeling. What do you call the sections, categories, and types in the site - labels that will make sense to users at first glance? For a bookstore, are old books called Rare Books, Antiquarian Book, Old Books, Classic Books, Collectable Books, Used and Rare Books, Fine Books, or Antique Books? It make depend on exactly what's being offered, or it may depend on the client's/designer's preference, or, following a UX approach, it would depend on research that examines who bookstore patrons view that type of book. Labeling is important as it also leads to clarity in navigation. How is a site constructed that facilitates a user finding what they want?

Overall, the book is a nice introduction to information architecture. It's not a deep dive into the main ideas of organizing, labeling, and navigating, but it give a nice direction and basic approaches to site development.

Wells, M. (2018). Rogue protocol. Tor.

This is book 3 of Martha Wells' Murderbot sextet science fiction series. In the first book, All Systems Red, the security bot (SecUnit) with human bits, who calls itself "Murderbot," protects a group of scientists working on an unpopulated world from a group of GrayCris mercenaries and bots, a company that want's the spoils of the new world all to themselves. In the second book, Artificial Condition, Murderbot tries for find out more about its murky history (murky following a partial memory wipe, after the bot killed 57 people it was hired to protect) and discovers what it was led to believe wasn't the whole truth. After discovering the truth of its history (n book two), in book three, Rogue Protocol, Murderbot sets off to find out more about GrayCris, the company that tried to kill both itself and its scientist clients from Book one.

Murderbot's adventure takes it to Milu, a planet where terraforming was attempted, but failed. Murderbot joins a group whose task is to assess the planet for another group who might want to work on the planet. Upon reaching the abandoned terraforming facility, the assessment team is attacked and almost killed. Murderbot works with the assessment team to protect them and to figure out why someone wants them all dead. En route, Murderbot determines that GrayCris is somehow involved in the murder attempts.

Book 3 moved the narrative of Murderbot forward, providing an avenue for it to explore its more human side. The book also was a quick and lively read. The plots of the books seem well contained (a beginning, middle, and end) and not contrived. The author also connects book 3 to book 1, which provides a nice story arc.

These books are a nice break from reading peer-reviewed articles and textbooks. They're a quick read, but I've found myself up until 2 am to satisfy my interests as to what's going to happen next - always a good sign.

The Murderbot Diaries

1. All Systems Red (2017)


2. Artificial Condition (2018)


3. Rogue Protocol (2018)


4. Exit Strategy (2018)


5. Fugitive Telemetry (2021)


6. Network Effect (2020)

Yablonski, J. (2020). Laws of UX. O'Reilly.

Web design is both art and science. The science part is mostly the application of psychology-related principles; thus, Laws of UX. The book describes 10 psychological/behavioral laws . . . ok, most of these laws aren't "laws", but rather, findings . . . ok, ok, some of these findings aren't actually "findings," since they're not ground in empirical data . . . ok, ok, ok, so, how about we call these good-ideas-that-seem-to-work that are based on data, theories, ideas, people we trust, or bathroom walls at MIT.

For example, Yablonski's first law is Jakob's Law: Users spend most of their time on other (web) sites, and they prefer your site to work the same way as al the other sites they already know. The idea is that if your site looks/works the same as other sites, your users will be able to transfer their knowledge from their experience with the other sites onto your site, and they will be able to use your site more quickly and more easily. The author doesn't discuss this law relative to any (peer-reviewed, data-based) studies, but rather, in reference to a recommendation by Jakob Nielsen, a highly respected usability expert. The author also relates this finding to the psychological concept of mental models, an individual's construction of a representation of how the world works.

Jakob's Law is really a heuristic, a general and practical approach, based on experience, that often works, but isn't guaranteed to work. The author could have grounded this approach in other psychological concepts as well, including learning, transfer, schemas and scripts, cognitive load, and prior knowledge, but in a 10-page chapter, there is limited. space for further grounding. This lack of grounding is both the book's strength and weakness. It's a strength in that a long theoretical or empirical discussion doesn't get in the way of the book's practical message. It's a weakness in that a deeper theoretical and empirical discussion would provide the reader with a greater understanding of why certain characteristics of web development are beneficial to users (and designers and clients) and this deeper understanding would be more likely to be applied and transferred to other development projects.

Here are Yablonski's laws:

1. Jakob's Law: Users spend most of their time on other sites, and they prefer your site to work the same way as all the other sites they already know.


2. Fitts' Law: The time to acquire a target is a function of the distance to and size of the target.


3. Hick's Law: The time it takes to make a decision increases with the number and complexity of choices available.


4. Miller's Law: The average person can only keep 7±2 items in there working memory.


5. Postel's Law: Be conservative in what do you do, be liberal in what you accept from others.


6. Peak-End Rule: People judge and experience largely based on how they felt at its peak and at its end, rather than on the total sum or average of every moment of the experience.


7. Aesthetic-Usability Effect: Users often perceive aesthetically pleasing design as design that's more usable.


8. von Restorff Effect: When multiple similar objects are present, the one that differs from the rest is most likely to be remembered.


9. Tesler's Law: For any system there is a certain amount of complexity that cannot be reduced.


10. Doherty Threshold: Productivity soars when a computer and it's user interact at a pace that ensures that neither has to wait on the other.

The book provides some useful approaches to developing websites, but lacks a depth that would benefit user's in the long run.

Marsh, J. (2016). UX for beginners: A crash course in 100 short lessons. O'Reilly.

This book is just what the title says it is, 100 short lessons addressing the basics of user experience (UX). The book addresses essential concepts such as the role of the user, the function of psychology, the need for motivation, the importance of research, the structure of information, the application of visual design principles, the nature of wireframes and prototypes, and ultimately, the content of designing digital environments.

For each topic addressed, the reader gets typically two pages worth of information, so the book is not designed to go in depth, but rather, to touch on the essential concepts of UX and provide fundamental information. For example, on the section addressing attention, the author states, "attention is like a spotlight," which is good. The author then goes on to indicate there are several ways to gain user's attention, such as, motion, surprise, big text, sound, and contrast and color. The author also indicates that attention to one element necessarily means a lack of attention toward another element. The author also often includes in a lesson an overall nugget, in this case, for this lesson, "Good UX is reductive, not expensive" — a version of less is more.

The book is a nice introduction for beginners, although with the lack of depth, a true beginner will need some support in applying the lessons of the book. This book might best be appropriate for an experienced beginner, who has some knowledge and experience with UX already, so they can apply the lessons within their developing knowledge framework.

Wells, M. (2018). Artificial condition. Tor.

After Murderbot survives book one, it begins a search for information regarding its past. In book one we find out that Murderbot is in fact a "murderbot" because it was responsible for the deaths of 57 of its human charges. Murderbot doesn't know the details, but has been led to believe the murders were due to a malfunction of its control module #&mdash the bot wants to know for sure.

Murderbot catches a ride on an autonomous/non-crew-piloted science transport ship to a central hub and then a shuttle to the RaviHyral Mining Facility Q Station, where the havoc it wreaked (attacking its human charges) occurred. Unfortunately, for Murderbot, in order to gain passage on the shuttle to the mining facility, it will need a pass, which means it will need to sign up as a security consultant to a group of scientists. Not its first choice, but a necessary one.

At the RaviHyral Mining Facility Q Station, Murderbot discovers two truths, that its involvement in the havoc wreaking was not what it was led to believe and that the company in charge of the scientists he agreed to protect wants then dead. More mystery and intrigue, as well as shooting and killing, just as in book one, as Murderbot must keep its new human charges safe.

Reading these books is fun, a genre I can read without a highlighter and pen in my hand to note and denote important passages. The downside of the fun-ness is that I end up reading later into the night than my hypothalamus would like. I've never been good at balancing work and life, but this feels good — a bit more life.

The Murderbot Diaries

1. All Systems Red (2017)


2. Artificial Condition (2018)


3. Rogue Protocol (2018)


4. Exit Strategy (2018)


5. Fugitive Telemetry (2021)


6. Network Effect (2020)

Wells, M. (2017). All systems red. Tor.

All Systems Red is the first book (of five) in Martha Wells' The Murderbot Diaries. This science fiction series focuses on a security bot with human bits that has hacked its control module, making is self-governing, rather than at the beck-and-call of its owner. The books are generally short, about 150 pages (the final block is twice that), and the stories move quickly. All Systems Red won both a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award.

The books are told from the perspective of "Murderbot" itself (Murderbot is the name the cyborg has given itself). In All Systems Red the Murderbot is assigned to a group of scientists exploring a particular location on a particular planet (no actual planet names are given) as security (a SecBot). This narrative position makes the unfolding of the bot's personality, as well as the plot, particularly interesting. There is mystery and intrigue, as well as shooting and killing, as it become apparent that the science unit has been misled.

The story is short and swift, and the development of the bot is fun and entertaining. Given the 150+ page length, the book was just what I was looking for as a diversion from the technical reading I've been immersed in. There are five more books 😀 so more diversion to come.

The Murderbot Diaries

1. All Systems Red (2017)


2. Artificial Condition (2018)


3. Rogue Protocol (2018)


4. Exit Strategy (2018)


5. Fugitive Telemetry (2021)


6. Network Effect (2020)

Curie, E. (1937). Madame Curie: A biography. Da Capo.

The biography of Marie Curie (1867-1934) was written by her daughter, Eve Curie (1904-2007), and published in 1937. I have just started the book, so I haven't much to say. The introduction by Eve Curie was sweet and touching, and her writing is graceful and well-paced. She is a good story teller and I look forward to the next hundred pages.

Ormrod, J. (2020). Human Learning (8th edition). Pearson.

Yes, I'm including a textbook in my "What I'm Reading" section . . . because that's what I just read (600+ pages). I've been a fan of Ormrod's Human Learning text since I first started teaching human learning in 1997. At that point, it was the third edition, the current text is the eighth edition.

The content is fairly common across multiple other human learning texts, but Ormrod provides a narrative flow to her writing that is clear and easy to follow, and includes explicit links to "Educational Implications." Over the years, the text has grown a bit, but not too much. One of the things I appreciate about the text is it hasn't grown by including new "boxes" of new information, rather than integrating the new information into the text.

In addition, the text provides an appropriate level of depth for a first course in human learning. Ormrod has included citations and the results of studies that get the student in touch with the original sources of the information. Finally, her organization makes it easier for students to organize the content in their minds.

Overall Thoughts
The Ormrod Human Learning text is student-friendly, providing depth, breadth, organization, and flow. It's not quite like reading Harry Potter, but what is? Ultimately, it's good for a course and it's good to have on your shelf as a reference.

Chiang, T. (1998). Story of your life. In P. N. Hayden (Ed.), Starlight 2 (pp. 257-313). Tor.

Why go back and read a short story from 20+ years ago? Chiang's story is the impetus for the 2016 film Arrival, which I love, with Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner. Indeed, Chiang wrote the screenplay with Eric Heisserer. After watching a movie (that I like), I will often read up on the movie on the web -- Wikipedia, Rotten Tomatoes, fan and movie sites, history sites -- to get a better idea of who directed the move, if the history or facts are correct, or, in the case of movies like Tenet, what the heck happened at the end.

The short story was not a disappointment. The story and the movie follow similar trajectories, not exactly the same, but very similar. Reading the short story filled in a few quality details and provided some insights into what changed in the movie. The story involves the Earth being visited by aliens, not Aliens aliens that want to use humans to create more aliens, or Independence Day aliens that want to destroy the world, but benign aliens. Chiang's short-story aliens arrive and leave without notice or intent. At first, I thought this would be unfulfilling, but it wasn't.

Chiang's prose draws the reader into a mystery. Why did the aliens come? What do they want? How do we learn to communication with them? This is a story about smart people coming to terms with big questions: What would we do if we knew our future? How much pain is love worth? How much agency do people really have?

Overall Thoughts
In the end, Story of your life, is thoughtful and a heartfelt examination of the heart . . . that happens to involve aliens (no, not in that way, no human-alien romance).

Busch, B., & Watson, E. (2019). The science-of-learning: 77 studies that every teacher needs to know. Routledge.

This text provides a very short summary of the main ideas from 77 studies that resulted in a positive finding toward learning. As the introduction states:

Supporting teachers in the quest to help students learn as effectively and efficiently as possible, the science of learning translates 77 of the most important and influential studies on the topic of learning into accessible and easily digestible overviews.

The overview for each study is two pages in length and consists of four sections: The Study, The Main Findings, Related Research, and Classroom Implications. The Study section provides a one or two paragraph description of the question or problem being addressed and the essential methods of the research. The Main Findings section includes one or two sentence explanations of each of the study’s main findings (typically three to five main findings). The Related Research section is typically two to three paragraphs relating one or two other research studies that are pertinent to the findings of the study at hand. Finally, the Classroom Implications section is comprised of two paragraphs discussing how the findings of the study might be applied to the classroom.

Overall Thoughts
The way the text is written, each of the research studies is easy to read. The descriptions of the studies and the findings are clearly articulated and get to the point quickly. The related research provides nice links and a bit of depth to the discussion, although the classroom implications are fairly shallow.

One concern with this type of discussion of a research study is the lack of context. There is addressing of how related research expand, challenge, or apply the study’s finding. What one gains in brevity, one loses in depth of understanding, which leads to the question: Would a novice or naïve reader be able to fully understand the principles discussed? How would actual K-12 or higher education teachers apply the findings?

Kirschner, P., & Hendrick, C. (2020). How learning happens: Seminal works in educational psychology and what they mean in practice. Routledge.

This text is not a story, nor is it the examination of a particular concept or construct, but rather, this text is a resource for anyone interested in some of the foundational research that guides the applied world of educational psychology. This focus is captured in the text’s subtitle: Seminal works in educational psychology and what they mean and practice. This focus is also captured in the Preface:

If we are to move towards a truly evidence-informed approach to designing and developing the best learning experiences for our students, then we must stand on the shoulders of giants and build upon their hard-earned discoveries that have been independently verified and which have achieved consensus and the wiring or scientific. (p. xii)

The text addresses 25 scholarly articles (or books) distributed across five categories: the brain, prerequisites for learning, learning activities, the teacher, and learning in context. Each article, in turn, is comprised of five sections: why the work is important, the article's abstract (or a paraphrase of it), a description of the research, the article's implications for education and the classroom, and takeaways.

The article-based chapters address topics such as expertise, cognitive load, depth of processing, intelligence, prior knowledge, dual coding, attribution theory, scaffolding, problem-solving, direct instruction, feedback, situated cognition, and communities of practice. Most of the authors will be familiar to those with a background in educational or cognitive psychology: Chi, Feltopvich, & Glaser; Sweller; Craik & Lockhard; Clark & Pavio; Ausubel; Zimmerman; Bandura; Weiner; Newell & Simon; Rosenshine; Brown, Collins, and Duguid.

For example, Chapter 10 addresses Weiner’s An Attributional Theory of Achievement Motivation and Emotion (Psychology Review, 92, 548-573) foundational article on attribution theory. The chapter addresses why academic task success/failure attributions are importation (i.e., causal perceptions of task success/failure impact an individual’s future expectations and motivations for behavior), followed by an examination of the article’s abstract (i.e., common causal perceptions of task success/failure impact one’s expectancy and affect toward future success/failure which, in turn, impacts motivation toward those future tasks). The chapter then provides an overview of the main concepts within the article (e.g., the relationship between the locus [internal, external], stability [stable, unstable], and controllability [controllable, uncontrollable] of causes), as well as brief conclusions. The chapter ends with a series of takeaways (e.g., “the perceived cause of academic performance is as significant as the actual cause.”).

Overall Thoughts
I found the book a nice reminder of some of the essential and foundational articles within educational/cognitive psychology. Reading the various chapters led me to go back and re-read some of the original articles. There in, I believe, resides the value of the book. The book itself is not a replacement for reading the original articles. The chapter summaries are nice, but lack the depth, breadth, and context of the original articles. In addition, while the 25 articles selected are all foundational (although I would argue against including Chapter 17’s Kirschner, Sweller, and Clark article), there could easily be a version two or three of this text with another 25 or 50 foundational articles.

I am ultimately left with the question: Who should read this book? The text seems inappropriate in an introductory educational or cognitive psychology class, at the undergraduate or graduate level, as the chapters do not provide enough depth to adequately inform novice students of the topics at hand. It also seems inappropriate for an advanced educational or cognitive psychology class as those students should read the original articles. The text seems most appropriate for someone who is five or 10 years beyond their final degree to serve as a reminder of some of the essential ideas within the educational or cognitive psychology domain.