Interesting Books

Last modified: 7/6/99
This section lists books that visitors to this site may find of interest. (Yes, paper books. We read them, too!)

The authors of this web site periodically encounter books that we feel others may find interesting. They are not always specifically about Intranets. Feel free to send us recommendations of other books that fit this list.

Standard disclaimer: A listing here is not an endorsement. The recommendations come from a variety of sources, we may not have not read all the way through them, we don't check them for offensiveness, etc., just like web sites.

We have included links to amazon.com for each book where you can read other reviews and possibly purchase the book. Trellix Corporation, like many web sites that link to Amazon, receives a percentage of the money you spend when you follow the link and make a purchase. Trellix Corporation thanks you for helping support our web site in that way.

Historical Perspective
These books help give you an historical perspective on learning to use new technology.

The Victorian Internet: The Remarkable Story of the Telegraph and the Nineteenth Century's On-Line Pioneers
by Tom Standage
(amazon.com listing)

The telegraph represented the first time that humans could communicate well at great distances faster than they could get there by person. This book chronicles that development and its introduction into society, comparing and contrasting it to today's Internet.

Here's what Dan Bricklin wrote on Amazon about this book:

Great lesson on the introduction of new technology:

This book is a must read for people interested in the introduction of new technology. As the inventor of new technology (including VisiCalc, the PC spreadsheet) I marveled at the parallels with the adoption of the "old" technology of the telegraph. This story really puts the march of new things in perspective.

As an avid reader of the books by Henry Petroski (whose recommendation of this book appears on the back cover), I love anecdotes that help us learn how new technology advances and is assimilated by the general public. This book is full of such insights. Retelling these stories helps us in R&D explain to others how what they may think at first is a seemingly useless invention can actually change the world once its benefits are understood.

This book also shows the opposite, when people expect too much, reminding us to help restrain those that think there is more than is really there. (As Bill Gates reminded people, I believe, at the launch of Windows 95, it doesn't cure diseases, though you'd think so from the hoopla.) This book lets us give direct examples from the 1800's that seem obvious in hindsight.

The author, Tom Standage, appeared on the PBS radio program Fresh Air with Terry Gross on WHYY, Philadelphia, on February 22, 1999. The radio program has low speed and high speed RealAudio of that interview on their web site.
About Hypertext

(More to come.)
Usability

The Psychology of Everyday Things
by Don Norman
(amazon.com listing)

This is a classic book that helps you recognize unusable designs. While the book mainly covers household and other common objects, many of the problems it points out relate very strongly to web and intranet design. This book is best where it describes problems. An example is the problem with designing burner controls on an electric stove so that you know without thinking which control goes to which burner and its state. People have found this a great book to read with children to introduce them to good product design and critical thinking.

This is not an exhaustive list. We will be adding more over time.

Please let us know about other books you think are appropriate and how you feel about the books listed.