Reviews: Book Reviews

“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”—commonly attributed to Mark Twain

Despite our technological advances, it seems that things just keep getting worse. Overpopulation, terrorism, natural disasters, lack of food and resources, crime, income inequality, and access to education are just some of the things with which humanity is contending. It makes one long for the good old days.

But is this perception of the world correct?

A critical skill for UX professionals is the ability to recognize our biases and evaluate the quality of the information we consume and develop. By recognizing the errors in our perception and in the information at hand, we can improve decision-making for ourselves and our teams. Read More

Scientists consider homo sapiens to be the most intelligent species among all life on Earth. Primarily through our use of technology and tools, we have become the apex predator and dominate the planet. Thus, despite troublesome viral pandemics such as COVID-19, the shot-in-the-dark possibilities of collisions with an asteroid or space junk, global warming, or the inevitable death of our Sun, we humans should, as a species, expect to have a long and prosperous existence.

While the human species is very successful as a whole, we tend to perform very poorly individually. Perhaps rightly, people imagine themselves the most intelligent form of life on Earth. However, on an individual basis, people are prone to many follies. We eat too much, exercise too little, waste resources, and engage in unhealthy or risky behavior that we know to be harmful—such as smoking or excessive drinking. Decisions on how to administer society are similarly troubled. People overestimate their abilities and knowledge and underestimate how much they should invest for retirement. Read More

Design thinking. It’s probably something you use in your job every day to tackle thorny design problems. But have you ever thought about using it to design your life?

In their book, Designing Your Life, Bill Burnett and Dave Evans outline a step-by-step process, using design thinking, to help people build lives in which they can find fulfillment and joy. This review highlights some techniques from the book that people have used successfully in achieving their professional and career objectives. To get a complete understanding of the Life Design process, though, you need to read the book. Read More