一个作者只要写了一本好书，他的其它书都会跟着大卖，这是毋庸置疑的。我在读大学时缴的图书馆管理费可没浪费掉，曾经借过Bill Bryson的《A Short History of Nearly Everything》，以轻松有趣的方式写出科学上的历史。《At Home: A Short History of Private Life》则是讲述家里物品的历史，这应该如Donald Norman的《The Design of Everyday Things》，具有让人了解身边小物品。
Doors come in amazing variety. Some open only if a buttton is pushed, and some don’t appear to open at all, having neither buttons, nor hardware, nor any other sign of their operation. The door might be operated with a foot pedal. Or maybe it is voice operated, and we must speak the magic phrase. (“Open SimSim!”) In addition, some doors have signs on them: pull, push, slide, lift, ring bell, insert card, type password, smile, rotate, bow, dance, or, perhaps, just ask. Somehow, when a device as simple as a door has to come with an instruction manual —— even a one-word manual —— then it is a failure, poorly designed.
—— Donald A. Norman: The Design of Everyday Things
这句话讲的很好：“Somehow, when a device as simple as a door has to come with an instruction manual —— even a one-word manual —— then it is a failure, poorly designed.”（当一扇门有说明书，就算只是一个字的说明书，那这就是失败的设计）
Real tasks are not quite so simple. The original goal may be imprecisely specified — perhaps “get something to eat,” “get to work,” “get dressed,” “watch television.” Goals do not state precisely what to do — where and how to move, what to pick up. To lead to actions goals must be transformed into specific statements of what is to be done, statements that I call intentions. A goal is something to be achieved, often vaguely stated. An intention is a specific action taken to get to the goal. Yet even intentions are not specific enough to control actions.
—— Donald A. Norman: The Design of Everyday Things
The real point of the example is not that some people have erroneous theories; it is that everyone forms theories (mental models) to explain what they have observed. In the case of the thermostat, the design gives no hint as to the correct answer. In the absence of external information, people are free to let their imaginations run free as long as the mental models they develop account for the facts as they perceive them.
—— Donald A. Norman: The Design of Everyday Things
Devices in the home have developed some related problems: functions and more functions, controls and more controls. I do not think that simple home appliances — stoves, washing machines, audio and television sets — should look like Hollywood’s idea of a spaceship control room. They already do, much to the consternation of the consumer who, often as not, has lost (or cannot understand) the instruction manual, so — faced with the bewildering array of controls and displays — simply memorized one or two fixed settings to approximate what is desired. The whole purpose of the deisgn is lost.
—— Donald A. Norman: The Design of Everyday Things
