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Ambient Findability: What We Find Changes Who We Become | 
 enlarge | Author: Peter Morville
Publisher: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Category: Book
List Price: £20.95
Buy New: £9.43
You Save: £11.52 (55%)
Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 204252
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 204
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.7 x 6 x 0.5
ISBN: 0596007655
Dewey Decimal Number: 025.04
EAN: 9780596007652
ASIN: 0596007655
Publication Date: September 26, 2005
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: New book. WE USE PRIORITY AIRMAIL ONLY for books from the USA. UK & European delivery is 7-10 days. Over 2,000,000 books sold to Amazon customers
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| Customer Reviews:
 Ambient Findability has entered my vocabulary to the amusement and bafflement of my colleagues. June 26, 2008
I loved this book. I have nothing to do with software or information architecture but found this book fascinating. And I think it helped me talk to our website designers a bit more knowledgeably.
So, I'm pretty unqualified to make any comment other than that I enjoyed it and have lent it to others who also enjoyed it - though politely rather than avidly.
Important and inspiring March 29, 2008
I guess you could say this is a meme map of Morville's observations, research and his ability to see into the future of the trends of Internet based technologies.
Its an interesting, and enlightening, discussion about what we as humans want and need from technology. It seems the text is intended to propagate more discussions and in turn discoveries around the subject of findability and technology. The book certainly makes you think about where we are heading as a society, but also the importance of the products we use and how they become integral to our lives.
Being able to orientate ourselves is a natural human instinct. In the 21st century, findability is a concept that we must ensure is present in the products that are developed.
Its an inspirational read for many reasons, never trying to present answers, but certainly showing the questions that we need to answer if we are to harness the information monster we have created.
You should expect to read something that will present concepts and not case studies or solutions to problems. This book is about the bigger picture and the troubles of information management we face as a society.
Verdict: A philosophical study of where we are, and where we are going that proves Morville is at the forefront of thought leadership when it comes to Information Architecture.
Intertwingling bites you over and over again June 6, 2007
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
This book reminds me a lot of some of the theses I have read in the field of Human/Computer interaction. That shouldn't be too surprising since it covers material about the ways that people interact with information - the fun part is that computers and the web are treated as an outgrowth of a universal human activity. Morville's broad-minded approach led me to more than one epiphany concerning the mission and design of a new business venture, so for me, it was almost a perfect book: a detailed exposition of core principles which I could apply to my existing projects.
That said, I am not an expert in HCI, although I have been a software professional for over 20 years. Some aspects of this book may also be considered flaws by people who do not think in the same ways that I do. Peter Morville relies fairly heavily on analogical reasoning, and he seems to have a healthy aversion to extremes. So in a sense, his book doesn't answer any questions, but it strongly suggests that the process of exploration is probably the answer. He makes it very clear, to anyone who didn't already realize it, that we are in the midst of a major socio-cultural revolution and can almost seem pedantic at times. But I can honestly say that I felt every page was worth reading.
And once you've read it you'll understand how by writing this review I am intertwingled with the findability of his works, and with my own.
 A worthwhile read April 24, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book is written in an easy to read, conversational style, almost in the tone of an extended blog post.
While not especially technical, this book does provide a strong starting point for the topic of information architecture, with particular regards to the relationship between different types of data. The content has been well researched, and the ample references and links can be regarded as a jumping-off point for delving into this broad topic in more detail.
Personally, I found it worthwhile spending time going with the author through various topics and reasoning, thinking about how these may be applied to my own projects, or perspective. Having said that, I already have a significant background in the topic, as such some of the book's perceived shortcomings may have been solely based on the fact that it is aimed at a different audience than myself.
I recommend this book for any web developer/designer's bookshelf, as I believe more "designers" and "programmers" should start considering themselves "interface developers", and therefore should have an appreciation for how their work will interact with their software user's lives.
One expectation I had of the book, considering it is from O'Reilly, was that it would have concrete development examples, which this book does not. It is more of a general discussion of the topic of information architecture, wayfinding and interaction.
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