The perversity of inanimate objects may not be natural after all. Donald Norman considers usability in product design, how cognitive psychology can illuminate the kinds of mistakes that people make when using devices, and what needs to be done to optimize the design of user controls.
My copy of this book is the 1988 paperback edition, which has blurbs on the back cover from both Douglas Hofstadter (author of n  Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braidn) and Isaac Asimov.

Still one of the best books on product design out there. The examples are useful and plentiful and the framework makes sense. Downsides: written like a textbook (it's a slog) but without beneficial textbook features like quotes, callouts, and bulleted summaries. Feels a bit like being stuck next to a very informed fanatical bombast on a 5-hour flight, but hes a genius so maybe it's worth it.

One of my favorite books from my user-interface design days. Norman's accessible, humorous, insightful, common-sense work is seminal in the field -- probably the most important book to me across my eight years in the business world.

At one point they (the publishers?) renamed the "POET" into The Design of Everyday Things, which (as DOET) just wasn't poetic enough, I guess. I'm thrilled that it's going by POET again.

Very interesting book about how design often fails us in the everyday things that we use. It considers many of the principles of design that must be properly implemented so that working a washing machine is self-explanatory, or at least self-discoverable. Though it was written almost 25 years ago, Norman's insights hold true, even when he talks about the beginning of 'hypertext' or the internet. A great read for any type of designer.

If you just choose one or two items to read about at a time, you will almost magically find yourself at the end of the book much sooner than imagined and wishing for more!

One of the most profoundly influential books of my life. Explains human errors and mistakes and how to design to build in perfection.

Written by MIT / Cal U prof of engineering/industrial design. Became aware of him after reading an article talking about the Challenger explosion and introduced the idea of normal disasters.

A must read for designers of all things and humans in general ...

This book is required reading if you make anything that people interact with.