2009/3/19 Alan Cooper <[email protected]> > Dave, > > Here are some excellent books that I recommend. They don't address > mental models directly, but then what would be the fun of that? They all > shed light on the inescapable fact that "mental models" are things > inside the head of human beings. >
If you don't mind a philosophical approach, and a book that appears to be from outside the IxD canon, I would personally recommend "Metaphors we live by" by Johnson and Lakoff ( http://www.amazon.co.uk/Metaphors-We-Live-G-Lakoff/dp/0226468011, http://www.amazon.com/Metaphors-We-Live-G-Lakoff/dp/0226468011) - it very much opened my eyes to the ways in which we use metaphor, not just as a way of enrichening our words (or, in IxD, structuring user interfaces) but in fact as "conceptual metaphors". I don't think they use the phrase "mental models", but this is what they describe. My favourite bit? From the "25 years on" afterword, pointing out that even as logical a domain as mathematics is riddled with metaphor - from the "number line" on... ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [email protected] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
