Young and Brilliant

As a sort of super-readings, I’m presenting you all with a complete list of books that I read in 2009. I’ve been working on this for a couple weeks, it’s taken me longer to get together my comments and whatnot than I thought it would, so I apologize for that. Enjoy.

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Readings of the week from December 14th - 20th.

• The Harry Potter Economy from The Economist
  This article essentially takes a look at the history of the Harry Potter books and movies, and how they made it into being published and produced books and movies. It also looks at all the different stakeholders in the Harry Potter universe, from relatively obscure actors to the fandom to toy makers.
• What Good is Design Research? by Adam Richardson
  Frog strikes me as one of the ore thoughtful design firms out there. This was another response to Don Norman’s piece that I linked to before. The thing that I really liked about this article was this quote right here: “This touches on something that we have been talking about a lot at frog recently - the pendulum has swung so much toward doing user research that we (as a profession) risk losing the magic that comes from conceptual thinking. The seductiveness of evidence and insight that comes from design research can push inspiration, intuition, hypotheses, hunches and non-linear thinking to the sidelines. Analysis overwhelms creativity.”
  I found that pretty interesting, too bad there wasn’t more discussion. The other thing I found interesting was the idea of the definition of ‘design research’ needing to expand.
• Why Are Europeans White? from Google Knol by Frank W. Sweet
  Everyone has seen the Ted talk that talks about skin pigmentation, about how people towards the equator tend to have darker skin and it gets less so as you move outwards. But this article considers why Europeans in particular are so uniquely depigmented. And what they found was that this actually had to do with agricultural habits in Europe. Fascinating bit of geeky science.
• A Fish Oil Story by Paul Greenberg
  Moving along from getting vitamin D to getting another health supplement de jour, here’s a shocking article about the environmental effects of our interest in this supplement.
• Digital Ethnography for Social Interaction Design by Brynn Marie Evans
  I had the opportunity to meet Brynn last week, and she’s great. This is an interesting look at different ‘digital ethnography’ research tools she used to develop her understanding of social search.

Slightly stale but still delicious readings from December 7th through the 13th.

• Alexander Wang, for Cool Kids, and Now You by Ruth La Ferla
  If you’ve ever met me, you know that I am a huge Alexander Wang fan. And it carries through to this article - I love everything about it. Looking at yourself not as an artist, but as someone making and producing clothing that real women have to wear is important, but more than that, I like that A.Wang is cognizant of the fact that he runs a business. So much of the “career path” in creative industries is laid out for you: there’s an expected path of success. That he’s able to go beyond that and define his own is inspiring.
• Score another one for Recombinant Innovation by Andrew Hargadon
  This article looks at how a couple of researchers modeled all the possible configurations for the H1N1 protein’s shape and then used this information to search the database of drugs for possible combatants. What I find most interesting is two fold: (1) the use of computing to solve these tricky biological problems is something we’re going to see more and more, and protein folding is a major part of that. (2) Is the discussion of the pharmaceutical industry. The pharmaceutical industry is certainly broken in a lot of ways, and tools like this are an opportunity, if they can be leveraged in the right industry structure.
• Hiring Secret Sauce from the Meebo blog
  What I really liked about this was Meebo having the courage to re-evaluate the problem. Instead of just saying, ‘this is the way everyone else does this,’ having the guts to go in and say, ‘What are we really looking for here and how can we do that best?’ is fantastic. Clear thinking is such a rare thing these days. Also note that there’s so much that’s interesting about evaluation systems and the way they hit or miss their targets. They often end up becoming the end to themselves, where memorization or ability to be tested is ultimately more important for students to learn than knowledge.
• TOXO - A Conversation With Robert Sapolsky
  A really interesting video/transcript looking at this crazy parasite, Toxo, and the way in which it affects rats and humans. Which is to say, it makes them reckless. Sapolsky goes through and looks at the behavioral effects of this parasite, and the implications of it. I wonder if something like this could be used as ‘doping’ in extreme sports. Robert Sapolsky is just so generally fascinating.
• Analysis catalysis from the Economist
  A quick article about design and how it is different than what is traditionally taught at business schools, and about how it fosters new ideas. Also of note is this quick read on the Wallas Model for the Process of Creativity.
• Nueron Network Goes Awry, and Brain Becomes an iPod by Carl Zimmer
  If you haven’t heard of musical hallucinations, you will now. They’re a curious thing, and I found the article even more interesting in terms of the idea that a brain network can be “underworked.” I wish the writer had pushed the doctors and others a bit more on what the implications were for the brain in general.
• Technology First, Needs Last by Don Norman
  This article made a little bit of a splash in December. It’s really too bad I didn’t make a post about this, but maybe someday I still will. The short 30 second nugget is that Norman seems to have bought into a lot of the crap (excuse my language) that has been spun around “design thinking.” Sure, the technological innovations happened to be from inventors without much design experience, but I don’t think anyone ever kidded themselves that designers would be magically inventing transporters after understanding that people hate their morning commute. Also, most of science and invention is incremental, or at least building on the bricks of people in front of them. Similarly, in order to carry them through to the point where they were useful to people, inventions often required much more of the traditional design skills. I can point to one of those, the personal computer, and say that a long history of HCI facilitated its adoption, and had that thinking never taken place, the machines certainly wouldn’t be so useful today.

Here are the extremely delayed readings of the weeks from November 28th to December 6th.

1. Up To Nothing by Rands In Response
   A great blog post about how essential it is to just, do nothing some days. I think this is one of the sorts of ideas that drive my blog here, because I do believe that discovery of unexpected and new things, seemingly unrelated to what you’re currently doing, can result in interesting changes and whatnot in your work. General curiosity and awareness of the world is a good thing, something that I don’t think we put a lot of stock into in our super-specialized world of today.

2. Creative Generalist Q&A: Jane Fulton Suri
   This interview with Ideo’s Chief Creative Officer, Jane Fulton Suri, is pretty interesting. Jane has some great ideas on thinking and observing. I’d also recommend, if you ever get the chance, to check out her book Thoughtless Acts.

3. Is The Paradox of Choice Not So Paradoxical At All? By Stephen Dubner
   I only link to this article in the Freakonomics blog because it seems like everyone has heard of the paradox of choice, and yet, it’s never quite seemed correct to me.

4. As Sewers Fill, Waste Poisons Waterways by Charles Duhigg
   Yeah, ok, being the nerd that I am, I totally read this article about the sewer system. Still, it was pretty interesting – or maybe just one of those “can’t look away from a car crash” type phenomenon.

5. Monitoring Live Brains Reveals Plasticity by Maggie Koerth-Baker
   Plasticity in the brain is one of those things that makes me hopeful about life. Imagine how depressing it would be if scientists had discovered the opposite – i.e., beyond a certain point, it was nearly impossible to change and alter our brain patterns? Score one for free will, folks.

6. What Geithner Got Right by David Brooks
   The economics of this article aside, what I find most interesting is this description of Geithner’s thinking process. If Brooks is correct, Geithner has some habits worth picking up. And I’m not arguing for the absence of passionate rage, but I do think the ability to temper that with clear thinking is important – the two are different tools appropriate to different situations.

7. Health Care Savings Could Start in the Cafeteria by Melanie Warner
   An interesting article about how health care costs could be improved simply by helping people to eat better. While I definitely think this is true, I think one of the things that the company they’re talking about (Full Yield) is doing that’s so crucial is this idea of reducing cooking time while maintaining healthy food. And distribution through corporations is a good idea, since it ensures a pretty consistent, predictable demand.

8. Tall Stories by Tom Stafford
   Improv and confabulation, inventing and creativity. Standard fare for me, really. But I do feel that real creativity, a good brainstorm or prototyping session, has a lot in common with improv – and a lot we could learn about slipping into that feeling of “soft focus” that I cherish so much.

9. GlaxoSmithKline Signs $540 Million Deal for Nicotine Vaccine by Erica Westly
   Another interesting tidbit: can we cure nicotine addiction with a vaccine? And the way they’ve done it (by not allowing the nicotine to reach receptors in the brain) seems clever (though one wonders what purpose those receptors might be filling, and what we’re doing by blocking any nicotine from ever getting to them).

November 16th - 27th.

• Into the Zombie Underworld by Mischa Berlinski
  This piece is haunting, fascinating, riveting, mysterious… One of the best things I’ve read this year, definitely.
• Secret Websites, Coded Messages: The new World of Immersive Games by Frank Rose
  I’ve been thinking about this kind of massive collaboration. We’re not just seeing it in games, but seeing it in all sorts of efforts that take place online. This collaboration is really interesting to me, because I think it’s a new and different sort of habit that people get into, and I’m curious about how far it will spread, how people fall into it, etc. The article is a little bit old, but does communicate these kinds of efforts. PS, if anyone wants to talk to me about this (I’d love to hear about your experience), send me an email or IM!
• Thinking Science by Henry Petroski
  Culture shock. What he’s saying makes perfect sense, but it’s not surprising to think about engineers and scientists being lumped together. It’s also not surprising that people would get upset about this.
  Glee by Wheelchair Dancer
  I’m a big fan of Glee, its an amazing TV show, but its interesting to hear this take on this particular episode (I didn’t even know there was such a thing as wheelchair dancers). Again, there’s some issues of wanting respect. What I think is interesting too, though, is the idea that free flow of information suggests that any show should do its best to be authentic by actually understanding the people and issues it chooses to represent, versus drawing conclusions. What a HCD-y idea there.
• After Microsoft, bringing a High-Tech Eye to Professional Kitchens by Kenneth Chang
  Another look at the fascinating work of Nathan Myhrvold and his little gang of inventors. This time, he’s talking about food science. Its amazing what some basic scientific understanding and creativity can lead to… (for more on Myhrvold, check out this article by Malcolm Gladwell).
• Individualism, Identity and Bicycles in Northern California by Verlyn Klinkenborg
  Oh, Stanford bikes. How I love you, when I’m not worried about being pummeled by you.
• Tomorrow’s weather: Cloudy, with a chance of fractals by Robert Matthews
  An interesting article that looks at modeling weather patterns with fractals. Although the math may not be so simple, the model apparently works.

I think these are from November 9th - 15th.

• Bruce Mau’s Incomplete Manifesto for Growth
  I love this little inspirational list of things you can do to keep growing.
• Making Health Care Better by David Leonhardt
  This was a NYT Magazine cover article, and it definitely has the quality of one. This one in particular pertains to evidence-based medicine, and I appreciated it for its modest view on the often-controversial topic. It’s important to me to keep in mind that these sorts of data-driven techniques are extremely valuable and useful, but there’s certain situations in which they don’t work. I think, also, that it’s interesting in that the methods developed here allow for some opportunity for doctors to trust their intuition, and that balance is good.
• “Just add an egg” - Usability, User Experience and Dramaturgy by Harry Brignull
  You hear these types of points being made all the time in the design world, so that isn’t exactly unique, but there’s something about this story that really sticks for whatever reason.
• What computer science can teach economics by Larry Hardesy
  Mixing what we know about computer science (P =NP, anybody?) and game theory, we can make some new arguments about human behavior. Interesting whenever these esoteric thoughts come back to being an accurate reflection of human behavior.

November 1st - 8th.

1. Everyday Creativity by Carlin Flora
   A great article on how to start thinking more creatively. The magic bullet? Get in the habit. Try to think creatively everyday, flex your creative muscles a bit, not just on the “big” projects.
   

   Ivcevic found that students who practiced forms of everyday creativity share, on average, certain personality traits with their “officially” artistic classmates—qualities lost on the conventionals. They share a tendency toward open-mindedness and curiosity, they are persistent, and they are positive, energetic, and intrinsically motivated by their chosen activities. Whether engaging in everyday creativity could foster such personality traits in the conventionals remains a question, but other studies show that taking up creative pursuits actually makes people more flexible and less judgmental.

2. The Meaning of Information Technology by Nick Kallen
   An interesting take on the next generation of technologies: Now that we’ve turned everything into a heap, and thrown the whole world into our reaches, we’ve got to sort and deal with those heaps.
3. Thoughts on the ‘fun theory’ by Dan Lockton
   Remember this video? Well here’s some interesting analysis of that work: using BJ Fogg’s behavior model, emotional engagement, and questioning whether it will actually cause long-term behavioral change.
4. How the internet enables intimacy by Stefana Broadbent
   Our increased usage of the internet and mobile devices has been supposed to make us more isolated and alone. But Broadbent has research suggesting exactly the opposite, and she tells us about it in a compelling TED talk. I don’t know about you, but there are definitely people I am connected to pretty much 24/7 through these technologies. Also, there’s been other big studies supporting this.
5. How We See Ourselves and How We See Others by Emily Pronin
   Pronin walks us through some interesting research about how we view ourselves and how we see others, and then she ties it all up nicely. It’s not the standard psychology stuff, but it’s not completely blow your mind, either. It’s just written well and reminds us of these little tendencies we have.
6. Also of note: Judge OKs Challenge to Human-Gene Patents, Raising Money Using Customer Development (totally design thinking (ugh I hate using that word just a little bit), but also some good advice in there).

October 26th through November 1st.

• Information Architecture: Synthesis Techniques for the Muddy Middle of the Design Process by Jon Kolko
  I love this. Not only do I like that Jon admits that yes, the design process has this synthesis piece to it, something that all designers everywhere hate to talk about. But Jon actually gives up some techniques and ways in which you can synthesize and think about your design data. Good stuff for designers and even non-designers to read.
• We’re Governed by Callous Children by Peggy Noonan
  Peggy Noonan is a conservative columnist, and it shows here. I’m not saying it’s good or bad, per se, but I’m just pointing out. That aside, it’s a great article. I highly recommend you read it. She makes what is simply a good point, a point that’s sort of everywhere around us, but no one has really pointed out.
• A Molecule of Motivation, Dopamine Excels at Its Task by Natalie Angier
  A great article about the actual role that dopamine plays within your body and your rewards system. It’s not just a feel-good drug. Jonah Lehrer comments, “Many dopamine researchers, for instance, refer to the chemical as our “neural currency,” since it allows us to quickly assign a value to the multitudes of things and ideas in the outside world.”
• Identity Play by Suzanne Gibbs Howard
  Here’s an interesting article that tries to grasp the different ways in which people push their identities, and what we can learn from that as we develop new services and ideas for people. My only qualm is a sort of feeling that this lacks some of the richness of the area.
• He Prizes More Than Answers: Tim Brown interviewed by Adam Bryant
  Interesting. My favorite part is when he talks about questions, and I wish he would have spoken more about it.
  “I do think that’s something that we forget — as leaders, probably the most important role we can play is asking the right questions. But the bit we forget is that it is in itself a creative process. Those right questions aren’t just kind of lying around on the ground to be picked up and asked.”
  There was also an interview with Mark Zuckerberg, also talking about the kind of organization he wants to run. I’m sort of naturally suspicious of Facebook, I don’t like them much, but it’s certainly interesting to see his viewpoint about how he believes he is running the company.
• Annnnd, Shorts: The Rise & Fall of The Nintendo Wii by Richard Ziade (this makes me sad because I was so excited about the alternative approach to video games that Nintendo explores. But as I thought about this, a couple things struck me: most wii owners stop at the mini-games, and I’m not sure that these are really the kinds of things that can hold our attention for long periods of time. I also think they may not have established a “cue” for the machine’s use among casual gamers. So, for example, when I travel, I always pack my Nintendo DS, because traveling is a cue for playing my DS - all that empty time waiting on planes. Similarly, bed time is “cue” to pick up my kindle or book and read to get myself to sleep. How would one perpetuate a “cue” for when the Wii should be used?). Doing Your Good Dead for the Day by Yvain (really interesting stuff. I’ve been thinking about charity as a service, and this seems to support that idea in a weird way). Lemons, Lemonade, & Lululemon by Colin Raney (good for Lulu Lemon for finding ways to engage their core user group. I’d love to learn more about this).

Here’s readings of the week from the first week of October… Still making my way up there.

1. How Arts Training Improves Attention and Cognition by Michael I. Posner, PhD, and Brenda Patoine
   Basically, my reaction when I read this was, “WOWOWOWOWOWOWOW!” I was pretty excited. The article talks about how kids deeply engaging with an art actually improve their attention and cognition in other areas of their study, as well. It’s funny because this was something I found in Middle School and High School, even when I was skiing. I felt like the stuff I participated in outside of school not only made me feel better about myself in a way that allowed me to focus (I think this has to do with the whole brain-as-a-muscle thing), but it really drove my interests and curiosities within school. I’d see connections and become more interested in a lot of subjects I wouldn’t normally be interested in. Also, as a complement, are the always-incredible thoughts of Jonah Lehrer.
2. Vulnerability: The Defining Trait of Great Entrepreneurs by Anthony Tjan
   I love this description of entrepreneurs and the risks they take. What really caught my attention is the fact that a lot of times, if we don’t choose to make ourselves vulnerable in this active way, we often end up vulnerable in the passive way. 
   Tjan also published a piece on “Why Do Most Entrepreneurs Fail to Scale?” which is a great little dip into the subject. I’ve seen some of these problems in real life, and I’m glad I’m not just imagining these problems.
3. On the Tip of Creative Tongues: The Word ‘Curate’ No Longer Belongs to the Museum Crowd by Alex Williams
   Here’s an interesting piece on the new obsession with the word curation. I’ve actually been thinking about this for a couple years. It makes sense when we consider the fact that the internet is just a giant conglomeration of over-information. At some point people would figure out that they don’t have to find this information, if they just edit it down to the most interesting bits, they can become unique, interesting bloggers. Also, I love the idea of curation as a talent and an art form, almost.
4. Know Me/ Nudge Me (Patterns from IDEO) by Jenny Comiskey, Aradhana Goel, Simon King
   I actually really like the patterns series that IDEO does. I love the exposure to and exploration of all these different ideas around an area and a stab at what they mean. This is an interesting piece about using data effectively.
5. How Nonsense Sharpens the Intellect by Benedict Carey
   Speaking of pattern-seeking, here’s an article about how, when the brain is exposed to nonsense (things it can’t make sense of), it actually makes the brain more attuned to seeing patterns else where. I’d be curious to see how the research about how brains ascribe patterns to something when there isn’t one fits in here as well.
6. What Alters Our Genes by Sharon Begley
   I’m enthralled by the findings and pieces (epigenetics) about how our environment actually effects gene expression. Here’s a great little example of that. It’s cool to see a nonhuman context.
7. The Uneducated American by Paul Krugman; Nobel Prizes Remind Us Why Immigration Matters by Chris O’Brien
   These articles are basically linkbait for me. So there you go.
8. How the Real-Time Web Is Leaving Google Behind by Clive Thompson 
   An interesting article on the differences between real-time search and old, cataloguing search.
9. The Evolving Face of Social Networks by Laura Parker
   I only wish this article went a little more in depth, got a little more nitty-gritty.