Robert Fabricant describes user interaction designers as highly trained tinkerers , with a robust set of prototyping skills that make up for our lack of formal credentials. We find ways to identify user needs, rapidly develop and test solutions, and gather user feedback while relying on the principles found within this book.
The book he talks about is called User Friendly and is written by himself and Cliff Kuang. It is one of the first books about user-friendly design aimed at non-experts. In the book they describe the last 150 years of industrial design with an emphasis on the paradigm of user friendlyness and how it evolved. The book is split up in two parts, the first one is called Easy to Use, the other Easy to Want. Every chapter is named after one principle of user-friendly design like error or trust.
This way of structuring made it a little hard to read for me. You often get the same stories from a different angle, which is a little annoying. But I liked the general way the authors looks at the problem. Coming from science, it was interesting to see practitioners looking at the topic.
I also liked the second part way more than the first, which is mainly because the first part is talking about typical usability flaws like the ridiculous ways in which nuclear power plants were designed making it hard for the engineers working there not blowing up everything. The second part is about the design of products, not only interfaces, putting people first. These topics I think in general are more interesting, it is also what I am dealing with in research.
I liked the book, especially the last part very much. If you are new to user-friendly design it gives a good overview where the field comes from and also why it is still important to create user-friendly products.