Book Review: Intertwingled
Guest Contribution
Peter Morville is a prolific author on the subject of information architecture and his writings are always insightful. As the coauthor of the “polar bear book,” as many people refer to Information Architecture for the World Wide Web, which is now in its fourth edition, I can think of few non-academics who could provide a more authoritative assessment of information theory and the practical application of information architecture to our lives.
I picked up his book Intertwingled at an IA Summit a few years back, after seeing Morville’s presentation. Having read Information Architecture and Ambient Findability and hearing Morville speak, I expected the book to be a good read.
The book begins with Morville’s arrival at a national park for a hike. It’s a rugged, little-traveled national park—one that is isolated and has seen dramatic changes in its ecological system, specifically in its populations of wolves and moose. As Morville relates the story, over the course of nearly 20 years, the number of moose had tripled, then halved. Experts had speculated that the predator in the system, the wolves—whose numbers had doubled in the same time period—might hunt the moose to extinction. However, an external shock to the system, disease, led to a decline in the wolf population, allowing the moose to recover. Now, global warming and new diseases are introducing new challenges to both the moose and the wolves, and their numbers continue to fluctuate. Read More
Powered by WPeMatico
