This book is one of the best written, most simple to understand of any available on understanding how humans achieve understanding from an infinite amount of information. The author was trained as an architect and graphic illustrator but is considered to be a pioneer in the practice of making information easily understandable. He is the inventor of the “smart yellow pages” as well as the “maps” of transit services that are now being used all over the world. The book is designed to be read in the conventional “cover to cover” manner or by simply following your own interests. There is an abundance of sidebars and notes that provide illustrations and examples, not to mention tremendously heightening your understanding. Of particular note in this book (and its predecessor—Information Anxiety) is that making information available and understandable is more important than committing huge amounts of esoteric and seldom used facts to memory. This is really a “must read” for anyone charged with responding to rapidly changing scenarios that are both complex and ill-defined.
Richard Saul Wurman, Information Anxiety 2, QUE Publishing, Indianapolis, Indiana, 2001 (295 pages)
Recommended by Sid Heal in Episodes 1 & 2
