Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com

Designers and the public alike are realizing that many human' errors are more aptly named designed-induced' errors. Most consumers experience the frustration of using many new products; amusing stories about programming a VCR, operating a personal computer, or finding the headlight switch on a rental car are heard in everyday conversation. The problems consumers experience with modern everyday things are shared by the users of large-scale technologies where the consequences of design can go well beyond simple matters of inconvenience or amusement.

In the new second edition of Set Phasers on Stun' and Other True Tales of Design, Technology, and Human Error, noted designer and author Steven Casey has assembled 20 factual and arresting stories about people and their attempts to use modern technological creations. Although the operator or pilot usually gets blamed for a big disaster, the root cause can frequently be found in subtle characteristics of the device's human interface.' Technological disasters can often be traced directly to the interplay between people and the design of a device - - be it an airliner cockpit, the controls in an industrial plant, a spacecraft's instruments, a medical system, a nuclear reactor, or even a commercial dishwashing machine.

The most effective way to convey the consequences of design-induced human error is with a good story and just the right level of technical detail, and this is what Casey has done in his new book. As stated by Alphonse Chapanis, one of the founders of the human factors engineering discipline, Set Phasers on Stun is A tour de force. A collection of gripping and often alarming true stories meticulously documented and skillfully told about design-induced human errors. It should be required reading for all engineers and designers, and everyone else concerned about the ways our modern technological creations can affect our everyday lives. Skylab-4 astronaut Gerald Carr agrees: The book is ...an engrossing tour through the world of human susceptibility to subtle variations in environment and in design.

Average Customer Rating:

Entertaining and Educational	Customer Rating:
This book is very entertaining and an easy read. It's made up of several short cases of how poor user design resulted in catastrophic results. For those who deal with design and human factors occasionally, the stories stay pretty fresh in the mind and serve as a great reminder to ensure reasonable effort is put into human factor design aspects of projects.

good, sad	Customer Rating:
this is a very interesting book, a little on the depressing side to think how many people died from these accidents, but it really shows the power that good and intelligent design has to offer. worth the read, over time anyhow. all in one chunk might be hard to handle.

Ringside Seat at Rubber-necking disaster fest

Customer Rating:

Riveting, yes. Sometimes macabre. The bottom line is that you will have a tough time putting this book down due to the "rubber necking" phenomenon. The author puts you ringside to the action, where we are compelled to look in as events unfold. Sometimes tragic, but mostly simple mistakes - which unfold damatically. Phasers on Stun - is compelling because it makes the reader think. Sure, we could use a bit more denouement, but you will think: "what if..., why didn't they...., how come they..." We all wish we had 20-20 foresight, but these well researched, and most importantly, well told tales offer us 20-20 hindsight. Those of us who do not know the past, are condemned to repeat it. read this, especially if you make things work. Dave Rachford, CPA

Engaging and informative

Customer Rating:

A number of friends had recommended "Set Phasers on Stun" to me as a good book on technology and human error. The 20 short stories in the book cover everything from the accidental launching of a rocket to some horrific accidents in hospitals. Each story is written in a way that takes the reader on an engaging, informative, and, quite often, wild ride. Casey's writing style works perfectly with this short story format. I highly recommend "Set Phasers on Stun" to anyone interested in design and technology, or anyone who likes reading very good short stories. The best part is that all of the events covered by the book are true.

A Disappointment

Customer Rating:

I had great expectations for this book, and on one it did deliver: the expectation that I wouldn't be able to put it down. I didn't, and 2-3 hours later I was basically horrified and afraid to do anything. That's because it is a catalog of horrible disasters that does make for gripping reading, but it left me vaguely unsatisfied and apprehensive that something was about to go wrong. I would have liked at least a little discussion after each episode. Instead it just stopped cold after each story, which I guess is an effective way to just let the reader reflect and draw his own conclusions, but left me with a cold, unsatisfied feeling. It also doesn't help that you pretty much know how each story is going to end. But if you are looking for a catalog of the anatomy of disasters, it excels at that, due to the very clear and readable writing. The title is very clever and well-considered - it kept me from forgetting it once I heard it.