5 stars
I had to read this book for my Information Architecture course and it is by far my favorite book we have read up to this point.
This is a great first resource for learning about Information Architecture and the information provided is wide enough to be applicable to many situations outside of official information science areas. If you need to make sense of a mess in your life and/or profession, this is the book to find out how.
Covert writes in a way that is simple, informational, and, dare I say, fun. It is easy to see what she is talking about. One thing that I really enjoyed is that she practices what she preaches, so to speak, in providing clear definitions paired with examples that are easy to relate to. In some of my other class readings, the examples are so tech-heavy that I kind of get lost in them. Covert instead ops for more generalized examples such as putting away groceries, examining school grades, and tweeting while watching TV.
The book is broken down into seven sections that act as procedural steps to addressing your mess. Each chapter contains page-long lessons that are easy to digest, as well as scenarios that apply the principles and worksheets to help the reader do the same.
I also loved the indexed lexicon at the back of the book that combines an index and a glossary, making information even easier to find.
This was a great book and I honestly think I would enjoy it even if I didn’t have to read it for class. The simple cover is a great representation of the information inside. It is clean and simple. Covert does her best to abstract a lot of information without overwhelming the reader, and I for one think it was a great success. She applies the principles she teaches to create a book that is helpful, useful, and interesting.