Table of Contents

Preface

Acknowledgements

Praise for this book

PART 1

The Metaphysics of Meaning

1 The Reality of Experience

2 Putting Things Into Perspective

3 Can’t You Read the Signs?

4 What Matters?

PART 2

The Dynamics of Circles

5 Abduction

6 Thinking in Circles

7 Controlling

8 Observing

PART 3

The Pragmatics of Problem Solving

9 Muddling Through

10 Heuristics: Biases or Smart Instruments?

11 Deep Structure?

12 The Heart of the Matter?

PART 4

Broadening the Perspective

13 Dynamics Matter

14 Social Dynamics

15 Putting Experience to Work

16 Closing the Circle

Index

Contents

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About the Author

Fred Voorhorst received his Ph.D. in Industrial Design Engineering from The Delft University of Technology in 1998. He then took up a position as researcher at the ETH Zürich, before moving to industry where he worked in various sectors such as software, automotive, fashion, and financial, always linking product design, product development, and business development, and preferably exploring the boundaries of the impossible. Whenever possible he would grasp the opportunity to teach on product design in the tradition of ecological perception.

John Flach received his Ph.D. in Human Experimental Psychology from The Ohio State University in 1984. After more than 30 years teaching and supervising graduate research in universities, he recently joined Mile Two LLC as a Senior Cognitive Systems Engineer. John has written extensively about Cognitive Systems Engineering (CSE) and ecological approaches to human performance and design (including three co-authored books, three co-edited books, and more than 180 archival publications). After many years of talking and writing about CSE and Ecological Interface Design, he welcomes the opportunity to test what he has learned against the challenge of designing practical solutions to contemporary business problems. To learn more about John, check out his Perspicacity blog: https://blogs.wright.edu/learn/johnflach/author/w001jmf/ or his extended bio : http://psych-scholar.wright.edu/flach