Information Anxiety 2

Richard Saul Wurman coined the term "Information Architecture" in 1975 and feels the need to remind you of that on a fairly regular basis as you flick through this absolute shitfest that he wrote 25 years later. It is truly rare that I can read 308 pages and take absolutely nothing away from them, an achievement he'll probably be boasting about in the Information Architecture 3. This whole book reads like a mashup between the worlds worst thesarus and someone who repeatedly states the obvious.

On top of the alleged content, you're also treated to a quote on every other page. Typically these quotes are the sort of crap that sounds incredibly wise, until you think about it for more than a second and realise that nothing has been said. It's like the management equivalent of the bullshit that fills horoscopes, here are a few examples..

• What is now proved, was once only imagined...

  - Yeah, AND?

• All conversation is exaggeration

  - What?

• Knowing where you are going is all you need to get there

  (Yeah, presuming you already know how to get there, and have all the necessary resources to do so)

• A minutes success pays for the failure of years

  I'm pretty sure thats the logic that sends many a gambler to their grave

There are literally hundreds of these little nuggets of poo scattered through out the book, the author even quotes himself a couple of times. Taking the time to quote yourself in a book you're writing is really quite something. Pretty much every sentence sounds like something that the moustached member of every committee tries to wrap things up with.

For example, you could be debating the merits of two differing ways to teach data structures and then the moustacchio puts his/her hand up to say "Hmmm, yes. But wasn't it Newton who said that man cannot truly understand something that is incorrect....?". The people who want to go home early recognise the tone and all chime in "Ah yes, quite true". Unfortunately I'm the one who can't keep quiet, I'm the one who says "Yeah, maybe Newton said that back in 1673, but what the fuck does that have to do with ANYTHING we're talking about here?". The book is exactly that feeling of frustration for 308 pages. It's a handbook for bullshit artists and woeful managers, packed full of pompousity, with nothing concrete to take away.

I take back what I said in paragraph 1, You shouldn't leave this book in the bathroom even for emergencies, each page is already packed full of shit. Thanks Dave