Reading

Starter kit PDF

Starter kit PDF

Starter kit PDF

Starter kit PDF

Making Things Move, Dustyn Roberts ©2010,McGraw-Hill/TAB ISBN-10: 0071741674 | ISBN-13: 978-0071741675
Dustyn's book is an invaluable guide to construction of mechanical things. Whether you're making a simple motor project or a Mars rover, it's a good place to get started.

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Making Things Move, Dustyn Roberts ©2010,McGraw-Hill/TAB ISBN-10: 0071741674 | ISBN-13: 978-0071741675
Dustyn's book is an invaluable guide to construction of mechanical things. Whether you're making a simple motor project or a Mars rover, it's a good place to get started.

Making Things Talk, 2nd edition, Tom Igoe ©2011, Make Books; ISBN: 978-1449392437\\

Make: Electronics, Charles Platt, © 2009 Make Books, Sebastapol, CA; 1st edition ISBN: 0596153740. An excellent intro to electronics. Practical, readable, and enjoyable. Start here.

Making Things Talk, Tom Igoe ©2007, Make Books; ISBN: 0596510519
Introduction to communication between computers, including serial communications, wireless, networking, RFID, and more. Though some of the material is beyond the scope of this class, some of it may be useful in understanding computer communications.

Practical Electronics for Inventors. Paul Scherz, ©2000, McGraw-Hill Professional Publishing; ISBN: 0070580782
A more in-depth treatment of electronics, with many practical examples and illustrations. An excellent reference for those comfortable with the basic topics. The use of plumbing systems as examples to demonstrate electric principles makes for some very clear illustrations of how different components work. Good chapters on sound electronics and motors as well.

Fashioning Technology: a DIY Intro to Smart Crafting Syuzi Pakhchyan. Make books, ©2008. ISBN: 0596514379.

A straightforward beginners' guide to most of the beginning exercises in this class.

Getting Started with Arduino, Massimo Banzi ©2008, O'Reilly Media ISBN 10: 0-596-15551-4 | ISBN 13: 9780596155513

Getting Started with Arduino, Massimo Banzi©2008, O'Reilly Media ISBN 10: 0-596-15551-4 | ISBN 13: 9780596155513
A straightforward beginners' guide to most of the beginiing exercises in this class.

Below are recommended texts for the course in general. You have readings from the first three. All of them are good inspirational guides for physical computing and computing in general. They are not assigned, but you'll find them to be useful reading in physical interaction design.

The following are good references for electronics hobbyists. Take a look at both, and get one or the other as a general reference, or find an electronics reference of your own.

Below are recommended texts for the course in general. You have readings from the first three. All of them are good inspirational guides for physical computing and computing in general. They are not assigned, but pick up at least one of them and incorporate it in your midterm journal, if nothing else.

Emotional Design: Why We Love (Or Hate) Everyday Things Donald A. Norman. Basic books, ©2005. ISBN: 0465051367.
In this book, Norman counters some of the points he makes in his first book, The Design of Everyday Things, by pointing out that we do make decisions about design based on emotional reasoning, and that design affects us emotionally. He describes Human reaction to design on three levels: the visceral, or how it appears; the behavioral, or how it acts; and reflective, or how it makes us think and feel about ourselves through our association with it.

Fashioning Technology: a DIY Intro to Smart Crafting Syuzi Pakhchyan. Make books, ©2008. ISBN: 0596514379.

This book includes a nice introduction to basic electronics and a number of construction projects for simple electronic crafts. The construction techniques are aimed primarily at wearables and soft circuit projects, but they'reuseful for a number of other projects as well.

Includes all the stuff covered in class and lots of advanced examples as well. This book was developed from this course. You can get through the course without it, but it'll make your life a whole lot easier if you read it while taking the class. The code examples in the book are not written for Arduino, but the concepts for each exercise apply to Arduino as well as the controllers described in the book. Even without the specific code, the examples will be useful, especially when combined with the labs in this class.

Below are recommended texts for the course in general. You have readings from the first two. All of them are good inspirational guides for physical computing and computing in general. They are not assigned, but pick up at least one of them and incorporate it in your midterm journal, if nothing else.

The User Illusion: Cutting Consciousness Down to Size, Tor Nørretranders ©1998 Viking Press; ISBN: 0670875791
Makes the case that much of our experience of the world does not come to us through our consciousness; in fact, the majority of it dealt with pre-consciously.

A longer list of books for inspiration and reference is available online at Tom's books link.

Physical Computing: Sensing and Controlling the Physical World with Computers, Dan O'Sullivan and Tom Igoe ©2004, Thomson Course Technology PTR; ISBN: 159200346X
Includes all the stuff covered in class and lots of advanced examples as well. This book was developed from this course. You can get through the course without it, but it'll make your life a whole lot easier if you read it while taking the class.

Physical Computing: Sensing and Controlling the Physical World with Computers, Dan O'Sullivan and Tom Igoe ©2004, Thomson Course Technology PTR; ISBN: 159200346X
Includes all the stuff covered in class and lots of advanced examples as well. This book was developed from this course. You can get through the course without it, but it'll make your life a whole lot easier if you read it while taking the class.

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Books

Below are recommended texts for the course in general. Individual instructors may have their own recommendations as well. All of them are good inspirational guides for physical computing and computing in general. They are not assigned, but pick up at least one of them and incorporate it in your midterm journal, if nothing else.

Physical Computing: Sensing and Controlling the Physical World with Computers, Dan O'Sullivan and Tom Igoe ©2004, Thomson Course Technology PTR; ISBN: 159200346X
Includes all the stuff covered in class and lots of advanced examples as well. This book was developed from this course, so if you're looking for a textbook, this is it.

The Design of Everyday Things, Donald A. Norman ©1990 Doubleday Books; ISBN: 0385267746
If you design at all, or work with people who do, read this. A lucid approach to the psychology of everyday interaction and how the objects we deal with could be better designed to match the strengths and weaknesses of the way we think. His predictions about physical interaction design and information design, some accurate and some not, are interesting history lessons eleven years after the first edition.

The User Illusion: Cutting Consciousness Down to Size, Tor Nørretranders ©1998 Viking Press; ISBN: 0670875791
Makes the case that much of our experience of the world does not come to us through our consciousness; in fact, the majority of it dealt with pre-consciously.

The Art of Interactive Design, Chris Crawford, ©2002 No Starch Press; ISBN: 1886411840
Written in a very casual style, this book nevertheless is an excellent and concise summary of what interaction design is, why it is important, and what problems it brings with it. Anyone seriously interested in interaction design, physical or not, should read this book.

The following are good references for electronics hobbyists. Take a look at both, and get one or the other as a general reference, or find an electronics reference of your own (a few more are listed in the books section of the site).

Getting Started in Electronics, Forrest M. Mims III, ©1983, Forrest M. Mims III
A very basic introduction to electricity and electronics, written in notebook style. Includes descriptions of the basic components and what they do, and how they relate to each other.

Practical Electronics for Inventors, 1st Edition. Paul Scherz, ©2000, McGraw-Hill Professional Publishing; ISBN: 0070580782
A more in-depth treatment of electronics, with many practical examples and illustrations. An excellent reference for those comfortable with the basic topics. The use of plumbing systems as examples to demonstrate electric principles makes for some very clear illustrations of how different components work. Good chapters on sound electronics and motors as well.

A longer list of books for inspiration and reference is available online at the books link.