An Introduction to Human Factors Engineering

by Sallie E. Gordon Becker, Yili D. Liu, Christopher D. Wickens, et al.

Book Overview

This book describes the capabilities and limitations of the human operator both physical and mental and how these should be used to guide the design of systems with which people interact. General... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0131837362
• ISBN13: 9780131837362
• Release Date: November 2003
• Publisher: Prentice Hall
• Length: 587 Pages
• Weight: 2.47 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 7.7" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

invaluable human factors textbook and lifelong resource

My very first human factors course used this textbook, and it does an excellent job introducing and instilling the basics. It inspired me to pursue a human factors career, eight years later cumulating in a Ph.D. I now work in human-centered hardware design and find this the resource I go to most frequently to look up fundamental human factors principles. Each chapter also includes a list of resources cited in the text that I consult for more in-depth information on the wide array of topics this text covers.

A wealth of information!

This textbook is written for any human factors engineering application purpose, but did appear to be slightly biased towards aviation. Maybe that's because I used it for a Human Factors in Aviation course for my graduate work. The book has a LOT of information, so much that it can be difficult to read at times, but I'd rather have too much than not enough. The biggest complaint I have on the book is the authors diagrams. It is presented with a lot of diagrams and drawings to explain the point. Having a STRONG background in aviation, including 21 years in Naval Aviation, 11 of that as a FLight Engineer, and having taken HF in Aviation in my undergraduate stuidies, I can say that there were many times when I understood the material, but didn't understand the drawing or diagram. They're just too confusing sometimes. All-in-all, I thought the book was very good. The examples used at the beginning of the chapters were helpful in establishing a baseline with which to establish the lesson material.

Textbook has supported class well.

I've used this book in my human factors grad/undergrad class for 4 years. This book is the only text in human factors with information from research in cognitive science, and a cognitive science perspective on human error. The book is weaker on the ergonomics and design side, and quite weak on social aspects of human factors. I use the book in combination with Don Norman's book and the Casey book of case studies. I do not require students to memorize the book. They use it as a reference for doing problem solving and case analyses. It contains good research references and many important facts and figures that human factors and design professionals need.

Good introduction to Human Factors Engineering

Wickens et al. really fill the gap between system engineering and cognitive psychology. I have found quite a few of books of this kind. The book contains good examples and references for workplace design, environmental conditions and several other applications that make it useful for a course textbook or professional's desk reference. One word of caution (mea culpa as well): the authors did not address in this version the engineering tradition of poor, monotonous writing.

Extraordinary!

Wickens is a true pioneer in the field of human factors who fills the gap between (system) engineering and cognitive psychology with great diligence and competence. This book, "An Introduction to Human Factors Engineering", is another excellent reference tool made for engineers to integrate psychologic research results in their creations; I read it in combination with Wickens' "Engineering Psychology and Human Performance", which concentrates rather on the psychological perspective of human factors than on practical design advices. Both books have considerable overlappings, and are similar to each other, even in the structure of the chapters; nevertheless, I highly recommend them both. I have not (yet) found better literature for this field.