Working through this book, I am constantly amazed at the number of topics covered and the depth and clarity of the authors (and in some cases, the entertaining story they tell). There is much important theory that exists in HCI and I have not found a book that does such a wonderful job bringing it, and the proper author to explain it, all together. Previously, it was a chore to track down the important theoretical works, not so now.
This book is NOT going to help you build better webpages or for that matter, teach you to build a better GUI. Do not expect it to as HCI is only marginally about this. HCI is more importantly about the work and activity people perform on a computer and through a computer with others. If you do not have this concept in mind, do not read this book as you will waste your time (and possibly write a bad review for it). If you are intrigued, read "The Design of Everyday Things" to give you the basic philosophy of HCI and this book to give you the theory of it.
Unfortunately, some chapters are not as strong as others and the binding of them all together is not as strong as it could be to give a complete picture of the field. That said, this is an important milestone for HCI and should be readable (and read) by all who have taken a basic HCI course.
