Most of the book reviews on the DRB so far have been very positive. The simple reason is that it’s more pleasant to seek out and review books that I think I’m going to like than to wade through a pile of stinkers.

But, once in a while, you hear about a book and buy it ‘blind’ – or even buy it on impulse in a bookshop – and it turns out to be a real disappointment. Scanning my bookshelf, the one that stuck out for me is Experience Design by Nathan Shedroff.

I feel pretty bad about this because some of the text of the book itself is great and Shedroff was an early evangeliser of experience design.

Many will consider my two stars for this sacrilege, but overall the book suffers from shallowness in its descriptions and, most of all, is an eye-bleeding reading experience from one page to the next. I’m happy to see experimental design and typography, but for a book on experience design this just backfired.

As far as I can tell from the credits, Shedroff himself is responsible for the design of the book (you can see more spreads here). His website is equally eye-watering, but full of good resources if you can find them. Personally, I’d love a background-image stripped version of the book, because I hardly ever refer to it anymore, which is a shame.

What book disappointments have you had?

So, now it’s over to you. What book disappointments or buyer’s remorse have you had? Let us know in the comments so that we can all either avoid them too or rabidly disagree.