I was in the bookstore the other day, and happened across a book called Stumbling on Happiness, by Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert. The author notes that this is not a self-help how to be happy book. Rather, it’s a very interesting look at why the things we think will make us happy often don’t. Or vice versa. The bulk of it is really a cognitive science look at how the brain works.

I picked it up for more existential reasons, but an experience just today pointed out why it actually may be a pretty good UX book too.

I’m in the market for a mid-level digital camera. I’m not sure I want to spend the bucks (yet) on a digital SLR, but I need something more than the Canon Powershot SD400 I bought last year that I carry around all the time.

After reviewing one of my fave sites (Steve’s Digicams), I think I’ve narrowed it down to two cameras. And of course, both sound pretty good, so what I wanted was a feature comparison, which neither Steve’s nor CNet provide. But Crutchfield does, and more importantly, they add a really cool feature I hadn’t seen on the web before — there’s a link on the comparison page that allows you to hide similar features. So instead of a huge long list, you get just the differences between the two (see a screen capture for an example).

Now this is such an obvious feature, I wonder that I haven’t seen it before. I guess perhaps I haven’t needed to do comparison shopping for a while.

Anyways, the link to the Gilbert book is that there is a section mid-way through the book where he talks about essentially the paradox of choice. He specifically uses the example of wanting to spend 15 minutes buying a digital camera, but hours later, he’s still distracted by product details that are really irrelevant to the average consumer.

The Crutchfield comparison feature doesn’t completely do away with this, but it’s a start!

BTW, I really do recommend the Gilbert book. He has a very smart-ass way of writing that makes this subject very engaging. And sweet, he even has a blog (and a blog feed)!

[soapbox on]

And if you’re so inclined, you may well want to read his LA Times op-ed titled If only gay sex caused global warming.

[soapbox off]