I read his book "The design of everyday things" after hearing a lot of people speak highly of it.
I found it quite underwhelming.
Anyone have insight of what people think is so noteworthy about that book?
If his work in something like "Design of Everyday Things" seems underwhelming I would guess that is because it has become so influential that you already have absorbed a lot of the ideas in the book. You certainly live in a world that is slightly shaped by them. As a teacher, Norman constantly taught through anecdotes about the way things work.
ATMs used to give you money and then after they gave you money they would return your card. The model for the bank was take card, do transaction, return card. The problem was people kept leaving their cards in the machine. Donald Norman pointed out that the "mental model" for people was go to atm-> get money. Once the last step is accomplished the customer doesn't thinks they are done. They don't want to keep thinking about the ATM. "Mental Model" of an interface is a term you may have heard and he coined.
Now every time I go to an ATM and it gives me my card back before the money, I think of him.
I would agree the book has little in terms of practical advice nowadays. It was brief and straightforward at the time, and age has only lessened the impact.
Later in life I was a video game designer and every time I had to make a UX decision I channeled Donald Norman.
but many ATMs were designed with a business goal of confiscating cards.