Chapter 2 of Natural Information Architecture is available (online for free) and is my most substantive contribution to information architecture since the polar bear book.

Speaking of which, I’m excited to join Samantha Bailey Fast and Lou Rosenfeld next week to share an oral history of information architecture with The Sensemakers Club.

Back to writing, the second chapter explores strange loops between artifacts of order (e.g., lists, taxonomies, diagrams) and mental models. I’m happy to share a few quotes.

We shape our categories; thereafter they shape us.

Lists make civilization possible.

Categories are the map we mistake for the territory.

A taxonomy is the embodiment of a paradigm.

Faceted classification is unnatural.

A continuum is the underlying territory of seamless variation.

A well-crafted diagram borders on telepathy.

Behind every model, there lies a story.

A story invokes and encodes countless artifacts.

The sum total of our artifacts of order is culture.

Chapter 2 covers orthodox information architecture. Naturally, it’s demure. Chapter 3 digs into the weirdness of nature. I’m excited to begin, as things are about to get wild.