Smarter Homes
by Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino
3.5/5
A design thinking examination of how connected technology is reshaping domestic life, tracing the history of home automation and questioning who smart homes are really designed for.
$28.66 on AmazonAt a glance
First published2020
Audienceadult
A
About the Author
Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino1 book reviewed · 3.5 avg
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Smarter Homes: How Technology Will Change Your Home Life by Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino argues that smart home technology has been driven by engineering and marketing priorities rather than the actual lives of the people living in those homes — and makes a compelling case for design thinking as a better framework. The reviewer awards a solid 3.5 out of 5, praising its historical depth and human-centered lens while noting that breadth sometimes crowds out sustained analysis. It's recommended as a strong introductory or course text, but readers seeking a practical toolkit may leave wanting more.
- Summarize this book
- Smarter Homes makes the case that connected home technology has been shaped far too much by engineers and marketers, and far too little by the people who actually live in homes. Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino applies design thinking — a human-centered, iterative problem-solving framework — to ask foundational questions about domestic life: who lives in the home, what are their routines and relationships, and how does new technology change those dynamics? The book situates the smart home within a longer history of domestic technology (gas lighting, refrigerators, early home automation), pushing back against the idea that today's connected devices are unprecedented. The result is a thoughtful conceptual orientation rather than a step-by-step practical guide.
- Is it worth reading?
- At a 3.5/5 rating, the reviewer calls Smarter Homes genuinely useful — especially for its historical grounding and its willingness to ask hard questions about privacy, power, and domestic relationships that most mainstream tech writing sidesteps entirely. However, if you're already well-versed in design thinking methodology, the frameworks may feel familiar, and you won't find much in the way of step-by-step guidance. It's best framed as a strong introduction to a conversation, not the final word on it.
- About Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino
- Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino is a designer, entrepreneur, and speaker with deep roots in the Internet of Things (IoT) and connected product design space. She is widely recognized as one of the early advocates of human-centered approaches to IoT, and co-founded Good Night Lamp, a connected lamp product designed around social connection rather than utility. Her writing style, as evidenced in Smarter Homes, is clear and accessible — prioritizing conceptual clarity over technical jargon — and she brings a design practitioner's lens to questions that most technologists treat as engineering problems.
- Similar books
- If Smarter Homes resonates with you, consider these reads that share its human-centered or critical lens on technology and design: Mike Kuniavsky's Smart Things: Ubiquitous Computing User Experience Design takes a similarly practitioner-focused approach to designing connected products. Adam Greenfield's Radical Technologies: The Design of Everyday Life offers a broader but philosophically adjacent critique of how technology shapes daily life. For the domestic and historical angle, Ruth Schwartz Cowan's More Work for Mother examines how household technologies actually changed (or didn't change) domestic labor — an excellent complement to Deschamps-Sonsino's historical framing. Shoshana Zuboff's The Age of Surveillance Capitalism deepens the privacy and power questions the book raises.
- Who should read this?
- The reviewer singles out design students as a particularly well-matched audience, and the book works well as an introductory or course text in design, UX, or technology-and-society programs. Beyond academia, it suits anyone curious about why smart home technology so often feels misaligned with real domestic life — including homeowners skeptical of smart home hype, product designers working on connected devices, and general readers interested in the intersection of technology, privacy, and domestic relationships. Readers who already have deep design thinking expertise or want a hands-on practical guide may be less satisfied.
- What are the main themes?
- The book's core themes revolve around the tension between technological promise and domestic reality. Deschamps-Sonsino examines how engineering priorities and marketing imperatives have shaped smart home development at the expense of the people who live in those homes. Privacy — who has access to data generated inside your home — is a central concern, as are power dynamics within households and between residents and tech companies. The historical continuity of domestic technology is another key thread, challenging the industry narrative that the smart home is an unprecedented breakthrough.
- Does the book go deep enough on its topics?
- This is the reviewer's main reservation. Smarter Homes covers a wide range of topics — historical domestic technology, design thinking methodology, privacy, household power dynamics — but its breadth means individual topics don't always receive the sustained analysis they deserve. The reviewer describes it as 'more of a strong introduction than a definitive text,' making it an excellent entry point but potentially frustrating for readers who want to go deep on any single thread.
Summarize this book
Is it worth reading?
About Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino
Who should read this?
What are the main themes?
Does the book go deep enough on its topics?
Summarize this book
Smarter Homes makes the case that connected home technology has been shaped far too much by engineers and marketers, and far too little by the people who actually live in homes. Alexandra Deschamps-Sonsino applies design thinking — a human-centered, iterative problem-solving framework — to ask foundational questions about domestic life: who lives in the home, what are their routines and relationships, and how does new technology change those dynamics? The book situates the smart home within a longer history of domestic technology (gas lighting, refrigerators, early home automation), pushing back against the idea that today's connected devices are unprecedented. The result is a thoughtful conceptual orientation rather than a step-by-step practical guide.
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Editorial Review
Smarter Homes offers a thoughtful, human-centered critique of smart home technology, grounded in design thinking principles and useful historical context — but its breadth sometimes comes at the cost of depth, making it more of a strong introduction than a definitive text.
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