I'm a user experience researcher, and I'm always looking for books that are relevant to my work. I was really excited about the premise of this one, because I'm increasingly of the mind that our field has been worshipping at the less-friction-is-always-better altar for far too long, with some serious unintended consequences.

TL;DR: I think this book was actionable, but wasn't as thoughtful as I was hoping.

What I liked:
+ The differentiation between bad and good friction was simple yet insightful, and I'm on board with their argument that businesses have over-emphasized avoiding the bad and under-utilized amplifying the good. I think they successfully argued for the benefits of certain types of friction, and they bring a much-needed perspective.
+ The EMBRACE A DOSE framework was interesting and clever. I get why the authors crafted a book around it.
+ Most of the examples throughout the book were engaging and illuminating. Even though I was familiar with many, the authors re-brought them to life.

What I didn't:
- My biggest problem: I was really missing any examination of the *ethics* of frictionless experiences. Calling an experience "frictionless" frequently overlooks the fact that the friction hasn't vanished - it's just been shifted elsewhere, typically to someone further down the socioeconomic spectrum. For example, if I order a bathing suit for an upcoming trip via Amazon Prime, that might be an easy, one-click, 'frictionless' experience to me - but not necessarily for the people manufacturing that suit, moving it across the world, packaging it, and delivering it to my doorstep. The fact that this wasn't mentioned at all - amidst all the downsides and long-term questions around frictionless experiences - seems like a big miss.
- I also feel that the authors made some big assumptions I didn't agree with - which wouldn't be a problem had they examined or defended them in any meaningful way, rather than treating them as self-evident and then building arguments upon them. As one example, the authors held up Elon Musk as a paragon of innovation because, they claimed, he's successfully avoided impostor syndrome. Frankly, I think you could just as easily argue that Musk could benefit from a healthy dose of humility and, every once in a while, a moment of questioning whether he *really* needs to do whatever it is he's doing! (Also, there was zero mention as impostor syndrome as a cultural, racial, or otherwise sociocultural phenomenon - the authors put the burden squarely on the individual and suggest that "learning" is the solution, which seems overly if not deliberately simplistic).

Overall, this was 3-3.5 stars for me. Thanks to NetGalley and Zenkarma Media for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.