From the author's description: Where the Action Is draws on recent research trends in interactive systems to explore the foundations of a new model of using and experiencing computer systems -- what I call "embodied interaction." The idea of Embodied Interaction reflects a number of recent trends that have emerged in the area of Human-Computer Interaction. ... By incorporating understandings of how social practice emerges, we can build systems that fit more easily into the ways in which we work. ... [E]mbodied interaction is based on the understanding that users create and communicate meaning through their interaction with the system (and with each other, through the system). ... On the basis of this understanding, we can set out a range of design principles that are reflected by systems exploiting embodied interaction. This principles not only reflect important issues for design practice, but they also provide a framework for analysing embodied interaction in existing systems.

Terry Winograd says: "The book is unique ... great breadth ... clear explanation ..." Phil Agre: "a clarity and thoughtfulness that make hard ideas easy." Don Norman calls it a cogent explanation of interactive computing design.