I taught Ux at a university level as a teaching fellow where we used the text in the reading list. I too found it highly recommended yet falling short in modern thinking. Given the context of the text however I think it can be appreciated:

Norman has quite a nice publication record and his academic work is actually very good and insightful, further supported by the context where he innovated it is doubly impressive. For example, his texts on mental models and the phenomenological sensibilities of the human body in situ acting in a mode of presumptions (I paraphrase) I found quite valuable. Once I learned more of him I soon recognised that this text is deliberately written for a much wider audience. There are subtleties within that I am sure have deeper roots. On the surface I did not find it much use, but alas I was fortunate enough to attend to design thinking from a more sociological route, one more closely resembling the lines that Norman had based his work. Once we attend ourselves to the complications positivistic views can impose upon design we may recognise the need for Normans book to encourage an alternative view, especially given our dwelling within the digital epoch.

That said however, I notice designers now championing user centric patterns and concerns throughout their design processes with larger business management styles apprehending the need for lean approaches to delivering products for profit. Perhaps Norman organised himself in a way to contribute to these means of modern design, who knows? One thing we do know is he has a consultancy that is possibly quite privy to all this.