Customer Reviews

Simply Speaking: How to Communicate Your Ideas with Style, Substance, and Clarity

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Ms. Noonan is among the most eloquent people I have come across in modern times. Quick-witted and intelligent, she uses the common tongue to express uncommon ideas. She has written a book that provides a good background for public speaking. She able to draw on her long experience as a speechwriter to enable her pupils to understand the challenges of both writing and giving speeches. Moreover, Ms. Noonan is so good with words that I would read that book if had no concern with speechmaking.

Read this book, you will enjoy it.

What I loved best about Peggy's book is the delightful conversational style in which she writes which makes for an entertaining "how-to" read. I learned as much about people and history as I did about speech writing. Who says learning has to be dry or boring? A great book to expand a liberal arts education and improve your writing skills.

If you're a speech writer or a person who is often called upon to speak in public, you'll find this slim volume full of nice advice. I liked best the sections that featured passages from some of the memorable speeches Ms. Noonan has written for others. Maybe it's time for a collection of her writings from Time, the Wall Street Journal, as well as complete texts of her classic speeches? Publishers & editors should look into this.

This book is a reprint of the book "Simply Speaking" with a new title and a cover obviously redesigned to cash in on the success of "On Writing Well" by William Zinsser. At a glance, both paperbacks look like separate volumes of the same work. The similarity ends there. Noonan's work is pedestrian as Zinsser's is absorbing. Unlike Noonan, Zinsser has the knack to capture the essence of an idea in a memorable phrase. Unlike Zinsser, Noonan's short chapters have little conceptual integrity and take too many turns.

The book has good moments and plenty of good advice drawn from Noonan's valuable experience in top jobs as a speech writer. Given the vast domain of the subject and the size of the book I expected to find no waste in it, and given Noonan's credentials I expected a more terse, penetrating style, a la Strunk and White or..., a la Zinsser.

Noonan narrates how John Sununu found an objectionable phrase (muscular altruism) in a speech she had written and told her to kill it. There is another one in this book (anal-compulsive-type person) more deserving of killing. She uses it to reinforce another phrase (neurotic-perfectionist), which needs no reinforcement. No doubt our rich language has words of equal color and better scent for vivid characterizations. I like to have read this book but I did not enjoy reading it. Noonan's consistently chooses the impressive over the appropriate.

The new title and cover worked well--I bought the book. When comparing "On Writing Well" with "On Speaking well," it reminds me of a contrast I find in music between those who use the guitar as a percussion instrument to produce an impressive barrage of sound, and those who pluck the strings with economy and produce inspiring tasty licks.

I listened to the audio tape to this book...even better and easier than reading the book. I found Peggy Noonan's style both easy to understand and clear...she is living proof on how speeches should be delivered.Her voice and manner are calm, confident and inspirational.

The message is strong and one part that certainly sticks in my mind was "tell your audience what you're going to tell them...tell them and then tell them what you told them" I highly recommend this book to anyone who is in a position where they have to give speeches frequently or in a one off situation.

This is one of the best books to read when you have decided to become good at public speaking. She says have something to say and say it the way you need to say it. Then work at making it interesting to see for the audience. If you don't have something interesting then you are giving the wrong speech. The great achievement is become the speaker you want to be. Help the audience to understand that you are speaking the truth. Author's real life stories are excellent. She was speech writer to Presidents Reagan and Bush. Despite all the good things that Toastmaster's International does, it does not advise its new members give the speech you what to give. Don't copy anybody develop you.

Whether you are standing up in front of a joint session of Congress or a sub-committee of your local PTF, this book is a great resource.

Noonan knows of which she writes, having written speeches for the Great Communicator himself, Ronald Reagan. The stories of working side by side with Reagan were a high point of the book, at least for this Republican reader.

Ultimately, the strength of this work, though is the practical advice she gives to every speaker. This is a nuts-and-bolts manuel to writing and delivering a speech. It's also an easy, quick read, the kind you can refer back to for years.

An excellent resource for anyone who has to stand up in front of people and talk!

I didn't find too many ideas in these audio tapes that I hadn't found in other books on speeches. What sets Ms. Noonan's audiobook apart is that it is easier and much more interesting to listen to. If you are selecting your first audiobook on the fundamentals of delivering or writing a speech, this is the one to get.

A READER from St. Cloud MN. was wrong in their review of Ms. Noonan's work. She did use political references, but only as examples and never in a mean way. She provided pro and cons of various speeches given by both Democrates and Republicans. I found her to be straight forward and helpful. I would recommend this audio program to anyone regardless of their political leanings. Heck, she even gave Carvill high praise.

Better know today as a conservative columnist for the Wall Street Journal, Peggy Noonan also has a very strong pedigree as a political speech-writer for George H. Bush and Ronald Reagan.

In Simply Speaking she outlines very simply and coherently the basic rules of good speech writing and communication. As with most of the good books written on speech writing you are not likely to find major new insights. You will however find the key elements she addresses well illustrated with relevant speeches - many of which, by the way, she helped draft e.g. George H. Bush's acceptance speech at the Republican convention 1988 and Ronald Reagan's fortieth anniversary D-Day speech at Pointe du Hoc. Noonan goes through the speeches in detail, helping the reader to better appreciate the context and genesis for the respective speeches.

Noonan suggestions include:
A speech should never be more than twenty minutes.
Write the text out.
Humor is essential.
Sentences should be short and simple.

The book is a bit limited in that the author constantly returns to Reagan and his oratorical style but other speeches that Noonan quotes in a worthwhile book include Christopher Reeve's speech at the 1996 Democratic convention, John F Kennedy's Inaugural, Bill Clinton's Inaugural - which she pans and Mother Teresa's speech at the National Prayer Breakfast which reads well, but it was this amazing nun's presence and credibility which truly impacted the room.

I return to this book reasonably often because it is interesting and hits the key points for a speaker. But, the book could benefit from a good checklist and summary of key points. Noonan also shows her political colors too much in a book about speech writing. The reader doesn't need to know about her palpable disdain for the Clintons, a disdain which colors her judgment on the former President's communication ability which is often exceptional.

However, Simply Speaking is a good book for the budding speechwriter and speechmaker: a worthwhile and interesting refresher for the experienced speaker.