Customer Reviews

slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations

5 star:		(78)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I rarely review books, but this one was such a waste that I'd feel guilty if I didn't at least TRY to persuade you not to buy. The main problem with the book, as other reviewers have alluded to, is that it sort of tries to BE a design masterpiece rather than teach you. The design is interesting, but it is to the point that the content is subordinated to the design. There are maybe 5 pages worth of useful content.

Another irritant to me is that this is by far the most commercial book I've ever seen (more ads than a magazine). It seemed that every few pages I was being told to buy this book, or buy all of some other guys books. There is a two page section that is taken from Guy Kawasaki's blog. The whole thing is incredibly derivative (but shallow).

Finally, and this I can take responsibility for, it didn't meet my needs because I am not Al Gore, nor am I the CEO of a company. If I gave a presentation in the style of this book I'd be laughed out of the office. I'm an analyst, and the warm and fuzzy slides would not be good. Duarte's advice on data intensive slides? "Both [of Stephen Few's] books should be on your shelf along with everything Edward Tufte has written."
I have two Tufte books and they are virtually identical, I don't see myself buying his others (and they suffer from the same lack of relevance to corporate analysts). Disappointing.

I have to rain on the parade of this book and Garr Reynold's book (and other ones).

The message is "I'm one of the best slide designers in the world (which is true) and I'm going to show you WHY."

The message should be "I'm one of the best slide designers in the world and I'm going to show you HOW."

You'll see plenty to interest you, but unless you're a full-fledged graphic designer you'll never recreate these slides. Imagine putting this book (and the Reynold's book) into a room with some of your worst slide creators, or even yourself. Would you see an improvement in their skills? I doubt it.

You might as well become a painter by reading books that have the world's greatest pictures in them. Even though there is explanatory text here it isn't enough to bridge the gap.

To see a book written for its audience, try the "Before and After" books by Jon McWade which deal with desktop publishing. Unfortunately John has not yet tackled slides, but you can see an page layout idea and make it yourself in minutes.

So, sorry about this, because both this and Reynold's book are "nice" books. The energy has gone into the book's design and production rather than the content. But that makes them coffee-table books, and unless you have a coffee table in your office I'd advise that you give both of them a miss.

I had high hopes for this book. It looks very nice. It has the right nods to Tufte early on. But...

But the true content is very thin, includes a load of chart junk (the anti-Tufte - I guess the true cue is in the title, this is a PowerPoint book) and page after page of abstract diagrams demonstrating "flow" - much like the woeful second half of "Say it with Charts" which is about 50 pages of arrows.

Very very disappointing indeed.

Don't buy this book. The text is maddeningly small and poorly contrasted. With postage stamp size visuals it's like reading a telphone book.
Get The Non-Designer's Design Book by Robin Williams and check out the website of the author of The Craft of Scientific Presentations, Michael Alley for templates and research based design tips.
With these two resources you'll have everything you need without having to wade through the padding in Duarte's book.

I just destroyed this book with folded pages and ink annotations, so the perfectionists out there may want to order two copies, one for eating and one for sharing. The price is phenomenally reasonable, especially for something that is all color and totally elegant.

This is not about powerpoint slides. If anything, it is a very subtle but explicit critique of how retarded they still are (e.g. no separation between bullet groups). This is an utterly inspiring combination of wisdom, education, visual excitement, and plain fun that "lives" what it preaches.

When I get back to the office I am going to read this book again while I create a briefing on the Earth Intelligence Network and educating the poor one cell call at a time that respects the deep knowledge being imparted by this author and her team. Mills Davis, visualization and semantic genius (Project10X) called my presentation "dense" yesterday, and I needed this book to understand just how polite he was being.

Bottom line mechanically: 10 slides, 20 minutes, 30 font size MINIMJM. For the advanced audiences, 20 slides, 20 seconds each, 6 minutes and 20 seconds total.

I read and reread sections, and the recurring thought in my head was that this book may well be all one needs to run a semester long course on the communication of important complex ideas. The author does not just show a correct slide, the author breaks down every aspect (e.g. fonts, color, grid layouts, use of images, creating your own art) into separate chapters with very ably-illustrated palettes covering all the options. I have a note on this, "nuances are unpackaged and illustrated."

I note the author's admonition that change across the presentation is a distraction, that animation should support the message and the continuity of understanding.

For large organizations, the author covers templates as a means of harnessing the diversity of knowledge of varied functions and employees, while maintaining a consistency of brand. BRAND is huge within this book, and in this book BRAND is not a legal term, it is a philosophical term. I am hugely impressed by a chart showing UK companies that treat BRAND as a design imperative being so much more competitive and profitable than those that do not. This book is not just asserttions and demonstrations, it is fact and case based and eminently authoritative.

I learn for the first time that powerpoint slides can be instantly made to be black and white to focus audience on the speaker, or made all white, by pressing B or W. Why didn't I learn that from Microsoft? Because their tool bar is not designed to teach....perhaps?

Special pages for me:

10-11 The Presentation Ecosystem (Message, Story, Delivery)
12-13 Time Estimate for world-class presentations (36-90 hours)
18-19 Rick Justice and 27 slides on eight topics (organization)
58-59 Making Diagtrams Work Together
64-65 Following the Five Data Slide Rules (Tell the Truth is Rule 1)
82-83 The (Financial) Value of Good Design
116-117 Lose the logo on every slide....
142-143 Dissecting a font (this section alone was HUGE eye-opener)
148-149 Typesetting a block of text (what powerpoint does not do)

The references are phenomenal, and comprise an instant library for any person, firm, or school of design. I only have ten links allowed, so below I list the reference categories, and link to a single book from the multiples identified--no disrespect intended for the others!

DESIGN
Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery (Voices That Matter)

BRANDING
The Brand Gap: How to Bridge the Distance Between Business Strategy and Design

VISUAL THINKING
Zag: The Number One Strategy of High-Performance Brands

INFORMATION GRAPHICS
Nigel Holmes On Information Design (Working Biographies)

DATA DISPLAY
Information Dashboard Design: The Effective Visual Communication of Data

CONTENT
Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die

BUSINESS BOOKS
The E-Myth Manager: Why Most Managers Don't Work and What to Do About It

The index is very good, another manifestation of the utter devotion to quality of the publisher, O'Reilly (I dislike most of their book sets, this one very properly rose to a proper high level).

Lots of white space. There isn't an ounce of fat or irrelevance in this book. It is world-class in every respect, and most publishers are so crummy about price and color that I want to end with a tip of the hat to o'Reilly for getting this one "just right."

I read some of the other reviews and I think some of the people who gave low ratings missed the point of this book. This is not a "How to" PowerPoint book. This is a "How to" effective presentation book. And if you read the introduction you should see the intent of Slide"ology.

Slide:ology provides theory behind visual communication using presentation media. The message is ...well, focus on the message of the presentation. The book provides basic design concepts that should help anyone in understanding what are the components of a well designed presentation. Key word here being design. I think some people struggle to understand that design means function and purpose instead of just making things pretty.

Some people mentioned small type and the book being hard to read. I thought the book was well designed and didn't have a problem with reading it. The pages provide ample room for taking notes.

I work as a consultant and I do presentations at least 2 times a week. This books really help me to make impact in my customers.

I've been on a quest to find the best books to guide me in great design of the PowerPoint presenatations I prepare for our company. I've read some pretty terrible books, all telling me how to use the best clip art or guiding me in the mechanics of WordArt, etc. Dreadful! I finally came across Slideology and the Presentation Zen books by Garr Reynolds, and I enjoyed them all three immensely. As far as having "advertisements" for other companies in the book (as one poster said), I found these to be more of real life examples, not advertisements. I enjoy seeing how top companies market themselves in their presentations. My plan is to revamp our corporate presentations using Duarte's design methods to show how much better our presentations can be. If your intention is to learn to use all of the transitions and other tools in PowerPoint, this is not your book. If you want to learn how to design a presentation that looks classy and will grab the attention of your audience, this IS your book.

This is a great practical guide on developing better presentations. It covers all aspects of the process from developing the right messages to story boarding to the use of space on the final slides. All of the concepts brought forth are clear and can be implemented if you want to develop a high quality presentation.

On a personal note; I despise sitting through a pitch that basically has the speaker's presentation all typed out in bullets - drives me nuts. If that is what your presentations look like, READ THIS BOOK and start to improve your presentations today.

PowerPoint is utilized so poorly so often. Slide:ology (in the spirit of Garr Reynolds wonderful books "Presentation Zen" and his more recent "Presentation Zen Design") helps provide a much more sophisticated and effective framework for how and when to use PowerPoint to its maximum potential. Not for the casual PowerPoint user, it suggests the truly symbiotic relationshp between form and content. It also suggests a critical focus on ideas and genuine persuasion - not just bullet points and information exchange. It allows you to develop your presentations with a whole new frame of mind and purpose. I enthusiastically recommend Nancy Duarte's approach and sage advice.