The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures | Dan Roam

The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures | Dan Roam | A Good Introduction For Data Visualization

books:

The Back of the Na...

	The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures Dan Roam Portfolio Hardcover, 2008 - 288 pages average customer review:based on 64 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Great book

If you have to get complex points across to people as part of your job, this book will help you do a better job. Great for technical sales or product management.

A Good Introduction For Data Visualization

Typically I don't buy many books-- we have a good local library, so I buy only those that are 1) very interesting and 2) worth referring to later. This book is both. It is marketed as a book that shows how to develop business presentations by drawing the charts in front of the audience rather than relying on pre-made PowerPoint slides. Anyone, however, who needs to learn how to display data to convince others (data visualization) will find this book useful.

The good: it is an easy and fast read, with little jargon, and with good explanations of the various ways to display data. The chapter, "Frameworks For Showing," alone makes the book worthwhile to purchase. When do you use a timeline, or a flowchart, or a multivariable plot? This chapter explains all.

The bad: the drawings, while clever and creative, are at the lower end of my ability to read the writing. (And I have very good eyes.) A paperback version with the drawings much larger would be very helpful.

Very worthwhile.

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A Solid Introduction to Illustrating Problems and Solutions

If you don't have any idea of how pictures can help you see more dimensions of problems and explain your solutions better, this is a good book to get you started. The book's main drawback is that it doesn't discuss how to integrate stories with pictures to make for more compelling communications. You'll have to learn to do that by reading books about storytelling to supplement this one.

I consider myself to be not very good at creating pictures for either solving problems or communicating solutions. I was disappointed that the book wasn't aimed more at helping people like me who understand the principles but have trouble applying those concepts.

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I thought this book would help me draw

Dan Roam writes a fun book. I thought I would learn how to draw better when drawing business ideas. This book goes through the business plan on napkins - but after practicing drawing like Dan Roam in the book, it looks nothing like the book. Bummer. I would of loved a chapter on how to draw better.

reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, page 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13

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