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

This book addresses a genuinely important topic (making good presentations). It's glossily and expensively done (*very* much so). It does in fact contain bits of good content, here and there. But still:

** Two hundred and seventy five -- repeat, 275! -- pages?

** With all the text in fine print and faintly colored ink?

** Probably 500+ figures and illustrations, many of them either excessively detailed or of dubious or unexplained relevance, and with captions in even smaller type size?

Utterly crazy to spend good money on this (at lleast IMHO).

This is the best of the presentation books I've read because it really covers the notion of graphical display of information, not the how to use ppt. There are also some online templates available. Reading this book opens up the right brain quite a bit; that makes it worth the price and more.

This book is amazing in that it is a book on presentation and is simultaneously a fine example of how NOT to present something. The print is far too small and is a faded grey. How in all the world could someone who put this much effort and care into a book - I did manage to read some of it - fail to notice that it is nearly unreadable?

I work for a school district and I do quite a bit of staff development. Nancy Duarte's book has helped me to rethink how to plan for my presentations; she has helped me to create ideas not slides. Creating this type of presentation takes time, but the end product is well worth the effort. I recommend this book to anyone who does presentations.

When you boil any form of communication down -- a conversation, an article, a book, a presentation -- it's really just a story. This is one of the guiding premises of Nancy Duarte's book, slide:ology. Interestingly, the story that she tells in this book is about how to tell a better story orally and visually. Because of the challenges of writing about a presentation instead of giving one, this book reaches beyond the realms of traditional books. The striking full-color volume is packed full of diagrams, examples, and case studies, as well as more traditional descriptions of what to do and why. The book is also accompanied by a helpful website and a free 45 day access to the online edition of slide:ology through Safari Books Online. The book itself is part speech coach, part visual design instructor, and all inspirational. The bulk of it deals, unsurprisingly, with designing slides: layout, templates, color and diagram choices, etc. Each chapter deals first with the theory, explaining why color choices matter and how the audience perceives what is being presented. The overriding theme is clarity and simplicity, which is emphasized through the design of each page, with plenty of white space ("visual breathing room") and examples. Most chapters include at least one case study, describing successful presenters who have used the techniques outlined (often clients of Duarte Design), and most case studies include online links where the reader can actually watch the presentation being presented instead of described, or download PowerPoint templates, allowing the reader to use the techniques themselves. slide:ology was both an informative and enjoyable read. Duarte has a way of being encouraging and inspiring, even while pointing out errors that are made countless times. Especially geared toward professionals who are giving presentations regularly, this book is worth a look by anyone who might be watching or giving a presentation in the future. The biggest downside: you'll never be able to sit through a traditional PowerPoint presentation again!
For a full Review go to: Interface, Berglund Center for Internet Studies