The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint: Pitching Out Corrupts Within, Second Edition

This is a very good read for everyone who has relied on powerpoints to disseminate information, especially critical information

Reading and adherence to the guidelines in this handy little tome should be standard operating practice for all who prepare presentations for an audience - be it a classroom, board of directors or jury.

Whether you love or hate Microsoft PowerPoint and its kin, you owe it to yourself to listen to Edward Tufte. His argument is well-reasoned and the evidence damning. While most of us will continue to crank out PowerPoint presentations, we should know the dangers of the form and commit ourselves to "first, do no harm."

Edward Tufte insightfully tells us how PowerPoint corrupts the communication process by forcing its format on content. For me, this is just another example of dumbing down in general. No longer do managers communicate via reasoned analysis through narrative. No, all communication must be as brief as possible and to the point. Unfortunately, sometimes the point needs more than just a multi-bulleted slide. Tufte's argument is highlighted by the PowerPoint parody of the Gettysburg Address. I too experience the constraint of expressing important detail, context and relationships when the expectation is to fit it into a Word table or a Power Point presentation. Now, this is not a call for wordiness. Unnecessarily long and tedious papers will do just as well in stifling communication. The point is to learn to write well and communicate well, without surrendering to the allure of the promises of new technology that may actually provide the opposite. Read Tufte's treatise and get a good idea of what not to do and why.

Tufte's criticism of PowerPoint is excellent. He points out its worst failings: low information density, forcing all thought into "bullets", etc. However, he does not provide suggestions for alternative ways to present quantitative information beyond "use other graphical forms".

Also, potential buyers should note that this essay is included as a chapter in _Beautiful Evidence_.