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

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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 658.403
EAN: 9781591841999
ISBN: 1591841992
Label: Portfolio Hardcover
Manufacturer: Portfolio Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 288
Publication Date: March 13, 2008
Publisher: Portfolio Hardcover
Sales Rank: 241
Studio: Portfolio Hardcover

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Product Description:
A bold new way to tackle tough business problems—even if you draw like a second grader

When Herb Kelleher was brainstorming about how to beat the traditional hub-and- spoke airlines, he grabbed a bar napkin and a pen. Three dots to represent Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. Three arrows to show direct flights. Problem solved, and the picture made it easy to sell Southwest Airlines to investors and customers.

Used properly, a simple drawing on a humble napkin is more powerful than Excel or PowerPoint. It can help crystallize ideas, think outside the box, and communicate in a way that people simply “get”. In this book Dan Roam argues that everyone is born with a talent for visual thinking, even those who swear they can’t draw.

Drawing on twenty years of visual problem solving combined with the recent discoveries of vision science, this book shows anyone how to clarify a problem or sell an idea by visually breaking it down using a simple set of visual thinking tools – tools that take advantage of everyone’s innate ability to look, see, imagine, and show.

THE BACK OF THE NAPKIN proves that thinking with pictures can help anyone discover and develop new ideas, solve problems in unexpected ways, and dramatically improve their ability to share their insights. This book will help readers literally see the world in a new way.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- Drawing is better
The premise of the book is that any problem, idea, or presentation can be solved using pictures - hand drawn pictures. Roam argues that everyone is visual, even those who say they aren't. He gives a few frameworks to work from as you prepare to draw out maps, charts, and pictures to present your ideas. I found them very helpful and refreshing. Roam also uses pictures significantly throughout the book which are also helpful.

In addition to Dan Roam saying that hand drawn pictures are more powerful than PowerPoint, Stephanie Palmer in her book Good in a Room: How to Sell Yourself (and Your Ideas) and Win Over Any Audience, also argues the same thing. My experience has been that they are both right. It really is much more captivating and easier to remember when I watch people draw out ideas in front of me rather than looking at a pretty computer generated graphic.

Rating:

- All sizzle, no steak
Dan Roam's "Back of the Napkin" is an important first step in teaching business people how to compose problems visually. However, it's definitely a rookie effort, heavy on sizzle but light on steak.

Roam spends nearly half the book explaining how our minds process information. Okay, fine. Kind of like a book on how to build a house explaining what is a hammer, a saw, a drill. Then Roam proposes some different ways to draw the different ways the brain processes information. Kind of like showing that a hammer is good for nailing wood together, a saw is good for dividing wood in half, and a drill is good for drywall and screws. The reader cannot wait to see how this will all fit together - "This is going to be good!". Finally, Roam throws out an example of how to pull it all together to solve a problem.

Unfortunately, the example is overly-easy, explores many blind alleys, and finally arrives ... Read More

Rating:

- 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 ... Read More

Rating:

- SIMPLE DRAWINGS MAKE SENSE
This insightful book says that any problem can be solved using a simple drawing. The author warns against saying you cannot draw, because he says anyone can draw the simple stick figure drawings he suggests. Roam reminds us that visual information is much more interesting than verbal information. He explains that simple drawings are the most effective way to solve problems, sell ideas, or communicate information. He believes drawings help people crystallize ideas and think more creatively. The author emphasizes that communicating your ideas effectively is crucial and reminds us that a picture is worth a thousand words.

The book begins with the basics of making drawings, charts, and graphs, then moves on to the author's tools for thinking in pictures. The remaining sections of the book explain how to develop and sell ideas. The section on developing ideas provides suggested models to use to best represent types ... Read More

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