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

slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations by Nancy Duarte (list price: $34.99; O'Reilly Media, Inc.)

slide:ology is designed as a reasonably comprehensive how-to guide on creating compelling visual material for presentations, promotional materials, and stories. The book is an easy read and visually very appealing. With a list price of $34.99, I found the book to be a very affordable introduction to the world of the graphic designer.

I bought the book at a time when I was struggling to depict a very technically complex manpower planning system in a way that was intuitively understandable. As I worked through the illustrated 260 page volume, I found myself nodding my head throughout. That is, Duarte's expertise shines through as she provides a very good basic structure for presentation design. This book was useful to me in my work; I incorporated some of her recommendations into the presentation that I was building.

From a critical perspective, I can't say that much of the material is original or unique to this volume. I've seen many of the principles described here in other works. Duarte also has a slight tendency to pad the prentations: saying in 5 pages and 20 pictures what could be said in a few sentences. Even with these limitations, Duarte's collection and organization of existing materials (with some original material sprinkled in), her easy-reading delivery, and her very strong visuals make this book a worthwhile read.

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