Blah Blah Blah: What To Do When Words Don't Work

Blah Blah Blah: What To Do When Words Don't Work by Dan Roam (List Price: $29.95; 2011 Portfolio/Penguin)

This book actually delivers on the title promise. Dan Roam provides an application-oriented structure to turn weakly-presented ideas into really elegant communication tools.

If you've read the Back of the Napkin or Beyond the Back of the Napkin, then you'll recognize his engaging style that mixes text with oddly compelling simple drawings. In Blah Blah Blah, he extends his earlier work and reinforces the same basic message: words go better with pictures.

I am a fan, and I really liked the overall book. In terms of criticism, the presentation felt a little padded in some parts -- saying in 5 pages what could be said in 5 words. I also missed the exercises that Roam included in his other volumes. In this book, readers are more passive; the text was less interactive.

This book would be useful to anyone who routinely presents information: teachers, executives, students, politicians, etc. This book would be a poor fit for readers looking to be told specifically what to do. That is, Roam presents principles and a general framework -- the details are left to the reader.

Click here to get a copy.

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