Read The Book!
For me, one of the primary ways I stay smart is through reading books. I thought I would start off Oh Nine! with some recommendations of books I read and throughly enjoyed in 2008 as well as share my list of books to read in the first ninety days of the new year.
This year I read some GREAT books. Here are a few recommendations for your bookshelf.
Brain Rules is a fascinating read about how our brains work and why we do the things we do. For us, it has informed us in our workshops when we talk
about what audiences pay attention to, what they remember and how that impacts presentation design.
For me, this was the best book I read in 2008. The information is relevant, interesting and applicable to what we do everyday--teaching people to communicate their ideas in a way that it sticks to people. The writers are two brothers and the sense of humor they bring to each and every page of the book is what held my interest. There are a number of memorable anecdotes which is a good thing--their book "Made to Stick" is sticky indeed.
What does it mean for a book to revolutionize a field? Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds has done just that by changing the way people think about slide design. For years we have gotten closer and closer to the principles that Reynolds teaches in this bible of slide design but this book was what really sent us into a new league. If you want your slides to stand out from
the rest, use this as your starting point.
Earlier this year Millie and I found a company called
Duarte Design on the Internet and loved the site. Later in the year, company co-founder, Nancy Duarte published her first book on slide and presentation design, Slide:ology, that has been a great add on to Presentation Zen. We like it so much that we are traveling to California in March for a dynamic duo workshop with her and Garr Reynolds to learn first hand how they approach slide design. We will be sure and follow up on our trip with you about what we learn.
The Next Ninety Days of Reading:
So in my quest to get smarter at what I do, I have made my list for the next ninety days. Here is what I am going to be reading:
This book has been on my list for quite a while now. I am
going to embrace my inner artist-doodler-sketcher person and embrace the principles in this book.
Why do people act irrationally? Good question. Sway examines this very question and poses some interesting ways of thinking about this idea. Using
modern day examples of people who have acted well... irrationally we learn the deep psychological influences that drive these very behaviors.
My final read for the next 90 days is going to be Outliers. By---Yep!
Malcolm Gladwell. I have had a lot of fun watching him show up on my favorite shows like The Colbert Report and reading articles about his new book Outliers. In Outliers Galdwell examines the question why is that some people have exceptional success? Are they themselves exceptional? Or is it simply right place, right time?
What are you reading in the next ninety days? Let us know and we will add it to our list!
No comments:
Post a Comment