Customer Reviews:
 Required Reading for Government Communicators May 7, 2008
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."
 PowerPoint: The Dark Side January 23, 2008
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.
Good Criticism, Few Alternatives January 14, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
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_.
Excellent overview of PowerPoint Tool January 7, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This document is an excellent review without prejudices of a very common Office tool: PowerPoint. It is the proof that common tools are not necessarily good tools or professional tools.
Only to mention that this sepparate chapter can be found included in the book "Beautiful Evidence", also by E. Tufte.
Worth a Read...Especially if You Use PowerPoint December 12, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
"The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint" is really an essay as opposed to a book. Written by Edward Tufte, this is well worth reading if you use Microsoft PowerPoint at work, in school or at home. It is enlightening in terms of how the medium - PowerPoint in this case - can affect the message.
So as to contextualize this publication, the author, Edward Tufte, is one of the world's leading authorities on presenting information graphically. A prolific writer, Tufte has been deemed the "Galileo of Graphics...the Leonardo da Vinci of Data...and the world's leading analyst of graphic information" by various well-known sources. Put another way, Tufte knows of what he speaks.
The focus of this essay is on how PowerPoint (and other like presentation tools, in my opinion) reduces certain qualities of information and on how presenters can improve presentations in general.
In addition to being an informative read, the mock "Gettysburg Address" using PowerPoint is hysterical and makes a clear point through humor.
Highly recommended.
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