The Back of the Napkin

It was a nice day outside to enjoy lunch and a book. Ironically, the book I finished at lunch was The Back of the Napkin by Dan Roam.

I first saw this book on the book shelf of the local book store a few months ago. It caught my attention because I like to doodle. I had a lot of other books to get to, so it wasn't until recently that I ordered it from Amazon. I enjoyed it a lot. I'm glad I bought it.

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, 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.