Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 21-25 of 111
 Backk of the Napkin May 7, 2009
Stanley R. Kirk (Detroit Michigan)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book is for those that tell stories via pictures. It provides the tools to simplify major business problems with art. Great book for management consultants.
Napkins aren't just for Cocktails May 7, 2009
Kevin Friedman (San Francisco, CA United States)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Dan Roam absolutely rocked my world! (I would draw a picture, but Amazon reviews don't allow an etch-a-sketch option yet.)
After reading this book for myself, I purchased 4 additional copies to share with friends (a couple entrepreneurs, senior executive, and a backup for me).
The heart of this book is summarized on page 141 -- the Visual Thinking Codex. This is a master list of problem solving pictures identified by situation, depending on which framework (who/what, how much, where, when, how, & why) and S.Q.V.I.D. (simple/elaborate, quality/quantity, vision/execution, individual/competition, change/as-is).
This previous sentence doesn't make much sense right now... but it will!
Have you been in board stiff in a presentation? are group meetings the bane of your existence? probably!
When you talk to others are they excited? inspired? do they viscerally react to your initial thoughts and share onpoint brainstorms and feedback? Unlikely.
Our education system focuses on the building blocks without consideration for the packaging. This book does a great job of improving our communication skills so we can become much more effective working with others.
 Disappointing May 2, 2009
Dezembrum (USA)
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
A lot of the visualization concepts presented in The Back of the Napkin seemed like retreads or just common sense dressed up in new verbiage.
Great hype, cool cover, not much (or too much) in between the skins April 30, 2009
Frank (Chicago, IL)
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
Maybe I had too high of expectations, as it was highly anticipated by many of my colleagues. It reads like a mash-up of a how-to-draw book and a biz school case study, which sounds interesting on the surface, but I agree with other reviewers that it bores you to death in practice. The book is unreadable. The cover and the promo blubs make it sound like a fun book with an interesting personality but it doesn't deliver.
I don't see why this is marketed at creative web/business types. If you have ever drawn something on a whiteboard, there 3-5 tips you can pick up in 5 min skimming this at the bookstore that were helpful. The rest is a confidence building bore-fest. A better book for that crowd would be Visual Notes for Architects and Designers.
The real target for this books seems to be business types who are afraid to pick up a pen and paper. I would recommend this to any colleagues who shy away when I ask them to diagram something for me in a meeting, but for anyone with a modicum of drawing skills this book will be too obvious and too redundant.
I head Dan Roam is a great presenter/facilitator, so maybe a book is just the wrong medium for him.
 Great concept but missed the mark April 30, 2009
Clint Aust Centre (Victoria Australia)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
Yes! I did enjoy the book and have given a copy to some clients, but it just didn't add enough creativity or umphh to selling concepts or solving problems. I think it is an airport or train station book but not a serious read.
In some ways it is an update on Tony Buzan's mind mapping applied to business, but does not present a huge leap forward.
It certainly has a place and would serve a student of business to establish basic skills. I would look for "The back of the napkin professional version" before I would include it in my professional library.
I recently worked with an entreprenuer who was hearing impaired and worked by interpreting sign language - NOW that is seriously creative, very different and unexpectibly powerful. Dan Roam could have pushed the creative envelope much further.
Showing reviews 21-25 of 111
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