I was very excited when I got the “Presentation Zen” book, I’d heard great things about the blog and I was pleased to see so many pictures and examples in the book. There are also a lot of words and this is where the book falls down, there are too many words.
The text is conversational and incredibly repetitive, it is a style that could work well as a blog or a speech, in fact, while reading I could imagine it being given as a speech, it just doesn’t work as a book. What also struck me was that in his presentation of “Presentation Zen” he seemed to break all the rules and guidelines that he recommended we use when giving presentations.
This was especially highlighted where printed articles by strong writers like Seth Godin were used, the difference in the quality of the writing was apparent.
There are some good ideas in this book but they get hidden by the chattiness of the author and bludgeoned to death by needless repetition.
For maximum value simply read chapters 6 and 7 – this is where the book is at its strongest.