Trees, maps, and theorems

by Jean-luc Doumont

Still wrapped in cellophane.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Science, Reference, Communication, Textbooks, Mathematics

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Tyler Critchfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a communication reference guide - but very useful. The author emphasizes adapting to your audience, maximizing signal-to-noise ratio, and using effective redundancy. He practices what he preaches as the book itself is visually appealing, concise, and effective. Often papers and presentations are prepared because that's just how it's done, not because that's how it should be done. If you need to communicate an idea through a presentation, report, memo, research paper, or even email, I highly suggest referencing this book.

[Héctor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I rated this book very high, which deserves and explanation.

This is a toolbox, not a novel or a story. As such, it is excellent. I did not read it completely, because as a tool box, I didn't NEED a lot of it. But what I did need, was help with my oral presentations. As a PhD student, learning to give oral presentations against a wide variety of audiences is paramount. From just showing up the lab work to high-schoolers to periodic thesis committee meetings, know WHAT to show is less important to learning WHAT NOT to show. Fortunately, Doumont teaches a very helpful way of doing this as well as dealing with the HOW, WHEN and WHERE of the presentation.

The book itself is pricey but the edition is gorgeous. The information here is very similar to what Doumont presents in his seminars, but also expans on other topics of scientific communications.

Very recommended to anyone who has to constantly give presentations, scientific or not.

[Manuel Frias · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is going to be my reference the next time I need to write a report. In fact, I think it should be a reference for everybody interested in communication! It has also good advice for preparing presentations and communicating with graphs.

It is so well-written and so clear that from now on Jean-Luc Doumont becomes one of my favorite authors.

[jimstoic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Explains three rules for presenting information: adapt to your audience, maximize signal-to-noise ratio, and use effective redundancy. These rules apply to both written information and presentations. In addition to being informative, it is also a physically beautiful book.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book to read through, but it's much better to see Jean-luc in person if you have the chance. Anyone who gives presentations often should look into this book.

[Raka Adrianto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tried to jump out of my usual genres now: in a course to perfect my research communication skills and amplify the upcoming talks.
In general, the books stands out due to its simplicity and unusually clean layout: two among numerous points that the author tries repeatedly in this book: maximizing signal-to-noise ratio. Often times, we think that our content is too narrow or limited, hence accidentally we add irrelevant contents on top of the main messages. In the end, they were eclipsed.
So much about talk preparation, and I admired those bits. Small sections about email writing, websites, and posters are equally essential, but I feel that they are a bit misplaced at the last (somehow indicating they have lesser importance than the former). Nevertheless, there is always something new to learn. I definitely encourage anyone to at least have a short read with this masterpiece. Oh and also: the slides templates (as figures) are extremely useful!

[Bruno · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent book! Very much recommended if you need to write clear documents for communications and present them. It's well written, and applies (in a very nice meta-way) its own principles to the book itself. This makes for a very agreeable reading, and makes the case in point: it doesn't need to be difficult, and it really works.

One important lesson to take away: take your time to construct well "why" you want to communicate (even for a simple email!). This proves the biggest investment to make sure your message passes, which is after all the goal.

Again, heartily recommended!

[Yoshikage Kira · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a guidebook for communications in written documents, oral presentations, and graphical visualizations, with core principles at the beginning and applications in the end. The layout and typography well reflect the advocated principles. The book is enjoyable to read, but could be combined with additional workshops/exercises for practical applications.

[Emanuel Schäffer · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent reference on how communication – verbally and non verbally – should be done. It shifts your perspective and makes you aware of elements that hinder effective communication – a true eye-opener.

Beyond the content the book features excellent typography and meaningful, supportive graphics.
A must-have for anyone, who is serious about professional communication.

[Isaac Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The pinnacle of practical beginner advice for visualizing information and making effective presentations. Tailored toward those without any background in education or presenting.

[Martijn Boussé · Rating 5 out of 5]

My personal bible when it comes to designing scientific output.

[Bất · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a kind of books that I wish I knew them earlier.

[David Jacobson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Scientific talks and papers in the scientific literature are often extremely confusing and hard to follow, even if you are already an expert in the field. This book by Jean-luc Doumont—who I recently saw give a talk on "Effective Oral Presentations"—provides an intellectual framework, and practical advice, for effectively delivering scientific information to an audience, either in written or spoken form. It isn't a very long book, but if you take it seriously, it can radically transform (and improve) you scientific communication.

Doumont's advice boils down to a few basic ideas that are almost never followed by practitioners. They center around the idea that, when you write a paper or give a talk, you are trying to communicate a message; you aren't just talking for the hell of it. The particular pieces of advice then branch out from this central idea of "having a message": you should design supports the message, you should tell the audience what the main message is going to be (and not make them wait until the end of the talk to know why they are sitting through it), you should design graphs/plots to emphasize the message being communicated (and the same with slides).

[Karen Mardahl]

I am marking this book as read, even though I have not read all of it. It is a reference book. I did read the first half of the book and I appreciate the insights it gives. The latter part of the book is actually something I am not using and therefore, I have skipped it for now. The layout of the book is in itself fascinating. The only issue I have - with my eyesight - is the thinness of the typography used. The contrast is a tad to light and too small for real comfort. The layout itself is great. There is one column for what you must read and the other columns are supplemental information. The layout is, in fact, beautiful. That makes it easy to look things up.

I have this parked by my desk for reference, especially for the cases where someone asks "why should we do it this way". Then I need some ready answers, and Jean-Luc has those for me.

i set the date to 31 December 2014 so as not to mess with my reading goal for 2015. :)

[Koen Van den Eeckhout · Rating 5 out of 5]

The three rules for effective (scientific) communication: adapt to your audience, improve the signal-to-noise ratio, and use effective redundancy. These rules apply to every form of communication: articles, abstracts, e-mails, posters, oral presentations, websites, graphs, reports, manuals,...

I was lucky enough to attend a series of Jean-Luc's lectures at the very start of my PhD, and it has improved my scientific output tremendously. I can only imagine how I would have struggled to get my articles, posters and presentations right without his advice, and I have received many positive comments about them ever since.

Simply a must-read for every scientist (student, professor, researcher, manager) who ever needs to write or present (in other words, everyone). Don't wait, read it now!

[Wouter · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this book, paragraphs are rectangles. All of them. No final lines of paragraphs breaking halfway. Only solid blocks.

Moreover, paragraphs are all on a single page. No page turns within paragraphs.

So text-wise, this book is 100% solid blocks.

This is not just a matter of lay-out. No irregularities are to be seen in the spacing between words and characters. The paragraphs have been written and edited with a specific font, font size, line width, line height, character spacing, word spacing, and page size in mind. All of them.

All very well, one may say, but how would this matter to the reader? What effect is achieved by writing a book like that?

With the book’s theme in mind, the question becomes: does this contribute to effective communication?

Five stars!

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great comprehensible guide for effective communication.