It does outline some great basics of the oral presentation... that you should not use your power point slides as your note cards, and it is painfully true that so many people just are AWFUL at oral presentations.

But, as some reviewers have pointed out, what about those of us who aren't Selling Something? (I know, I know, in a way, even those of us using PP to teach are selling something). What if we're using the presentations as a replacement for the chalkboard, a digital format for our students to learn from? We need a lot more than 6 words, and really I refuse to live in a world where everything can be sold in six words or less (like a bad version of name that tune).

This is a decent reminder of good design principles. But don't expect it to revolutionize the oral presentation world-- because probably, those who need it most aren't even looking for help.

After all, some of the most powerful books I know are books usually considered "kids books." Want proof? Who can argue with the power of Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree -- all black and white and an average of three or four words per page of it? I've never seen anything more simple -- yet its emotion chokes me up every time I read it.

In the same way, I could read a zillion books on PowerPoint presentations and not get out of them what I got from this slim, 10-page, booklet by Seth Godin.

I'm not sure I understand what some of the other reviewers are getting at. Sure, this eBooklet only costs $1.99. But does that mean it contains nothing of value? Does quality have to equal quantity? Are there no good ideas rendered in simple words, short sentences, or few pages? (Gee, don't bother reading Hemingway, then.)

For once, we get far MORE value than we're paying for. The pricetage of $1.99 is a small price to pay, indeed, for something that could truly revolutionize your next PowerPoint presentation. What's that worth? you ask. I don't know. A new client? Keeping your job? Winning over your bosses to a new way of thinking? Impressing your co-workers? Learning to communicate with passion?

If those reasons aren't worth $1.99 to you, then you and I have a different set of values.

By the way, the title of my review is taken from one of the subheads in Seth's eBooklet. The information contained in that one statement, alone, has changed my entire outlook on the art of communicating. I don't know about you, but I'd gladly pay $1.99 for a slice of insight that heady.

Thank you, Seth.

Really Bad PowerPoint is perhaps redundant in its title, but rather than critically examining what PP does for disseminating information (not bullet points), this book gives further bad advice about making presentations. The fact that it fits in well with the cognitive style of PowerPoint does not alter the fact that the tool and those who use it are kept to a shallow series of points rather than depth and analysis. (A book on being a Good Nazi does not change the fact that it contains instructions on how to be a Nazi.)

The advice on using No More Than 6 Words per slide, etc. emphasizes the shallowness of both the tool (PP) and the author's advice on using it. As many like myself have found, PowerPoint is a good alternative to scribbled notes on a blackboard, and useful for certain hierarchically structured content [such as computer programming], but otherwise, it's pretty shallow and encourages shallowness with bullet points and other informationally slim materials.

If one is to pepper one's presentation with graphics (a good idea), one had better have some skill at creating them. At around 72 dpi (compared to around 2400 dpi for printed materials), the graphics, charts, and other graphic-bound materials in PowerPoint tend to be equally slim. Professional graphics in the form of clip art almost never hit the nail on the head but rather serve as metaphors or just cute little emphases for banal points being chugged off on a bullet list that has to be even slimmer because there's not much room on a slide. There's no room for critical analysis -- thought, creativity or change.

This book purportedly shows how to be more "effective" using PowerPoint. By "effective" the author must mean how to make shallow points that can be recalled--not understood, argued or reasoned--just recalled. This book does not show how to engage an audience (God forbid!), get them to critically assess, but instead how to plaster several bullet points (no more than 6 per slide, though) in front of a hapless audience who's muddled brains think wistfully of a lively Infomercial.

So I will continue to use PowerPoint, but in spite of its cognitive style rather than because it. This requires more work, more thought, and dropping the bullet-point templates. Handouts, as the author helpfully notes, should not be done in PowerPoint. (A handout with 6 words per page is a hazard to forests everywhere.) Handouts should be done in 1200 dpi laser-printed with rich text, charts, photos and drawings. In the meantime, I will continue to use Tufte's work to reclaim my soul and use PowerPoint sparingly and only as an alternative to handwriting that even a mother could not love.