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deekabee's review against another edition
2.0
Great ideas and premise, but I don't think it takes 200+ pages to disseminate this information.
hereisenough's review against another edition
4.0
So much information on visual note taking and mind mapping. I love it. I appreciated that it's easy to read the book out of order according to your needs/wants. Good for building confidence and ideas for how to take notes in a more visually meaningful way. Would also return to if I needed to lead a collaborative project as it has a plethora of methods to capture collaborative thinking. Love it.
patlo's review against another edition
5.0
Perhaps I thought this book wouldn't amount to much, but it's both deeper (in its sociology and psychology of learning) and more engaging (in equipping us ALL to think visually. Combined with the recent Sketchnote books by [a:Mike Rohde|4707285|Mike Rohde|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-ccc56e79bcc2db9e6cdcd450a4940d46.png] and [a:Austin Kleon|2985039|Austin Kleon|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1381372368p2/2985039.jpg], these three authors have unleashed a force of creativity within me that I just didn't know I had. I've reread Doodle Revolution this year and will continue to; just as I have with Rohde's and Kleon's books.
megandmedia's review against another edition
3.0
This book was great but relied too heavily on corporate infodoodling. Though I can use some of these ideas for my own notes and ways of creating documents.
curtispaulostler's review against another edition
I did not finish this, and tending to start skimming after 100 pages, so I do not feel right giving it a rating.
But I cannot say that I was impressed with what I did read. I think "revolution" not just vastly overrates the doodle effect, but it seemed like trying to force something that was a pet project into public consciousness.
Some of it was interesting, and I even tried to incorporate different types of doodling into my life, but I did not see any positive outcomes nor a desire to change anything in my own style, either in personal thought or presentation.
But I cannot say that I was impressed with what I did read. I think "revolution" not just vastly overrates the doodle effect, but it seemed like trying to force something that was a pet project into public consciousness.
Some of it was interesting, and I even tried to incorporate different types of doodling into my life, but I did not see any positive outcomes nor a desire to change anything in my own style, either in personal thought or presentation.
lisaebetz's review against another edition
4.0
I have never considered myself much of a doodler, although I do think in graphs, charts and diagrams. This book, however, gave me a new appreciation for the oft-maligned doodle. I have not fully jumped on the Doodle Revolution bandwagon, but I can see that adding doodling to my repertoire of brainstorming techniques might be a good idea. A fun book with plenty of food for thought.
amyboughner's review against another edition
3.0
Very interesting, fun first half. Second half was about running meetings using the techniques from the first half and was less useful to me.
amyrhoda's review against another edition
3.0
The Doodle Revolution is a substantial book about how (and why) to record and organize ideas visually. The author shows how to draw the basic elements of a visual vocabulary: typography, shapes, enclosures, dividers, arrows, shading, and even people. Then she explains how to use these elements to capture information in meetings, from speeches and videos, from books, or any other source. She includes lots of practical tips on taking visual notes at live events, and on taking notes for other people versus for your own reference.
I found The Doodle Revolution both convincing and helpful, and since I read it I have used visual notetaking frequently at seminars and meetings, when taking notes on articles or blog posts, as well as when simply thinking things through. The instructions are clear and reassuring, and there are lots of exercises to help you practice your new skills.
I have three nitpicks.
First, her choice of the word "doodle" bugs me. A doodle is an idle, often repetitive, drawing you do to help your mind focus on something else. A better (although not perfect) word for what this book is about is "sketching", but for some reason Brown chooses "doodle", and then spends many words defending her version of "doodle" against the charge that doodles are absentminded and pointless.
Second, sometimes I had the feeling that the author expected the book to be read by combative jerks. She spends pages defending the act of sketching against various objections: doodling is a waste of time, visual notetaking is too hard for normal people, you have to be an artist to do visual notetaking, art is supposed to be hard and painful so why would I do this? The arguments she defends against seem petty to me and I felt like she was wasting ink. I suppose as a Woman Who Speaks in Public she has to defend herself and her ideas ad nauseam, so maybe she thought it safest to head off all possible objections at length in the book, perhaps in the hope of never having to face them again.
And finally, the last section of the book provides detailed guides to applying visual notetaking to various kinds of meetings: project planning meetings, update meetings, etc. Each meeting type is broken down into exercises meant to get participants brainstorming, categorizing, prioritizing, or whatever. They are pretty cool and I've no doubt helpful, but so far as I could tell you could do most of the exercises without sketching at all: there was nothing intrinsically sketchy about them. (Although to be fair I did skip over the last few, since praise be, I'm mostly meeting-free these days.) The meeting section was pitched as the big culmination of all the things you learned in the book, so I expected it to be more obviously doodle-intensive. I think the author could have presented the exercises in a more doodle-oriented way to make it clear why doodling can make meetings more effective.
Those are, however, nitpicks, because the real value of the book is in the cheerful, lucid way that Brown takes your hand and leads you down the path of visual thinking — you may never look back.
I found The Doodle Revolution both convincing and helpful, and since I read it I have used visual notetaking frequently at seminars and meetings, when taking notes on articles or blog posts, as well as when simply thinking things through. The instructions are clear and reassuring, and there are lots of exercises to help you practice your new skills.
I have three nitpicks.
First, her choice of the word "doodle" bugs me. A doodle is an idle, often repetitive, drawing you do to help your mind focus on something else. A better (although not perfect) word for what this book is about is "sketching", but for some reason Brown chooses "doodle", and then spends many words defending her version of "doodle" against the charge that doodles are absentminded and pointless.
Second, sometimes I had the feeling that the author expected the book to be read by combative jerks. She spends pages defending the act of sketching against various objections: doodling is a waste of time, visual notetaking is too hard for normal people, you have to be an artist to do visual notetaking, art is supposed to be hard and painful so why would I do this? The arguments she defends against seem petty to me and I felt like she was wasting ink. I suppose as a Woman Who Speaks in Public she has to defend herself and her ideas ad nauseam, so maybe she thought it safest to head off all possible objections at length in the book, perhaps in the hope of never having to face them again.
And finally, the last section of the book provides detailed guides to applying visual notetaking to various kinds of meetings: project planning meetings, update meetings, etc. Each meeting type is broken down into exercises meant to get participants brainstorming, categorizing, prioritizing, or whatever. They are pretty cool and I've no doubt helpful, but so far as I could tell you could do most of the exercises without sketching at all: there was nothing intrinsically sketchy about them. (Although to be fair I did skip over the last few, since praise be, I'm mostly meeting-free these days.) The meeting section was pitched as the big culmination of all the things you learned in the book, so I expected it to be more obviously doodle-intensive. I think the author could have presented the exercises in a more doodle-oriented way to make it clear why doodling can make meetings more effective.
Those are, however, nitpicks, because the real value of the book is in the cheerful, lucid way that Brown takes your hand and leads you down the path of visual thinking — you may never look back.
todstrick's review against another edition
4.0
Not something I might normally have chosen. Some excellent thoughts on thinking and communicating visually"
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