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the_nomadreader's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
5.0
Thanks so much to Headline for this ALC! I can't think of a single person who can't benefit from reading this book. It's a lot more than a guide to good explanations, but a guide to overall improved communication whether in the workplace, at school or even in personal relationships.
I'm a real stickler for good comms - the amount of misunderstanding that arises from people being poor at communicating is astounding! Whether it's because they give missing or excessive information, because they have different reference points when listening or because so many people listen to respond to what they think a person is going to say rather than listening to what is actually being said... this book can help anyone convey their messages better.
The Art of Explanation should be mandatory reading for all people!
I'm a real stickler for good comms - the amount of misunderstanding that arises from people being poor at communicating is astounding! Whether it's because they give missing or excessive information, because they have different reference points when listening or because so many people listen to respond to what they think a person is going to say rather than listening to what is actually being said... this book can help anyone convey their messages better.
The Art of Explanation should be mandatory reading for all people!
nikodemicek's review
2.75
Don’t expect hard science in this one. It is pretty skimmable, there is not much valuable information apart from the titles, subtitles and summaries. But it’s a decent framework worth returning to.
literarymultitudes's review against another edition
3.0
I must confess I had no idea who Ros Atkins was (even though I might have heard the name before), before requesting this arc. I was drawn in only by the title. The conveyance of information is deeply fascinating to me.
This is a mixture of a rather concrete how-to and anecdotes about the author's professional life. The latter I found rather intriguing and would have liked even more of. However, that was not the premise of the book. And maybe that was what didn't work well for me. Either strict guidebook or memoir, but it was too hard a task obviously to bring those two together. For that it still worked fine in the end.
The author stresses again and again that he neither considers the recipient of information stupid nor malevolant in any way, but rather unable or unwilling due to circumstances if not inclined to consume the information he presents. I guess this way of thinking might help make me feel a bit less didactic in my approach to explanations at work. And I enjoyed that about the book.
Overall I would maybe find the book helpful, was I really before a concrete task that needed a deep explanation of something. For smaller tasks the procedure seems overwhelmingly complex. (But that is just a personal impression.) The last part about e-mail communiction was especially relevant maybe to my day to day work, so I found it most engaging.
Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for providing an advanced reader copy.
This is a mixture of a rather concrete how-to and anecdotes about the author's professional life. The latter I found rather intriguing and would have liked even more of. However, that was not the premise of the book. And maybe that was what didn't work well for me. Either strict guidebook or memoir, but it was too hard a task obviously to bring those two together. For that it still worked fine in the end.
The author stresses again and again that he neither considers the recipient of information stupid nor malevolant in any way, but rather unable or unwilling due to circumstances if not inclined to consume the information he presents. I guess this way of thinking might help make me feel a bit less didactic in my approach to explanations at work. And I enjoyed that about the book.
Overall I would maybe find the book helpful, was I really before a concrete task that needed a deep explanation of something. For smaller tasks the procedure seems overwhelmingly complex. (But that is just a personal impression.) The last part about e-mail communiction was especially relevant maybe to my day to day work, so I found it most engaging.
Thanks to the publisher and netgalley for providing an advanced reader copy.
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