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| The Pyramid Principle: Present Your Thinking So Clearly That Ideas Jump Off the Page and into the Reader's Mind | 
 enlarge | Author: Barbara Minto
Publisher: Financial Times/ Prentice Hall
Category: Book
List Price: £37.99
Buy New: £37.60
You Save: £0.39 (1%)
New (11) from £37.60
Avg. Customer Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 24234
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 3
Pages: 192
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.3 x 0.6
ISBN: 0273659030
Dewey Decimal Number: 658
EAN: 9780273659037
ASIN: 0273659030
Publication Date: November 6, 2001
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...
 Thinking, speaking and writing clearly November 7, 2008
This little book will help you in mastering creative thinking. Are you frustrated by the fact that the boss just seems not to get it?
This book is the perfect reading for improving your communications skills.
A must-have not only for those in consulting but for everyone that need to improve their problem-solving and writing skills.
 Some prime "steak" but not much "sizzle" May 23, 2007
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
This book was first published in the US in 1987 and then in the UK in 1991. The review that follows is of an edition published in 2002. The title refers to the core concept within the framework Barbara Minto recommends in order to present material "so clearly that the ideas jump off the page and into the reader's mind." The same framework will also guide and inform preparation of presentations to groups. According to Minto, research clearly indicates that "the mind automatically sorts information into distinctive pyramidal groupings in order to comprehend it. Any grouping of ideas is easier to comprehend if it arrives presorted into its pyramid. This suggests that every written document should be deliberately structured to form a pyramid of ideas." In this volume, Minto explains how to structure the provision of material in ways and to the extent that accommodate the structure of how those who receive, absorb, and digest it.
Others have expressed their reactions to this book. Here are two of mine. First, if I understand Minto's thesis (and I may not), the three aforementioned "findings about the way the mind works" seem to refer far more to the subconscious than to the conscious mind. If so, I question how Minto's highly rational approach to writing clear business documents can accommodate the need to communicate effectively in non-verbal ways (e.g. body language and tone of voice). Minto's approach requires completing a rigorous, disciplined, and focused process (a geometric progression, really) that presupposes that the recipient of the given document will absorb and digest (not merely organize) the material in a comparable manner.
My second reaction is that Minto's content is generally quite solid (despite what I view as a few questionable premises) but that her writing style often lacks any "Snap! Crackle! And Pop!" The narrative comes across (at least to me) as resembling instructions in an operations manual for a writing machine. Consider this brief excerpt from Chapter 2:
"...you cannot hope to just sit down and start arranging your ideas in a pyramid. You have to discover them first. But the pyramid dictates a rigid set of substructures that can serve to speed the discovery process. These are:
o The vertical relationship between points and subpoints
o The horizontal relationship within a set of subpoints
o The narrative flow of the introduction"
I do not doubt that this approach worked for Minto when she generated and then organized the material for this book about that approach. The question remains, does Minto's presentation of such material engage the reader's heart as well as mind? It seems ironic that she acknowledges the importance of using various elements of "the story" (i.e. characters, situation, plot, conflict, resolution) but only in Chapter 4 when discussing "Fine Points of Introductions." Seldom throughout this book do Minto's ideas "jump off the page and into [her] reader's mind."
My guess (only a guess) is that this book will have the greatest appeal to -- and greatest value for -- those who already think as clearly and precisely as Minto obviously does. They and she would be well-advised to keep in mind, however, that most others do not, especially those who receive a document whose preparation has been guided and informed by The Pyramid Principle.
 Disappointing April 10, 2007
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
Having read the reviews and details of this book I expected a lot, but sadly it did not live up to my expectations. It provides a structured frame work for presenting your ideas but that is about it. The book is badly laid out and at times difficult to follow. An example of this being comments like `the example below' when the example is actually on the next page! The examples, when you can find them, are not clearly explained or worked through. Frankly if the book was written using the method it teaches it clearly demonstrates short comings in the approach as a whole. The second half of the book focuses on Pyramid thinking. That is to use the approach to sort through your thinking much like the presentation technique introduced in the first section of the book. Little reference is made to this second section in the official Book Description and considering you lose half the book to it you may end up with less book than you expected.
It may be a personal preference but I find mind mapping considerably more effective. In fact I find mind maps so effective I always use them to layout documents and presentations. Whilst this book will give you a general layout to let your ideas 'move off the page' they won't make that move without adding other elements to the document such as considering the end audience or plain old good written layout - two points that don't get mentioned in this book.
All in all an expensive book that is not worth its price tag. Save the cash and buy a cheaper Mind Mapping book instead.
A superb book for writing well-structured business documents October 26, 2005
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
A superb book with many valuable recommendations and tips for writing well-structured business documents. The framework described in it is highly effective in any non-narrative writing and it is used in most top-class consultancy firms. The book is also good for gaining some insight on hypothesis-led problem solving, both in the case of inductive and in the case of deductive reasoning. In this respect, it is full of examples that challenge unstructured and unorganized thinking and writing. It may be however useful to complement it with other books on creative thinking (e.g. Edward De Bono's), mind-maps (e.g. Tony Buzan's), and psycho-linguistic approaches (e.g. NLP, TA, etc.)
 dense December 17, 2003
11 out of 20 found this review helpful
The advice is good but as an example of clarity and structure in writing and thought, which this is book is meant to teach, I found it a disappointment. Some of the sentences do not make sense, and the structure is not transparent.
The book doesn't credit anyone with reading the draft, and this is a clear failing, indeed asking someone to proof read is not suggested in the text.
Taking the principles given here together with Tony Buzan's mind mapping techniques would be a much more dynamic way of constructing an argument, and this can be done with pencil and paper or mindmanager software to excellent effect.
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