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| The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures | 
 enlarge | Author: Dan Roam
Publisher: Portfolio Hardcover
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $9.74
You Save: $15.21 (61%)
Buy New/Used from $9.75
Avg. Customer Rating:  (61 reviews)
Sales Rank: 545
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 7.2 x 7.2 x 0.7
ISBN: 1591841992
Dewey Decimal Number: 658.403
EAN: 9781591841999
ASIN: 1591841992
Publication Date: March 13, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 The Bad of the Napkin November 9, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
The author definitely has some good points, I definitely agree that making things more visual can help a lot of times, but come on, 300 pages for that? it would have been a great book if it only had 100 concrete pages but the fact that it is so long goes directly against what he is preaching... I don't think is worth it's money. Don't buy it.
 Excellent Book... November 1, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
This book is a quick study for those who want practical skills that can be applied either at work or school. Roam skillfully uses examples from practical case studies to illustrate his techniques (which are scientifically based). I found the application and retention of his tools very easy and useful.
I read the entire book in about a week, a few pages each night before going to bed (of course, with a napkin and pen on the nightstand to practice with).
The Back of the Napkin Is A Book For Entrepreneurs October 16, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
When Dan Roam wrote The Back of the Napkin, he probably never thought he was writing a book for entrepreneurs. But that is exactly what he did. The book is about discovering ideas, developing ideas, and selling ideas. That is the entrepreneurship process. That is the way to develop entrepreneurial ideas and the foundation of the entrepreneurial mindset.
I was recently involved in a training program that used this visual thinking process to design marketing programs for Internet entrepreneurs. I was super impressed with how clear they made the process and went looking for the book.
Much to my surprise, I find The Back of the Napkin to be a perfect explanation of what I have discussed with friends and colleagues over the years on how to develop an entrepreneurial mindset and how to evaluate and implement entrepreneurial ideas.
A key goal of the book, as Dan Roam expresses it in the book, is to help people think of visual thinking as being like a Swiss Army knife that you can carry with you anywhere to tackle problems as they come to you. This concept will be revolutionary as it becomes more visible to entrepreneurs. Global Entrepreneurship Week is one example of a newfound world-wide effort to encourage young people to embrace entrepreneurship as a tool to solve the challenges of the world. The Back of the Napkin equips people, young and old, to take up that challenge.
 more like back of the table napkin October 12, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
for a book that pleads complex business problems can be condensed to a simple diagram, this book is wordy, overly complex and, frankly, kind of boring. This whole book could have easily been condensed into a a couple of chapters, and I found myself skipping whole parts that were simplistic and, again, not enough intrigue to get through the chapter. Ironically, the imagery throughout the book is distracting. Also, the author is constantly trying to convince us the value in using images to communicate, but I think that we can assume that if you are buying this book you have already drank the kool-aid of his message. Too much preaching to the choir.
The good parts of the book are when the author talks about specific business problems he helped to solve. Those kept me interested.
The main point of the book is a good one -- use simple images to communicate -- and learn how to distill information to get your message across. However the author would have been well served to take his own advice and shrink the this table napkin to a cocktail napkin.
very nice September 30, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
What a surprising book this is! It's easy to read, very inspiring and just fun to try it yourself. If you visit his website, you get a pdf doc with the basics; simply great.
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