A great premise and there is useful content but somehow none of it stuck after I read it. I look at the book again and feel that the author doodled himself into a bit of a corner and the outcome does not capture real world applications.

If the text were expanded to include a broader reference of examples of illustrated communication and if the author were to go through some real convincing examples the whole would stand up.

The real issue is that not all problems can be broken down into a pretty picture. ( )

Roam does a fantastic job of outlining how our visual minds work - he even includes the research in an appendix to the main text so you can check the science. The last portion of the book is a walkthrough of a case study, and that really helped me understand his process as well. I've already started to implement some of the things he talks about and it's helped my thinking process and communication with others while we work to solve problems. Definitely a good read if you do similar work. ( )

Downloadable resources (the key diagrams to visual thinking as the author presents it) from this book are available from the author, http://www.danroam.com/napkin-tools-no/ ( )

Okay, but not revolutionary ( )

If you know anything at all about design, project management, presentations, or have ever ventured outside the box to solve a vexing problem, this book will be an extremely fast and not terribly informative read. I imagine some might be wowed...I have someone in mind to recommend it to...but the gimmick lost its appeal quickly. He should have used fewer napkins. ( )