The Pyramid Principle: Logic in Writing and Thinking 3rd Edition by Barbara Minto (PDF)

Description

How many times have you written an email at work, read it back and found that it didn’t make as much sense as you’d hoped? or worse, someone else has told you that they can’t follow it. The Pyramid Principle will show you how to communicate your ideas clearly and succinctly.Barbara Minto reveals that the mind automatically sorts information into distinctive pyramidal groupings. However, if any group of ideas are arranged into a pyramid structure in the first place, not only will it save valuable time and effort to write, it will take even less effort to read and comprehend it.The Pyramid Principle explains how to: • think creatively, reason lucidly, and express ideas with clarity • define complex problems and establish the objectives of any document • assess your ideas and recognize their relative importance • structure your reasoning into a coherent and transparent argument • analyze your argument to confirm its effectiveness.The clear communication of ideas, whether to clients, colleagues or the management board, is a key factor in determining personal success. Applying the Pyramid Principle will enable you to present your thinking so clearly that the ideas move off the page and into the reader’s mind with a minimum of effort and a maximum of effect. Bring your ideas to life!

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐This book will help in improving my presentation skills.

⭐This edition of the book (3rd) published by Pearson is of such low quality in binding and material it actually makes it difficult to read it. The paper is see through (think newsprint quality) showing the text from the reverse side. The layout of the text is offset towards the spine so far that you cannot read the ends of words unless you tilt the book. There is a huge unused margin on the outer portion of the page. (See photo attached). If I were Barbara Minto I’d be exceedingly frustrated with the publishers shoddy work.The contents of the book is fair but a bit dated at this point referencing considerable pop-psychology from the 60s and early 70s. It’s not bad, it’s just dated. For example in it’s steel hard assumption that “He” is at work and “She” needs him to get groceries. Understand the audience that she was writing for at the time, it just feels a bit like a book from the shelf of a Mad Men episode.All that said, her thesis and principles are well thought out and do have considerable merit in my opinion. However for a book about organizing thought in writing and lowering the effort of a reader to comprehend an author I find it lacking brevity.

⭐Great logic ideas how to structure your notes, mails or long essays! However language used and complicated examples given to explain ideas make getting the concepts very frustrating. The book describes very good basics how to structure your ideas – starting with story telling concepts, putting ideas first, applying pyramid concept to summarize your points and support main ideas etc. On the other hand the author loves using not frequently used words and jargon combined with excessive use of passive voice. This makes comprehending the ideas very difficult, especially for me, non-native English speaker. On top of these difficulties, examples used in the book are mostly way too technical that just understanding what is it all about completely distracts from absorbing the idea. I think if the ideas of the book is targeted to general public, language and examples should be so understandable that the reader easily focuses just on the main concepts. In summary, the book is full of great ideas very useful for any writer. Just the difficult wording makes you re-read the text couple of times to get to the roots. And be prepared for tough examples…

⭐I bought this book around the time I started working as an ERP Consultant at Google. This is the best “how to write for business” book I have read. I have read this book twice and will probably read it many more times. I used what I learned in this book to write business requirements documents (BRD) and functional and technical documents (FDTD). The overriding concept is “logic in writing” and the author shows how we think in a “pyramid structure” and why our writing should have this pyramid structure. The second part of the book goes into “logic in thinking ” which is also great though a little dense.This book is worth the money you spend on it – it SHOULD BE REQUIRED READING FOR EVERY CONSULTANT and PRODUCT MANAGER.Along with Strunk and White’s Elements of Style this book is a perfect one-two punch for anyone who wants to read 2 books on how to write for business.

⭐A once-hot and now unappreciated classic, one of the best how-to writing guides for technical and persuasive works in any language. Minto wove together the requirements that logic imposes on the structure and format of argumentative and technical written works. If you try the Minto techniques you will find that not only is your writing more persuasive, but that her techniques transform how you express yourself verbally, and you become much more effective in person. It is a shame that this is no longer in print; it really is best to highlight the heck out of this book.

⭐This book is used sold as brand new. Not good.

⭐Got it as described.

⭐Most people should read and apply for communications improvement at work and home.

⭐Oh dear. A clear example of how even the best professional books age badly.I’m having a flurry of reading professional books right now. I can’t read them all the time, so I swallow them in batches. And now it is the turn of the Pyramid Principle. For those who don’t know The Pyramid Principle is one of the classic books of the consulting industry. I first came across it over 25 years ago when I was working for the consultancy A.T. Kearney. Whilst never exactly a fun read, it then seemed like good advice, well explained.It is essentially the book that defined the way that many of the strategy firms, like McKinsey, developed presentations and documents. At least they did. They may still do so, but fortunately I don’t need to know that sort of thing anymore.The problem with the book is that reading it in 2018 it reads almost like something from the Victorian era. I exaggerate, but it just feels so old and ponderous. It was obviously written for the era of the typewriter and overhead projector. You can’t help thinking Barbara Minto should hire a modern author to give it a zippy overhaul and create a book about a third the length with more punch. Another problem is it is so self certain. It does not explain this as a way to write – but the one and only way to write, which I am little doubtful of.Reading the references is interesting, as Minto certainly picked some serious influences, including Wittgenstein, Chomsky, Karl Popper and Thomas Kuhn. The influence of Popper is evident. I was less clear about how the others had influenced her book. What is noticeable is there is no reference published after 1972, and many are much older. I know this book was first published in 1978 – but I have just read the “2009 revised edition”. The existence of any 21st century revisions is not evident.The reason I still give it 3 stars rather than less, is below the long winded style and outdated examples, is some seriously good advice about how to structure your thinking and your writing. Good advice, that many modern pithy writers could heed, to make their writing clearer and have more impact. If you have the patience and stamina its worth the effort, but don’t expect hours of fun.

⭐A useful book full of relevant theory on writing, logic, and conveying information for really anyone, not just consultants or businessmen.The book is old, e.g. does not cover modern email correspondence or PPTs; nowadays Letter of Proposals are often via PPT with less focus on written words.However, the underlying theory is still relevant and practical. The described methodology can be applied to any text (incl. verbal) and moreover, the book does cover logic and argumentation, thus I am not disappointed by the lack of modern examples.I am especially happy because it covers such a wide topic in a concise manner (plus any attempt to correct poor business writing should be applauded).

⭐For a book that is supposedly about writing clear documents, it falls short. I had to read twice to get it sometimes. Yes I got something out of it but it could have been more to the point and simpler.

⭐This book is transformative because it changed the way I think and the way I write. Very pithy in its content. Well done

⭐Helps the writer think through the logic and structure of information and how to present it in a logical format.

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