I have had The Back of the Napkin for awhile and even tried to read it a couple of times, but for some reason I had trouble really getting into it. I found this to be a little odd since the topic of “Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures” is essentially what I do as an interaction designer.

So I gave it another shot and realized that it was pretty much the introduction portion that I was getting stuck on. I have heard it all before and didn’t need an explanation of why these skills are valuable, I just wanted to see his process. So once I got to the meat of the book it was gold. Dan Roam’s visual thought process is pretty sophisticated and could instantly help any business man or designer who is struggling with presentation of ideas.

I have started using his techniques to help visualize the technological environments that I end up working in. This helps give me and my clients a better understanding of where their products are and where they should be going.

I dispute his claim that this book is designed to be read on a long flight, but would still strongly recommend this book to anyone who has to communicate abstract and complex ideas to others.