The Art of Explanation — How to Communicate with Clarity and Confidence
Book Review
Book Review: ‘The Art of Explanation — How to Communicate with Clarity and Confidence’ by Ros Atkins
In The Art of Explanation* Ros Atkins shares practical tips on how to explain complicated stuff clearly. With his experience as a BBC presenter, he pinpoints ten key elements for good explanations and gives a step-by-step guide in seven parts.
What I like about the book is how Atkins focuses on understanding your audience. He says you should think about what they know, what interests them, and any biases they might have. It’s also about keeping a balanced tone — confident but impartial, sticking to the facts.
I find Atkins’ seven-step process extremely handy. Especially as a writer. It breaks down explaining things into manageable parts. But you can use Atkins’ advice in many situations beyond your writing, such as giving a speech or doing a job interview. His stress on being clear, empathetic, and using stories makes this book a go-to for anyone wanting to get better at explaining complex ideas.
This is one of those books I didn’t know I needed. I’ve listened to the audiobook but I plan to get the ebook too and go through that in more detail. There’s a bunch of stuff in here that seems to me directly applicable to PKM (Personal Knowledge Management) systems. So I’d like to dig into it and make it part of the way that I write.
The Art of Explanation — How to Communicate with Clarity and Confidence* is by Ros Atkins.
* The links to the book are affiliate links but this isn’t a sponsored post. If you use them I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. All views remain my own.
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. It’s well worth a read. Get the audiobook if you can as it’s read by the author.
Let me know if you’d like to read a more in-depth piece exploring the ideas in the book. I’d love to write more about it.
Sounds like a good read, I can definitely say that in my area of work, cybersecurity, knowing your audience and sticking to data, not opinions, is absolutely critical.