I received a whole bunch of books, compliments of Jim Randel and friends, from The Skinny On series.
I've read a few of them, not because I'm a particularly fast reader but because they're super-quick reads. Truth in advertising: it even says so on the spines. The ones I've read so far are The Skinny On Time Management, The Skinny On Credit Cards, and The Skinny On The Housing Crisis.
I enjoyed reading these books for a few reasons:
- There isn't a lot of filler. I've read some other book series aimed at beginners, and parts of them got tedious because the pace was too slow. (I don't need a full chapter explaining how to open a Microsoft Access database, thank you very much.) Not so with these books.
- The key points are hit. I wasn't a beginner on the topics that I read about, so I know that he hit all of the important points. The key points were summarized in the back pages, so if I wanted a shortened short version, I got that, too.
- There's an appropriate mix of story, facts, quotes, action items, and humor. Not too hot, or too cold. Just right. Other books I've read were a little much on story. The story was there in the books, but the plot and the jokes were subordinate to the material, which is what I think is desirable in books aiming to convey information.
- The text is easy to read both in the way it's printed, and in the way it's written.
- There were a number of suggestions in each book for further reading. The books open doors to deeper understanding of the topics. He points toward books and authors that go into more depth.
Jim Randel shows that you don't need (a) a lot of pages or (b) a fine arts degree to cover the basics of a topic. To give the skinny on it, if you will. 😉
