People are lost in an ocean of words, and if you want your message to be heard and understood, brevity is the key. This book gives advice on how to streamline your words, so that you can communicate most effectively.

I really like that this book helps you to explore why your message matters. If you know your 'why', then you can boil down your message to the most important points that you want people to remember. If you can get the "one big thing" to stick in people's memories, then you have won the battle. A few short words can be truly powerful.

My favorite part of the book is when a verse from the Bible is used as an example. It's actually the shortest verse in the Bible, "Jesus wept." Only two words, but it says so much about Jesus and the scene at the tomb of Lazarus.

One thing I really liked is that the focus is on your audience. What do they need to hear? What do they need to understand? How is this relevant and helpful to THEM? We all feel like we have a lot of things to say, and we want to be heard. But when you humbly set yourself aside and make the audience the priority, that is when true connections happen!

In some places, I felt like the authors didn't take their own advice. They say that you should get straight to the point, but the first 17 pages of the book are just stuff like 'We're gonna teach you this and this thing and that other thing. In this book, you will find tips and tricks for stuff about brevity.' But I wanted to just get right into it. I don't want 17 pages of you telling me what this book will teach me and why it's important. Just give me the tips and tricks already! So they didn't take their own advice. There is even a place on page 60 that says "Why do you have to flip through 20 pages of a book before it really starts? ... Or read an intro... when all you want is the one or two takeaways?"
Seriously. Take your own advice.

I also didn't care about the personal stories of when the authors used to work as a reporter at this newspaper or that company, and how they started their own company. There are lots of personal anecdotes and success stories from people who revolutionized their business using the brevity method or whatever. I just wanted the bare info, not a bunch of stories about random people. And there is a bullet point on page 79 that literally says, "Skip the anecdotes."
Seriously! Take. Your. Own. Advice.

There is some profanity; not a lot, but enough to annoy me. If the brevity method is about using the most concise words to get across a powerful message, you would think they could find better words to use instead of curse words.

I do really love the design of this book! The paragraphs are often organized in bullet points, which makes it easy to digest the information quickly. They have sections with big bold headlines so you know exactly what topic you are reading. (I liked that the anecdote sections are clearly marked so that I could just skip those.) The graphic design at the beginning of each chapter is colorful and bold, grabbing your attention. It's an attractive book!

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts, and are not influenced by anyone.