Table Of ContentTechnology/Current Affairs $27.95 U.S.
H
o
“PowerPoint w
makes us stupid.” P
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—General James Mattis,
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U.S. Marine Corps e
How
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commandant
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PowerPoint
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i
n Makes With over 500 million users worldwide, Mi-
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crosoft’s world-famous PowerPoint software
M You stuPid
“[Frommer] layers compelling arguments has become the ubiquitous tool for nearly all
a
which reveal how...PowerPoint has given k forms of public presentation—in schools, gov-
e
ernment agencies, the military, and of course
us the illusion of control with one hand, but s
offices everywhere. In this revealing and pow-
has actually strangled the flexibilities of Y
o erfully argued book, author Franck Frommer
FrAnCK FroMMer worked as a journal- effective communication with the other.” u
ist for a dozen years before joining an interna- —Andy Kirk, founder of VisualisingData.com s shows us that PowerPoint’s celebrated ease and
t efficiency actually mask a profoundly disturb-
tional company where he worked in the area
u
ing but little-understood transformation in
of communications and the web. The author P
i human communication.
of a biography of Jean-Patrick Manchette, he d
Using fascinating examples—including
lives in Paris. GeorGe HoloCH has trans-
what is perhaps the most famous PowerPoint
lated more than twenty books, including Eric
“In an in-depth study,
presentation of all, Colin Powell’s indictment
Hazan’s Notes on the Occupation and Alain De-
Franck Frommer has
of Iraq before the United Nations—Frommer
neault’s Offshore (both from The New Press).
unearthed a new tHe FaultY CausalitY, sloPPY
systematically deconstructs the slides, bulleted
He lives in Hinesburg, Vermont.
killer of brain cells.” logiC, deContextualized data, lists, and flashy graphics we all now take for
—Télérama F and seduCtive sHowMansHiP tHat granted. He shows how PowerPoint has pro-
r
Have taken over our tHinking moted a new, slippery “grammar” where faulty
a
n causality, sloppy logic, decontextualized data,
C
and seductive showmanship have replaced the
k
traditional tools of persuasion; argument; and,
F
“To the executive who r too often, real ideas.
o
has never dozed off after M How PowerPoint Makes You Stupid includes
lunch in an atmosphere subdued M a fascinating mini-history of PowerPoint’s
e
by a PowerPoint meeting, who emergence, as well as a sobering and surpris-
r
has never experienced the desperation ing account of its reach into the most unsus-
pected nooks of work, life, and education. For
of trying to summarize an entire year’s
anyone concerned with the corruption of lan-
work in ten slides and fifty bullet
guage, the dumbing-down of society, or the
points: let him cast the first projector FranCk FroMMer
unchecked expansion of “efficiency” in our
THE NEW PRESS at Franck Frommer.”
www.thenewpress.com culture, here is a book that will become a rally-
—Le Monde
ing cry for turning the tide.
Jacket design by Kelly Blair THE
NEW
Author photograph © Mohamed Khalfi PRESS
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Also by Franck Frommer 5
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Jean-Patrick Manchette: Le récit d’un engagement manqué 7
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how powerpoint 4
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makes you stupid 6
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The Faulty Causality, Sloppy Logic, 11
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Decontextualized Data,
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and Seductive Showmanship
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That Have Taken Over Our Thinking
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FranCk FrOmmer 20
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Translated from the French by George Holoch
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The New Press gratefully acknowledges the Florence Gould Foundation for
2
supporting the publication of this book.
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English translation © 2012 by The New Press
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All rights reserved.
5 No part of this book may be reproduced, in any form, without written permission
from the publisher.
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7 Requests for permission to reproduce selections from this book should be mailed to:
Permissions Department, The New Press, 38 Greene Street, New York, NY 10013.
8
9 First published as La pensée PowerPoint: Enquête sur ce logiciel qui rend stupide by La
Découverte, Paris, 2010
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11 Published in the United States by The New Press, New York, 2012
12 Distributed by Perseus Distribution
13 library of congress cataloging-in-publication data
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Frommer, Franck.
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[Pensée Powerpoint. English]
16 How PowerPoint makes you stupid : the faulty causality, sloppy logic,
decontextualized data, and seductive showmanship that have taken over our
17
thinking / Franck Frommer ; translated from the French by George Holoch.
18 p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
19
ISBN 978-1-59558-702-2 (hardback)
20 1. Microsoft PowerPoint (Computer file)--Social aspects. I. Title.
HM851.F7813 2012
21
005.5’8--dc23
22 2011033975
23
The New Press was established in 1990 as a not-for-profit alternative to the large,
24 commercial publishing houses currently dominating the book publishing industry.
The New Press operates in the public interest rather than for private gain, and is
25
committed to publishing, in innovative ways, works of educational, cultural, and
26 community value that are often deemed insufficiently profitable.
27
www.thenewpress.com
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Composition by the Influx House
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This book was set in Janson Text
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Printed in the United States of America
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COnTenTS 4
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Acknowledgments ix
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Introduction xi 16
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1. The Invention of a Universal Medium 1
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2. Another Way of Working 27 19
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3. Bullet-Point Rhetoric 49
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4. From Obfuscation to Falsification 77
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5. A Total Spectacle 101
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6. The Power of Consultants 129 24
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7. Universal Contamination 153
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8. At School with PowerPoint? 191
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Conclusion: The Hidden Perversity
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of a Software Program 223
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Notes 229
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Index 255 32
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I would like to give my warm thanks to all the men and women, 13
experts or novices, creative or pragmatic, regular or occasional 14
users, amateurs or professionals from very different sectors, who 15
have accompanied me throughout this study. Without their 16
thoughts and observations, my understanding of this powerful 17
medium would not have been possible. They were enthusiastic 18
in thinking about a tool of which they made constant—and al- 19
most mechanical—use in their daily life. It is refreshing to re- 20
mark how many of these exchanges stimulated debates, brain 21
waves, and fruitful hypotheses. PowerPoint leaves no one indif- 22
ferent. For the sake of convenience and to avoid any embarrass- 23
ment or unequal treatment, no last names are given and first 24
names have been changed. Everyone quoted will recognize him- 25
or herself. I would again like to thank all of them for their gener- 26
ous insights. 27
I would finally like to particularly thank Hugues Jallon, who 28
encouraged me to carry out this study and provided invaluable 29
help throughout its writing, as well as Véronique F., an intransi- 30
gent reader who bore with great patience the slow maturation of 31
this work, and Jeanne for her linguistic assistance. 32
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