What are the best books about presentation design and public speaking

Some good books about presentation design, public speaking, graphics design, and art. If you click on an image, you will be linked through to Amazon where you can buy the book. We use affiliate links and receive a small commission when you purchase a book through this site.

You can find reviews of presentation design books that I posted on the blog here.

Pitch It! by Jan Schultink, my own book about all things presentation design. The book can be accessed free online here.

Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds started the revolution in presentation design, transforming bullet point slides into visuals with images. Read my review here (2008).

Design Elements by Timothy Samara takes you through the basics of layout and typography. Read my review here (2010).

Resonate by Nancy Duarte has good instructions on how to design a captivating story that gets your audience to do something, take action after they walk out of the auditorium. The iPad version is free. Read my review here (2010).

Slide:ology by Nancy Duarte is a good general introduction to presentation design and delivery. Read my review here (2008).

Thinking with Type by Ellen Lupton is a solid introduction into the world of typography and layout. Read my review here (2011).

Confessions of a Public Speaker by Scott Berkun with great advice on how to overcome stage fright. Read my review here (2009).

Brain Rules by John Medina teaches you how memory works, and what an important role visual information plays. Read my review here (2009). 

Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath coined the term "Curse of Knowledge" and talks about why certain stories stick and others get lost. Read my review here (2008).

Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer explains how anyone can remember extraordinary amounts of information. Read my review here (2012).

Influence by Robert Cialdini provides psychological analysis of how to influence people. Read my review here (2009)

The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs by Carmine Gallo draws presentation lessons from Jobs' great keynote speeches. Read my review here (2010).

1001 Paintings by Stephen Farthing is a nice generic introduction to art covering multiple eras, styles, and artists. Read my review here (2009)

Say it with Charts by Gene Zelazny was the chart design book I got handed out on my first day as a strategy consultant with Mckinsey (back in 1992). Still relevant today.

The Visual Display of Quantitative Information by Edward Tufte is - slightly dense - standard reading about data visualisation