Make It Clear by MIT computing legend Patrick Winston

Announcement from the MIT Press: Make it Clear by legendary MIT professor Patrick Henry Wilson to publish September 22nd

“He had an uncanny ability to synthesize seemingly disparate ideas into clear, concise, didactic, and impactful statements, combined with an original and distinct way of thinking.” – Gabriel Kreiman, Harvard University

“At the end of his fiery oratory, in which pointed out the importance of mutual trust, support, and respect within the MIT community particularly for students, he reminded those in attendance that he was driven by the legacy of his middle name which was Henry – Patrick Henry Winston – the skilled orator that fought for those he believed in and served.” – Matt Wilson, CBMM Associate Director, MIT

Do you give presentations at meetings? Do you ever have to explain a complicated subject to audiences unfamiliar with your field? Do you make pitches for ideas or products? Do you want to interest a lecture hall of restless students in subjects that you find fascinating? Then you need this book. Make It Clear: Speak and Write to Persuade and Inform explains how to communicate–how to speak and write to get your ideas across.

Written by the legendary Patrick Henry Wilson, who taught his students at MIT these techniques for more than forty years, the book starts with the basics–finding your voice, organizing your ideas, making sure what you say is remembered, and receiving critiques (“do not ask for brutal honesty”)–and goes on to cover such specifics as preparing slides, writing and rewriting, and even choosing a type family.

The book explains why you should start with an empowerment promise and conclude by noting you delivered on that promise. It describes how to create and organize your ideas with a “broken- glass” outline, how to write to be understood, how to inspire, how to defeat writer’s block–and much more. Learning how to speak and write well will empower you and make you smarter. Effective communication can be life-changing–making use of just one principle in this book can get you the job, make the sale, convince your boss, inspire a student, or even start a revolution.

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For more information, or to receive a review copy, please contact publicist Katie Stileman (

[email protected]

).