How to Bring Abstract Concepts to Life for Readers

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Use Metaphors, Images, and Other Everyday Magic 🧙

The most successful books at the Pragmatic Bookshelf do a great job of explaining complex topics. So what’s the magic? Part of the not-so-secret is that we get to building and doing stuff right away, eschewing theory for hands-on practice. But where there are complex ideas to tackle, in topics like machine learning and data science, our authors have a knack for making abstract ideas concrete.

I’ve selected some articles from our books that are exemplars. Rather than explain to you what they do, have a look for yourself:

What themes did you see in the articles?

People who are really good at teaching complex topics use some combination of the following strategies.

Tell readers, “This new thing you are about to learn is like something familiar.” The comparison doesn’t have to be precise — it just has to help readers grasp the new concept.

Pizza, solar panels, treasure hunts — all these things are relatable to a computer scientist or an elementary school student. When you explain something in a way that people can relate to, the concept is easier to understand.

Learning stuff is taxing. You can lighten the cognitive load a bit by throwing in a bit of humor and by making the practice exercises fun.

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