3.3 OUTliNE ThE CONClUSiON “Think like a wise man, but communicate in the language of the people.” —williaM butler yeatS Here’s the thing with book conclusions: if the reader got all the way to the conclusion, then it means they read the whole book, they liked it, and now they want to wrap this up. So don’t ramble on and on. Give them what they want. The goal of the conclusion is to tie everything together, neatly sum- marize your book, and then provide a specific call or calls to action for your reader. Don’t overcomplicate the conclusion—just let it do its job, and it’ll work great. WHAT A CONCLUSION SHOULD DO 1. A conclusion should clearly summarize the book. That’s the best thing you can do, not only to deliver value to the reader, but also to make the book memorable (and recommendable). OUTliNE ThE CONClUSiON · 117