Essential Drafting Using AutoCAD: Drafting in the Real World

What sets this book apart from other finely written and illustrated AutoCAD drafting books?

It is the call to Think.

No, this book will not teach you how to think.  You already do that quite well!   For this point in your life, with all the successes and challenges you’ve experienced, you are precisely where you are, right now.  And where you are is just fine.  

Instead, this book will attempt to help you more accurately see how you see.  We all observe things a little differently from one another and we all bring our own brand of curiosity with us.  Within this book are many explanations and illustrations and options for understanding, all with the hope that you will be able to find some examples that speak to you and expand your understanding and therefore your world.

To observe:

“To watch carefully especially with attention to details or behavior for the purpose of arriving at a judgment”

To be curious:

“Marked by desire to investigate and learn”

(Merriam-Webster)

What is your response to this?   This can be the first thing to observe.  Your response in many ways is unconscious and as hard to stop as a sneeze. Are you thinking you’re bored with this overview?  Are you thinking you’re hungry, or don’t like the font, or are intrigued?  All these responses are valid, including the one you have right now.  Being aware of your responses may give you a clue about how to best use this book for your unique and personal benefit.  Or it may not!

The point is, we all learn in different ways.  I personally want to know the end of the story first so I can enjoy the middle more and know where it’s going.  I don’t like being surprised.  Other people like the suspense of not knowing how a story will end.  Both are valid, neither is wrong.  

This foundational concept of this book is that is supports differing styles of learning and of gathering and retaining information.  As you work through the book, WATCH what captures your interest.  Watch for those things that make you wonder where time has gone, as well as those things that make you yawn in the middle of the day and want to watch TV. 

BE CURIOUS when you like or don’t like something in particular.  DIVE IN and really question if you will take up the challenge of learning something that makes you feel annoyed and might be a waste of time or if this time you’ll go get that cup of coffee or take a nap.  DIVE IN and capture the sparks of interest that happen when you come across something that makes you feel like suddenly the world makes sense.  DIVE IN and question, question, question.  (“How can I get that ellipse to actually look like an ellipse?”)

The information you’ll gather about yourself are gems of wisdom. 

Question HOW (not why) you are thinking about something.  (“I’m thinking that an ellipse is nothing more than a squished circle, which means circle to me, and maybe that’s why my ellipses are all circular.”).  See if you can observe your perspective.  Then see if your perspective shifts.  See if you can be curious about observing how you’re thinking RIGHT NOW, and wonder if there is a different way of looking at it. 

Remember, your thinking is just fine the way it is.  Your thinking is not wrong.  Your thinking doesn’t have to change.  When you observe your thinking in the moment and use it as a springboard to expand your perspective, it might perhaps also expand your life.  Or not!

So challenge yourself, observe yourself, be curious about yourself, own your struggles.  Have fun with your challenges and successes throughout this book.   Drop me a line and let me know how you’re doing and what you think or thought.  

And yes, this is a Drafting Book and a book about how to use AutoCAD.  But the drafting book and the drafting application are only tools.  YOU are the most important part of the equation.