Our book provides a story. A story like many stories. About people and their fates. Successes, failures, unrequited love, chance encounters that change lives, even death and birth (no. Birth is not in it, but it sounds good). And yet, or perhaps because of this, the story is entertaining and also funny (we hope!). The visitations of our fellow human beings and their imperfections are our source of hilarity and exuberance, as we can well imagine how it feels to be in their place.
“And humour is the easiest way to seduce women, because most women like to laugh before they start kissing,” Jerry Lewis is supposed to have said. In fact, that was the central argument for writing this book. Validatable, relevant experience is not available yet, because up to the writing of this preface, no women
have read this book. If necessary, we can take up this issue again in later editions. Even if the main reason for writing this book is of an selfish nature, there are other reasons for the book itself and its design. For example, our personal experiences from hundreds of certification preparations prove a clear positive connection between humour and learning success. People who laugh learn better. And several dozens of studies also prove this. Now that the word
‘certification preparation’ has already been mentioned, it should not go unmentioned that this book is also a key. No. Not a key, THE key. The key to  understanding the PMBOK^® (please imagine here a typical sound from a horror movie, where the monster appears surprisingly, out of nowhere). For many, a sinister word, virtually synonymous with impenetrability, enriched with sibylline vocabulary choices. We, the authors, classify the reading of this, already deterrent by size and weight, work of art as just punishment for the slaying of mother and/or father, which is highly unjust.

Admittedly, the PMBOK^® does not shine with profound aphorisms and polished rhetoric, but that is not its claim. The PMBOK^®’s claim, however, creates a dilemma that its authors have solved brilliantly, but which does not mean it will go down in the annals as ‘entertaining and pleasing’. May I introduce you?
The quandary: best practice guide AND applicable to all projects (ANSI standard). So, roughly speaking, a mixture of experience and universal applicability. Now, experience is not based on the universal, but on the very specific, namely the context. Following the definition that all projects are ‘unique’, the PMBoK^® can only ever offer a range of possibilities and no specific solutions. Readers must therefore constantly evaluate the offers for suitability in their context and select accordingly.
And now we come into play again, because we can do something that the PMBOK^® cannot do: We can break through the generality with a story, a concrete project, by means of which we guide the reader through the PMBOK^® and thus allow access to its mature substance. So far, so good! But can it also be used to pass the certification exam? The answer is, of course, yes. What our book does, beyond the relevant details, is to convey the principles, the convictions and the guiding ideas of PMBOK^®.
These will help in particular with all the exam questions about behaviour in a particular situation and with the questions where one is not quite sure, because it is precisely these that test not knowledge but application of knowledge. We do not intend to suggest it is a good idea or even realistic as a complete rookie to try and a) work your way through the complete PMBOK^®, or b) apply every single process described in it in a project of a few weeks’ duration. Under normal circumstances sufficient knowledge and experience would enable appropriate tailoring; but we as authors needed to refer to every single chapter of the PMBOK^® to fulfil the needs of you, our readers. Hence the relatively late and not always helpful appearance of a guy called Pomosch.
Explaining the guiding ideas is not enough. That is why our book is not just a book, but a book combined with this website that provides countless exam-like questions, an incredible number of exercises, umpteen animations, podcasts and an exam simulation, because after all, the exam itself should not be a big surprise. There are enough of these in the story itself.