Briefly giving the gist of something:
— A short and compendious book.

synonyms: compact, succinct, summary.

Roget 201: short, brief, curt; compendious, compact; stubby, scrimp; shorn, stubbed; stumpy, thickset, pug; chunky [U.S.], decurtate^†; retrousse^†; stocky; squab, squabby^†; squat, dumpy; little etc. 193; curtailed of its fair proportions; short by; oblate; concise etc. 572; summary.    ... show more

Roget 572: concise, brief, short, terse, close; to the point, exact; neat, compact; compressed, condensed, pointed; laconic, curt, pithy, trenchant, summary; pregnant; compendious etc. (compendium) 596; succinct; elliptical, epigrammatic, quaint, crisp; sententious.    ... show more

Roget 596: compendious, synoptic, analectic^†; abrege [Fr.], abridged etc. v.; variorum^†.