How to Write a Synopsis

What? You believed the title line of this post? Truly, I haven't written one since I wrote my last book report in about 9th grade. Yes, I am an engineer, not an English major. Please forgive my misuse of all past-tense verbs...there appears to be several past-tenses in English that I never studied. I go with what sounds right, which is probably wrong, but I digress.

Synopsis! That's what I was talking about.

For Book One, I finally figured out that I should write my first pass through the synopsis "in character," to retain the flavor of the story. I could downgrade to 3rd-person later, if needed.

The advice that I've read in the blogs for how to write a synopsis, is to craft a mid-level, blow-by-blow account of the story, leaving out characters who are not critical to the plot-lines. This should be 2-3 pages, either single-spaced or double-spaced, depending on the recipient's preference. It should have some of the flavor of the story, but should not be literary (overly prettied-up). It should flow when read aloud. It should be able to be extracted to a dust-cover. It should include the ending, hiding nothing.

Did I get that right? For those of you with experience in writing a synopsis, is there anything else that I should include or not include?