Customer Rating: 
Summary: Classic
Comment: Tufte points out common general flaws in presentation of data. He then goes on to examine specific conventional ways of displaying information (boxplots, scatter plots, etc.) and proposes improvements to them.
This is an approachable and informative book which will, as the title says, get you thinking about effective and clear ways to display data.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great book on design of information!
Comment: This book has been talked up by about every design professional I've seen speak at conferences across the country. I bought it to hop on the band wagon -- and it was a great purchase.
It starts as a bit of a dry read, but has some of the greatest content and insight into the theory and profession of information design. Check it out.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Enlighten Thyself
Comment: Buy this book, buy more copies for your bathroom and garage, take it with you to work and on vacation, petition your state to legally recognize your entering into a civil union with this book. The combination of elegance, brevity, and depth in this book has to be experienced to be believed - and beyond all this, it serves as a utterly practical manual that shares the shelf with Strunk & White. If you don't buy and read this book you will be reincarnated as an unenlightened human until you do so.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Mixed feelings
Comment: I have a lot of mixed feelings about this book.
As a graphic designer and a minimalist: I love the way this book looks and I love the graphics Tufte's team has created.
Yet: the minimalist in me also dislikes Tufte's prose, which is surprisingly un-minimalist. The text is repetitive, and although Tufte does use this effectively at times to reiterate or summarize concepts, there are far more instances where I feel the repetition is simply irritating (Tufte's poems and block-quote summaries are, to me, good examples of this).
The minimalist in me is also not fond of the nature in which Tufte presents his opinions. Tufte makes frequent use of words like "lies" and "tricks," and while I am not fond of the targets of Tufte's derision, I feel that use of these words unnecessarily and unfairly assumes that poor graphs are always the result of malicious intent. Tufte's presentation as a whole, I feel, is often unnecessarily condescending (see e.g., p 120); indeed, Tufte seems to feel that unenlightened minds somehow deserve our ridicule and contempt.
As an academically-oriented statistician: I also have mixed feelings. I give Tufte an immense amount of credit for opening a dialog about statistical graphics. And, I am grateful to him for pointing out the flaws and "wrongs" in the ways in which statistics are so often presented and suggesting ways in which these approaches can be changed. Moreover: I happen to agree tremendously with a large amount of what Tufte has to say, and often passionately so.
That said: I am puzzled by the amount of relevant concepts which are omitted from this text (or merely brushed over). Good examples include: samples versus populations, confounding, continuous versus categorical data, and exploratory graphics versus graphics presented for presentation.
For that reason: the academic and statistician in me is watchful of Tufte's role as an instructor of statistical ideas. Much of what Tufte has to say is not in fact unique or necessarily "right," and it is also not nearly close to being all there is to be said about statistical graphics (even at an introductory level). If students allow this text to be the sole contribution to their statistical education, I fear that -- without statistical intuition or knowledge to draw from -- they will not be critical statistical thinkers but blind followers. (Of course, none of this is intended to be a criticism of Tufte or Tufte's book per se...)
Those seeking a good overview of statistical graphics: keep in mind that this not strictly an instructional book. And while I wouldn't discourage you from reading or buying this text, I also wouldn't discourage you from seeking additional resources, either as an alternative or a supplement to Tufte's works. Much of the ideas supplied by Tufte here -- plus a great deal more -- can fundamentally be found in a good introductory statistical course or text, either directly or indirectly. Moreover, I would argue that there is absolutely no substitution for such an education.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Mandatory Reading for Sales and Marketing
Comment: The ability to communicate important information concisely, precisely, and with high fidelity is the essence of successful sales and marketing presentations. Tufte's book offers a wonderful set of guidelines and examples in the use of graphics to communicate ideas that also applies directly to creating and delivering presentations in a sales or marketing meeting or demo.
It is wonderful to see him "deconstruct" overly ornate graphics, removing unnecessary elements to render an image in its strongest possible form. Those organizations that suffer from too much "fluff" in their marketing and sales materials should contemplate applying his principles to their collateral and presentations!
This book is a real tool that should be read thoughtfully by anyone in sales, presales, or marketing, and then remain in easy access on your business bookshelf. The graphic of Napoleon's advance upon Moscow and his subsequent retreat is worth the price alone.
Summary: Classic
Comment: Tufte points out common general flaws in presentation of data. He then goes on to examine specific conventional ways of displaying information (boxplots, scatter plots, etc.) and proposes improvements to them.
This is an approachable and informative book which will, as the title says, get you thinking about effective and clear ways to display data.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great book on design of information!
Comment: This book has been talked up by about every design professional I've seen speak at conferences across the country. I bought it to hop on the band wagon -- and it was a great purchase.
It starts as a bit of a dry read, but has some of the greatest content and insight into the theory and profession of information design. Check it out.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Enlighten Thyself
Comment: Buy this book, buy more copies for your bathroom and garage, take it with you to work and on vacation, petition your state to legally recognize your entering into a civil union with this book. The combination of elegance, brevity, and depth in this book has to be experienced to be believed - and beyond all this, it serves as a utterly practical manual that shares the shelf with Strunk & White. If you don't buy and read this book you will be reincarnated as an unenlightened human until you do so.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Mixed feelings
Comment: I have a lot of mixed feelings about this book.
As a graphic designer and a minimalist: I love the way this book looks and I love the graphics Tufte's team has created.
Yet: the minimalist in me also dislikes Tufte's prose, which is surprisingly un-minimalist. The text is repetitive, and although Tufte does use this effectively at times to reiterate or summarize concepts, there are far more instances where I feel the repetition is simply irritating (Tufte's poems and block-quote summaries are, to me, good examples of this).
The minimalist in me is also not fond of the nature in which Tufte presents his opinions. Tufte makes frequent use of words like "lies" and "tricks," and while I am not fond of the targets of Tufte's derision, I feel that use of these words unnecessarily and unfairly assumes that poor graphs are always the result of malicious intent. Tufte's presentation as a whole, I feel, is often unnecessarily condescending (see e.g., p 120); indeed, Tufte seems to feel that unenlightened minds somehow deserve our ridicule and contempt.
As an academically-oriented statistician: I also have mixed feelings. I give Tufte an immense amount of credit for opening a dialog about statistical graphics. And, I am grateful to him for pointing out the flaws and "wrongs" in the ways in which statistics are so often presented and suggesting ways in which these approaches can be changed. Moreover: I happen to agree tremendously with a large amount of what Tufte has to say, and often passionately so.
That said: I am puzzled by the amount of relevant concepts which are omitted from this text (or merely brushed over). Good examples include: samples versus populations, confounding, continuous versus categorical data, and exploratory graphics versus graphics presented for presentation.
For that reason: the academic and statistician in me is watchful of Tufte's role as an instructor of statistical ideas. Much of what Tufte has to say is not in fact unique or necessarily "right," and it is also not nearly close to being all there is to be said about statistical graphics (even at an introductory level). If students allow this text to be the sole contribution to their statistical education, I fear that -- without statistical intuition or knowledge to draw from -- they will not be critical statistical thinkers but blind followers. (Of course, none of this is intended to be a criticism of Tufte or Tufte's book per se...)
Those seeking a good overview of statistical graphics: keep in mind that this not strictly an instructional book. And while I wouldn't discourage you from reading or buying this text, I also wouldn't discourage you from seeking additional resources, either as an alternative or a supplement to Tufte's works. Much of the ideas supplied by Tufte here -- plus a great deal more -- can fundamentally be found in a good introductory statistical course or text, either directly or indirectly. Moreover, I would argue that there is absolutely no substitution for such an education.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Mandatory Reading for Sales and Marketing
Comment: The ability to communicate important information concisely, precisely, and with high fidelity is the essence of successful sales and marketing presentations. Tufte's book offers a wonderful set of guidelines and examples in the use of graphics to communicate ideas that also applies directly to creating and delivering presentations in a sales or marketing meeting or demo.
It is wonderful to see him "deconstruct" overly ornate graphics, removing unnecessary elements to render an image in its strongest possible form. Those organizations that suffer from too much "fluff" in their marketing and sales materials should contemplate applying his principles to their collateral and presentations!
This book is a real tool that should be read thoughtfully by anyone in sales, presales, or marketing, and then remain in easy access on your business bookshelf. The graphic of Napoleon's advance upon Moscow and his subsequent retreat is worth the price alone.
The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, 2nd edition Reviews: Page 4 of 19
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