Celebrated designer and educator Edward R. Tufte here shares the fundamentals of graphic design in a book that has come to be considered a classic....
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Apr 25, 2009
Kelly
rated it: 
Edward Tufte is brilliant. His books, including this one, are artwork disguised as a textbook. The purpose of all three is to explain both good and bad ways of explaining information but they are so much more than that. There is a rich history interwoven in the books' pages. The examples are so interesting that I found myself learning more than just how to convey information. For example, one of the best graphics for conveying information ever made is a chart/map tracking Napoleon Bonaparte's ar
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Jan 20, 2012
Roger
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The book led was one of the most enlightening books that I've every read. I've always had a penchant for using numbers, images, and heuristics to explain, and began taking Edward Tufte's courses when the opportunity arose, starting in 1998. He held them in hotel ballrooms throughout the United States, and his followers attended with cult-like repetition, sometimes registering for the same course 6 times in one year.
Edward Tufte is one of the most elegant designers of information aliv More...
Edward Tufte is one of the most elegant designers of information aliv More...
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Oct 16, 2010
Bruce
rated it: 
Well, 3 1/2 stars, really, but GoodReads won't permit that. Don't let the horrifically dull title fool you. Edward Tufte knows a thing or two about chart design, to say the least (he's built a second career on this obsession). Think this is dull stuff? Ha, and again I say ha. It's darn sexy. Don't believe me? Consider this consequence of the era of optimism or this version of Little Red Riding Hood or this nifty day-in-the-life or this graphic design shop which is such a brilliant specialist
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Jan 19, 2008
Paula
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This is a book about graphs.
How, you ask, could anyone write a book about graphs, let alone read one? Surely you've never found the sex appeal of a bar chart, the seductiveness of a scatterplot. Well my friend, you simply have never realized the power of a well-designed graph.
Tufte took on the challenge of making visual information interesting decades ago, and it's still considered one of the top 100 books of the 20th century. He shows examples of what the best displays More...
How, you ask, could anyone write a book about graphs, let alone read one? Surely you've never found the sex appeal of a bar chart, the seductiveness of a scatterplot. Well my friend, you simply have never realized the power of a well-designed graph.
Tufte took on the challenge of making visual information interesting decades ago, and it's still considered one of the top 100 books of the 20th century. He shows examples of what the best displays More...
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Nov 10, 2011
Lindig
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I discovered Tufte when I was collecting movable books and this showed up in my bookstore with a pop-up pyramid in it. I found out later that he had self-published this title because no printer or publisher he approached wanted to do the pop-up and he was determined to have it.
It's a wonderful explication of the ways in which to analyze data and figure out how to present it in clean, efficient ways that slide the information into waiting minds.
Essential.
And a More...
It's a wonderful explication of the ways in which to analyze data and figure out how to present it in clean, efficient ways that slide the information into waiting minds.
Essential.
And a More...
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Feb 01, 2009
Alex
rated it:
This is a really fun book to read because of all the interesting graphics. Summarization is difficult because much of the book's power lies in seeing the graphics.
Nevertheless, there are a lot of interesting take-aways, some of which include:
Graphics are carry complex information well; do not treat graphics as 'dumbed down'. Graphics can communicate enormous data sets compactly, providing several layers of information--a general impression of the trends in the data, as well More...
Nevertheless, there are a lot of interesting take-aways, some of which include:
Graphics are carry complex information well; do not treat graphics as 'dumbed down'. Graphics can communicate enormous data sets compactly, providing several layers of information--a general impression of the trends in the data, as well More...
Jan 21, 2012
Chris
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This classic work of design offers inspiration and guidance in equal measure for all who aspire to improve their graphical designs. Tufte seeks to educate by example, and the book is full of both gorgeous and dreadful examples of graphical design for which Tufte provides an insightful narrative.
My two personal favourites are: the Charles Joseph Minard's graphic depicting La Grande Armée's march on, and retreat from, Moscow: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/co... and the graph More...
My two personal favourites are: the Charles Joseph Minard's graphic depicting La Grande Armée's march on, and retreat from, Moscow: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/co... and the graph More...
Dec 11, 2011
David
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I read this book after taking Tufte's 1-day course. Like the course, the book is somewhat undermined by the dogmatic style, but it presents a lot of useful ideas, principles, and examples. (Thankfully, the author recognizes in the epilogue that these ideas are guidelines not to be taken as absolute truths.)
The first half of the book feels especially like a rant, even if a level-headed, well-founded one, against the state of graphical presentations in the media of the day (1980).
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The first half of the book feels especially like a rant, even if a level-headed, well-founded one, against the state of graphical presentations in the media of the day (1980).
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Mar 07, 2010
Jose
rated it:
Although Tuft has little in common with storytellers such as Stephen King or Walter Mosely he does help you to be a better story teller through data. The book is set on a few simple premises - Keep it simple, show the truth and Graphics should reveal data. Words to live by!
Although the book is primarily about how to display data - it does offer insight (by way of reverse psychology) on interpreting data. The insight on how the viewer is easily misled will help inform you from being More...
Although the book is primarily about how to display data - it does offer insight (by way of reverse psychology) on interpreting data. The insight on how the viewer is easily misled will help inform you from being More...
Jul 27, 2009
Patrick
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Many smarter people than I have pointed out that this book is a classic. I absolutely agree and I really wish I'd read it before now. It's at once a history lesson and a stylebook and a call to the defense of statistical integrity. I really look forward to trying out some of these ideas for uncluttering my figures in my next papers.
I had not previously fully appreciated the relationships between ink and paper and colors, as Tufte presents them, and I have to say I find myself at More...
I had not previously fully appreciated the relationships between ink and paper and colors, as Tufte presents them, and I have to say I find myself at More...
Sep 17, 2009
Scott
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It would be easy to look at the title of this book, and the subject material, and to brush it off as a dry, niche subject that would only be of interest to statistician and data graphics designers. This assumption cannot be more wrong. In the three days I spent reading Visual Display I was more entertained, fascinated, and educated than I have been by any book in some time. It was, literally, a page turner. While it may not be the very best book I’ve read all year, it is easily in my top 5, rega
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Jan 23, 2009
Benjamin
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I never would have imagined that I would enjoy a book which could be called "History of the Line Chart", but this was a really fascinating read about how to best communicate information. (Admittedly, a certain amount of nerdiness is required.) As someone who sees a lot of power point presentations in his day-to-day job, this book should be required reading for many of my coworkers.
One limitation of the book is that the author assumes that everyone is creating graphs by ha More...
One limitation of the book is that the author assumes that everyone is creating graphs by ha More...
Mar 07, 2009
Phillip
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This is a beautiful book with lots of interesting things to say about constructing statistical graphics and presenting information in general. Tufte's analysis of what is good and bad about the hundreds of examples of real-world graphics makes the book worth reading. I find some of his prescriptions a little hard to take though. Most of the material in the chapter on data-ink maximization feels to me desperately preachy and ungrounded. In particular his argument for reducing the standard box
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Aug 15, 2010
Dave
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As can be expected from an Edward Tufte book, this was excellent. What separated this from the other two I've read (The Visual Display of Quantitative Information and Envisioning Information) was the amount of time spent on providing practical advice on how to create better statistical graphics. Most of it was incredibly simple too: remove grid lines, start and stop the scale for a graph at the data's start and end points (rather than 0 and lots), use as little non-data information as possible.
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Aug 19, 2011
Jonathan
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A beautifully produced book, with wonderful archival examples of good chart design (and bad) from the past couple of centuries. Tufte performs a valuable service by drawing attention to a chronically overlooked subject and his observations are arrestingly passionate and opinionated. However, given this book's awesome reputation, I was disappointed by the flatness of Tufte's blunt prose style, and shocked by the uninspired layout. The graphic choices, paper, and printing are all very high-quality
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Jan 10, 2012
Greg
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Edward Tufte's first salvo for sanity in data design. I will admit that I read the book mainly for his historical graph-porn—examples of exemplary works of design and visual analysis. But what ended up being the most enjoyable chapter was when he took some common forms and deconstructed them: took them apart, removed the unnecessary pieces, sparingly annotated what was left, and then presented it as an immensely improved graph. While design can churn out results that are best described as magica
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Oct 03, 2010
Isk
rated it: 
One-sentence summary:
The graphical analogue of Elements of Style: obvious (avoid junk!), useless, contradictory, and wrong.
Don't understand the hype about this book; it's super outdated (refers mainly to hand-drawn-ish charts; and considering most of use standard tools to create our visualizations, not sure how we're supposed to actually implement his suggestions), and a lot of the advice and "good" examples (Marey's train schedule? Come on!) are horrible (and even c More...
The graphical analogue of Elements of Style: obvious (avoid junk!), useless, contradictory, and wrong.
Don't understand the hype about this book; it's super outdated (refers mainly to hand-drawn-ish charts; and considering most of use standard tools to create our visualizations, not sure how we're supposed to actually implement his suggestions), and a lot of the advice and "good" examples (Marey's train schedule? Come on!) are horrible (and even c More...
Apr 02, 2009
Tina
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This was a completely worthwhile read. I was able to get through it really quickly by only briefly glancing at the many graphics. This either means I somehow didn't notice Tufte's resounding plea to appreciate graphics, or that it is a testament to the lucidity and elegance of many of the graphics in this book. Hopefully, the latter. =)
Edward Tufte is a huge data dork and has evidently studied the topic of data graphics deeply. The book is chock full of visual examples from diverse s More...
Edward Tufte is a huge data dork and has evidently studied the topic of data graphics deeply. The book is chock full of visual examples from diverse s More...
Aug 05, 2010
Louis
rated it:
The book goes through many examples of displaying information visually. And it does so through a historical context, reminding us that the issues that are faced and the many ways to (mis)-represent them have been around for centuries.
What I'm reminded of is that statistics and data analysis is not just about methods, but they are means of communication. And like all methods of communication, they can be made less clear whenever you have something other than clear communication as t More...
What I'm reminded of is that statistics and data analysis is not just about methods, but they are means of communication. And like all methods of communication, they can be made less clear whenever you have something other than clear communication as t More...
Apr 23, 2008
Belarius
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It's difficult to convey how important Tufte's work is, given the extent is it relatively unknown. Consider the following: every time you open a newspaper, or watch television, or go on the Internet, you're likely to see some graphical representation of data. It might be a map colored according to party politics, or a line chart showing the latest dip in the Dow Jones, or a pie chart about procrastination. These 'visualization' have become so ubiquitous that we largely take them for granted.
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Apr 16, 2008
David
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In The Elements of Style, Strunk and White famously laid out a manifesto for lucid, minimal prose. This book is the equivalent for anyone who needs to put a lot of numbers on one piece of paper.
Like The Elements of Style, this book is not a manual. Though rich with ideas, examples and suggestions, its main contribution is to wake the reader up, to get you thinking about the purpose of numerical graphics, and to describe the basic principles of this kind of communication. What work More...
Like The Elements of Style, this book is not a manual. Though rich with ideas, examples and suggestions, its main contribution is to wake the reader up, to get you thinking about the purpose of numerical graphics, and to describe the basic principles of this kind of communication. What work More...
Jul 30, 2007
Ben
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A beautiful book, an equally beautiful read. Tufte seems to have been the first acknowledged expert in ethical statistical graphic design, though some of the pioneers he cites worked as early as the 18th century.
The idea is that the graphic representation of data - in newspapers, journals, and everywhere else - has the potential to be uniquely informative and even beautiful, but that low standards and inattention can lead to deceptive or useless renderings.
Picture More...
Dec 13, 2008
Andrea
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“Visual Display…” has my minimalist self at odds with my usability self. I find Tufte’s approach quite compelling …though perhaps sometimes it goes a little (eensy weensy) too far. As in, some of his pinnacle examples left me quite befuddled. All in all though, another gorgeous production by Tufte with a plethora of rich examples to explore. I wish I could frame every page and hang on it on the wall.
As a series, The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, Envisioning Informa More...
As a series, The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, Envisioning Informa More...
Jun 30, 2009
Nick
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This book is marvelous, and should be required reading to anyone who creates charts, graphs, or other summaries of quantitative/numeric data. Especially interesting is the section showing how less is more in charts and how taking away information enhances the legibility.
I also enjoyed the section where he gives examples of awful charts that exist in newspapers and other media of the day.
I guarantee you will learn something after reading this book.
I also enjoyed the section where he gives examples of awful charts that exist in newspapers and other media of the day.
I guarantee you will learn something after reading this book.
Aug 05, 2011
Abraham
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Tufte guides the reader through the history of graphs and charts in a way that forced me to rethink my notions of data presentation and organization. This gives a revealing history of how graphs came about and how they have been used - and misused - over the years to further different arguments. A testament to the presentation of this book is how a fairly specialized subject is made so accessible. Something here for everyone. Highly recommended.
Mar 27, 2011
Phil
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As an analyst, I have to make quite a few graphs. I wish I had read this book in high school because Tufte clearly integrates simple text with actual examples of effective visuals in order to teach people how to present data. I definitely will try to incorporate his principles of using more tables, more horizontal, and fewer toys in my data visualization both in this capacity and in whatever ventures I find myself in the future.
Jun 22, 2010
Alice
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This book is full of good examples of how to present data. His analysis is very convincing, and is a good argument to avoid the flashy ornamentation that is common in presentations today. Some of his suggestions at the end go a little too far; removing part of the axis on a scatter plot, for example. At the very end is a couple of pages describing how to decide which type of graphic to use for your explanation. I wish there was more of that.
Jan 04, 2009
Edwin
rated it:
If you want to convince the most shrewd and crafty bosses, this book has what you need to make good presentations, especially in PowerPoint.
The author is a well known complainer about PowerPoint. Every good author is entitled to be flat out wrong about at least one thing. So, the trick is to use all his good style and layout ideas while using PowerPoint and all the other great programs Microsoft makes.
The author is a well known complainer about PowerPoint. Every good author is entitled to be flat out wrong about at least one thing. So, the trick is to use all his good style and layout ideas while using PowerPoint and all the other great programs Microsoft makes.
Feb 10, 2011
Rob
rated it:
This book fundamentally changed how I looked at graphs, charts, and any other graphic that contains data. It is little wonder that Tufte has a rapid following and his lectures are always sell-outs. I will leave it to other reviewers to detail the content of this work. But I will say I whole-heartedly recommend it to anyone who ever creates or reads data graphics (which should be pretty much anyone).
Jan 22, 2011
Gideon
rated it:
A good introduction to start thinking about how data graphics are designed. Edward Tufte demonstrates every point with an example graphic. Most of his suggestions sound reasonable, but some of them may be impractical or too strange to implement. In one part, for example, he illustrates the principle of maximizing the proportion of ink in the graphic that actually contains information by paring down a bar chart into lines. The illustration, while demonstrating his point, looks strange.
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