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The Visual Display of Quantitative Information

Edward R. Tufte

4.40 · Rating details · 7,555 ratings · 521 reviews

The classic book on statistical graphics, charts, tables. Theory and practice in the design of data graphics, 250 illustrations of the best (and a few of the worst) statistical graphics, with detailed analysis of how to display data for precise, effective, quick analysis. Design of the high-resolution displays, small multiples. Editing and improving graphics. The data-ink ...more

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Hardcover, 2nd, 197 pages

Published 2001 by Graphics Press (first published 1983)

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Aug 07, 2013 Zanna rated it it was amazing

Recommended to Zanna by: Tony Bleasdale

Shelves: stem

When I started secondary school I was mildly apprehensive about 'physics', an unfamiliar word that elicited an actual shudder from my mother. Fortunately, my elderly teacher had an infectious affection for his subject. I remember that he noticed me examining the monthly night-sky chart pinned to the classroom door, and thereafter would print off an extra copy specially and wordlessly hand it to me if he saw me in the corridor (never in class, not wishing to embarrass me*) Our first lessons tried ...more

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Sep 15, 2014 Lily rated it it was ok

Shelves: science, nonfiction, 2014, how-to

2.5 stars. I read this book because 1) as a scientist, I care a lot about visualizing information in ways that are both meaningful and attractive, and 2) this book is hailed as a classic and cited by many when discussing what constitutes a good graphic. After eying it on many coffee tables and office bookshelves, I finally decided to pick it up from the library. I'm glad that I didn't buy it.

There are some positives: a few inspiring examples of creative, precise designs that tell a story and re 2.5 stars. I read this book because 1) as a scientist, I care a lot about visualizing information in ways that are both meaningful and attractive, and 2) this book is hailed as a classic and cited by many when discussing what constitutes a good graphic. After eying it on many coffee tables and office bookshelves, I finally decided to pick it up from the library. I'm glad that I didn't buy it.

There are some positives: a few inspiring examples of creative, precise designs that tell a story and reveal insights about the data. Some of the negative examples (graphs that exaggerate or obscure the data, or that are heavy-handed and ugly) are also useful to think about, and are occasionally very funny. I also liked how it touched on the history and evolution of different types of graphs.

However, a major flaw is the lack of thought that was put into the writing. Many of the axioms that Tufte proposes for graphics could equally well apply to writing. For example, don't patronize your audience, and don't waste ink on non-information. Tufte unfortunately goes against both these principles with his disdainful, verbose tone. A great deal of verbiage and jargon could be stripped away to yield a text with much higher information density (to use his own term). The advice presented is reasonable, but much of it is just common sense for anyone who's paid a little attention to elementary math/statistics, or who simply takes the time to look at graphs and think about how they could be improved.

He also contradicts his own advice about providing adequate explanation for plots by offering zero explanation for several plots that are nearly inscrutable, beyond saying "this is great" or "this is silly". His attitude towards artists is especially belittling - I was hoping for a more thoughtful take on the balance between beauty and practicality in graphic design. All in all, I think this the book has some smart points and good images, but not quite enough to warrant its position on a pedestal. ...more

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Apr 25, 2009 Kelly H. (Maybedog) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: what-nonfiction

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 ...more

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Aug 28, 2010 Roger Wood rated it it was amazing

Shelves: design-architecture, brand-design-statistics

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 alive today, the ...more

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Apr 26, 2011 Daniel Rekshan rated it really liked it

Shelves: programming

People have told me to read this book for years and I've always been impressed by the strength of their recommendations.

However, on reading this book, I was initially underwhelmed. I felt like Tufte was just rehashing common sense about graphs. I read through it and found myself saying, 'yeah yeah, I get it.'

On reflection a week after finishing, I realized this book is genius. Tufte concisely and clearly articulates principles, which should be common sense, so well that they have appearance to b ...more

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Mar 31, 2009 Bruce rated it liked it

Recommends it for: anyone who has to illustrate a report or presentation

Shelves: social-science

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 in 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 in the whimsical-cum-nostalgic info-graphic style that They Might Be Giants commissioned them to produce everything from the liner notes to Mink Car to the flash animations embedded on No! to their website TMBG.com.

And Tufte's book has its share of worthwhile "Aha!" moments as well. Take this snippet from p. 20, which follows six maps of the continental US depicting various types of cancer over a 19 year period by age, sex, and county. Tufte points out the clarity and key moments of interest in the various images (such as death "rates in areas where you have lived"), and then critiques: "The maps repay careful study. Notice how quickly and naturally our attention has been directed toward exploring the substantive content of the data rather than toward questions of methodology and technique. Nonetheless the maps do have their flaws. They wrongly equate the visual importance of each county with its geographic area rather than with the number of people living in the county (or the number of cancer deaths). Our visual impression of the data is entangled with the circumstance of geographic boundaries, shapes, and areas -- the chronic problem afflicting shaded-in-area designs of such 'blot maps' or 'patch maps.'" He goes on to further dissect the presentation and the foundational data in a way that I would never have dreamed of. Talk about your perfectionists... these map examples were drawn by him.

At any rate, this book is all about comprehensible, usable design, and Tufte even designed it for maximum impact. Its slim girth (a mere 190 pages) is chock-full of historic graphical errors and successes, but you can read the first 50 alone and get the idea. Given that, I'm a bit taken aback (and yet strangely curious) to have discovered that Tufte has managed to produce at least three more disparate volumes.

However, I've since learned that Tufte has some serious (and seriously earned) followers. Just last week, on the theory of in for a penny, in for a pound, I attended a program on improving data analytics, and was pulled aside at the end by one of the organizers who spotted my copy of The Visual Display.... "An important book," he sagely nodded. "You should have them all. But check out Steven Few's perceptualedge.com," he continued. "That's where the rubber really meets the road."

Okay, fine, leave me alone! I swear that I'll never look at another pie chart again, just don't make me give up my dependence on the color copier? ...more

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Jan 19, 2008 Paula rated it really liked it

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 and worst displays are i ...more

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Feb 13, 2021 José rated it really liked it

Shelves: science, art, data-visualisation

I think it is safe to say that two monumental names of data-viz are bound to be recurrently recognised - the eye catching master of data pop-art David McCandless and the creator of beautifully simple and elegant data display Edward Tufte. Both of these data visualisers have some overlap - both are, after all, incredibly capable of transmitting complex data and information in striking displays - but it is Tufte's love of simplicity and worship of data that renders him a phenomenal graphical visua ...more

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Aug 22, 2010 Isk rated it it was ok

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 contradictory -- at one point ...more

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Aug 29, 2019 Jamie rated it really liked it

Shelves: science

Although originally published in 1983, when professional graphics artists prepared most of the charts and graphs used in presentations and official publications, this book remains useful for anyone who wishes to convey information clearly and concisely.

I can remember a job early in my career when all presentations had to be approved by two levels of management, then submitted to the graphics shop at least a week before they were to be used, and what came back was an inter-office envelope full o Although originally published in 1983, when professional graphics artists prepared most of the charts and graphs used in presentations and official publications, this book remains useful for anyone who wishes to convey information clearly and concisely.

I can remember a job early in my career when all presentations had to be approved by two levels of management, then submitted to the graphics shop at least a week before they were to be used, and what came back was an inter-office envelope full of transparencies to be shown on an overhead projector. We have come a long way since then, but powerful graphics software has not necessarily improved our ability to get the message across in an understandable and informative way.

Tufte starts with some history of the statistical graph. It took a long time for people to make the conceptual leap from a quantity to an abstract visual representation of that quantity as a line or a bar positioned between several axes. The first charts were derived from maps, but maps had existed for five thousand years before charts and graphs appeared in the 1700s.

By the 20th century newspapers, magazines, and business and government publications all included graphics, but they were often done ineptly, because they were created by artists, not the people who understood the data. “At the core of the preoccupation with deceptive graphics was the assumption that data graphics were mainly devices for showing the obvious to the ignorant.” (p. 53) The book has many egregiously bad examples, some of which appeared to be deliberately deceptive (such as hiding a business loss by making the y-axis start below zero), and some just incompetently done, apparently by graphics artists who wanted to make a pretty picture without the least understanding of what the data meant. “Inept graphics also flourish because many graphic artists believe that statistics are boring and tedious. It then follows that decorated graphics must pep up, animate, and all too often exaggerate what evidence there is in the data.” (p. 79)

The book’s value comes from the fact that Tufte has a number of specific recommendations for how to present data, and he cites good examples as well as bad. The defining graphic in the book is Charles Joseph Minard’s 1861 graph showing the fate of Napoleon’s army in Russia. It is a powerful image, telling the dramatic story of an army withering away on the march to and from Moscow. It manages to plot multiple variables on a two-dimensional page: the size of the army, its location in Russia, the direction of the army’s movement, dates of specific events, and temperatures along the route of retreat. Once seen, the graph is unforgettable.

There is also another brilliant example, a graph by E.J. Marey showing train schedules from Paris to Lyon in the 1880s. At first it looks like a jumble of broken diagonal lines, but then it resolves itself. The slope of the line indicates the speed of the train, the horizontal breaks show where the train is stopped at a station, the x-axis shows the time of the trip (at start, finish, and points along the way), and the y-axis the towns the train passes through. A great deal of information is packed into a simple, easy to read image. The train schedules put out by Amtrak today are far less intuitive and informative.

Tufte’s recommendations boil down one word: simplify. He coined the word “chartjunk,” and recommends paring everything down to its essentials. His fundamental precepts are:

Five principles in the theory of data graphics produce substantial changes in graphical design. The principles apply to many graphics and yield a series of design options through cycles of graphical revision and editing.

Above all else show the data.
Maximize the data-ink ratio.
Erase non-data-ink.
Erase redundant data-ink.
Revise and edit.
(p. 105)

Somewhere along the way in my career I came to internalize some of Tufte’s ideas without knowing I was doing so. Whenever I saw a presentation filled with clipart, with animated, dancing whatevers, with unnecessary three dimensional charts and distracting bright colors I concluded that the presenter was either an idiot or was actively trying to hide something the viewer wasn’t supposed to notice. Subsequent events usually proved me right.

If there is one thing that Tufte hates above all else it is the pie chart. “the only worse design than a pie chart is several of them, for then the viewer is asked to compare quantities located in spatial disarray both within and between pies.” (p.178) Since they only display a small number of data points anyway, you are better off making a simple number chart.

This book is worth reading, and will make you think about how to best present your information. Some of the examples he provides are old, including a couple that were certainly created on ancient dot-matrix printers, but his advice remains excellent. For those interested in his additional ideas about graphics presentation, he also wrote Envisioning Information (1990) and Visual Explanations: Images and Quantities, Evidence and Narrative (1997). ...more

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Sep 22, 2018 Coop Williams rated it really liked it

Entertaining and illustrative. Tufte shows strong examples of both elegant and ghastly designs, taking several opportunities to improve the latter with surgical erasure. These examples form the basis for a set of now-canonized principles.

The only part I really disagreed with was the beginning of chapter 6, wherein the author proposes revising the box plot design by reducing it to a mere point floating between two lines, with only white space to represent the size of the interquartile range. It l ...more

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Jul 31, 2018 Michael Burnam-Fink rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: academic, data-science, 2018

The Visual Display of Quantitative Information is an absolute classic on the creation and use of graphs. Done correctly, a good graph can make complex information instantly comprehensible, reveal relationships and patterns, and both delight and inform. Done poorly, a bad graph causes eyestrain, confusion, and the deliberate obfuscation of the truth. And in a world where graphs are ordinary, Tufte provides a quick history of how they came to be, and the cognitive leaps required.

Tufte rails agains ...more

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Mar 16, 2019 Josh Friedlander rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-and-mathematics, art-aesthetics-culture

Most of Tufte's critiques of ugly and dishonest data visualisation have been long internalised, in our age of 538 and "data journalism". But this {art/architecture/graphic design}-informed book is still an engaging read, despite occasional bursts of pomposity. ...more

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Jan 03, 2021 Shan Zhong rated it it was amazing

Definitely my favorite printed book

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Feb 03, 2017 Sasha rated it really liked it

Never was a dude so salty about bad graphs and bad data. Humorous as well as clever.

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Jan 12, 2012 This Is Not The Michael You're Looking For rated it it was amazing

Shelves: nonfiction, science, own, math-stats

Before going into the review itself, a comment on a slight oddity of the book (which will become important in the review): The copy I read is the 7th printing (March 2011) of the second edition (originally published in 2001; the first edition was published in 1982). The reason I bring this up is a discrepancy not mentioned anywhere in/on the book or on any website I could find. At least one chapter has been rewritten (or added) since the second edition was originally published. Chapter 8 contain Before going into the review itself, a comment on a slight oddity of the book (which will become important in the review): The copy I read is the 7th printing (March 2011) of the second edition (originally published in 2001; the first edition was published in 1982). The reason I bring this up is a discrepancy not mentioned anywhere in/on the book or on any website I could find. At least one chapter has been rewritten (or added) since the second edition was originally published. Chapter 8 contains examples and data from 2003 and 2004, as well as ending with a data point from 2009! Generally, one would consider the rewriting of a chapter (rather than the correction of typos and other errors) to be, if not a new edition, at least worthy of mentioning in the description of the book, but no such mention has been made. Without a copy of an earlier printing of the same edition, I cannot comment on whether other changes are present or absent; this was the only chapter where I noticed data or examples that post-date the original second edition printing.
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This book by Edward Tufte is considered a classic in graphics design and its easy to see why. Filled with examples of both good and bad graphic design, he eloquently argues for rules of design that maximize information and "truth" to avoid misinformation and distraction. Truly a masterwork, it is not without flaws. He has a tendency toward hyperbole, declaring certain graphs to be the "worst ever made" or "best ever made". He accuses many graphical designers of deliberately lying to the consumer, when the reality in many (although certainly not all) cases is likely more a case of incompetence or ignorance. He states rules to follow with a certainty that are sometimes themselves not backed up with data, but rather simply reflect opinion.

And finally, some of his principles lack any real discussion or acknowledgement or context, something which stands out in particular with the recognition that most of the examples are rather dated. For example, he has a large discussion focused on the size of printed graphics, a discussion which completely ignores any context in which a graphic might be presented beyond the printed page. When the second edition was originally printed in 2001, most scientific presentations were still using overheads or physical slides; the widespread use of Powerpoint for presentations did not take off until a few years after the book was published. However, the chapter with this discussion is the one mentioned above that has clearly been updated since 2009! This enhances the dated feeling of some of the discussion, making one wonder if there is a bit of statistical and graphic Luddite influence to the writing.

I should say that he does mention Powerpoint and Excel at one point with clear disgust, and I am the first to agree that using either for designing *printed* graphics is a very poor choice. However, for for visual presentation in a talk or lecture, Powerpoint is better than many of its competitors. Unfortunately, some of his design discussion simply doesn't translate to non-printed publication, including presentations and graphics to be found on the web, which may have very different design considerations, not the least of which is the potential for consumer interactivity. (He has written additional books, some of which I plan on reading, and some of which may get into these issues, although I suspect not).

Despite all of these flaws, I truly believe the book is incredibly well done and its influence since it was originally published cannot be understated. Scattered throughout the book, often (although not always) recapped at the end of chapters, are "rules" of design that are so striking in their statement, I plan on collecting most of them onto a single piece of paper to hang on the wall by my desk as a visual reminder of what to do and think about when designing my own graphics going forward. That, more than anything else, illustrates my feelings toward this book. ...more

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Sep 28, 2014 Padraig rated it really liked it

Shelves: visualisation

It's good, I guess I’m knocking a star off because it focuses on paper-based graphs as opposed to computer ones (not really the fault of the book as it was first published in 1983).

The book is like the graph equivalent of Strunk & White’s The Elements of Style. Where Strunk says ‘Omit needless words.’, Tufte says ‘Omit needless ink.’ (I’m paraphrasing). Despite concerning itself with paper-based graphs, the concepts still apply, and if I took one lesson from the book, it’s to let the data shine ...more

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May 13, 2010 Michael Economy rated it it was amazing

Recommended to Michael by: Ken-ichi

Shelves: work-related

I'm imaging tufte writing up this rant in a basement with "we're not gonna take it" blaring in the background, every few paragraphs he mumbles something like "this will show them!" to himself.

Section two is pretty much the kind of five paragraph essay I was required to write in school. It's not very often someone makes an argument that hard.

Overall, this book is awesome, the book isn't 100% up to date, but the same complains with visualizations would still apply.

I'm all amped up to create lots o ...more

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Nov 05, 2011 Lindig rated it it was amazing

Shelves: non-fiction

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 anybody who enjoys this book will lik ...more

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Apr 09, 2015 Erik rated it it was ok

Interesting subject matter but incredibly pompous author.

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Jul 06, 2017 Steve rated it liked it

I went to a Tufte course and four of his publications were given out as part of the course fee. This is the first one he published on this subject, and the first I've read. Overall, if you've never made a statistical graphic, this covers some of the basics but it feels a bit dated as well. Read this book if you're looking for some history on the subject of plotting data, and plenty of opinions from the (well-respected) author.

I'm no stranger to making statistical graphics, it's a task that comes I went to a Tufte course and four of his publications were given out as part of the course fee. This is the first one he published on this subject, and the first I've read. Overall, if you've never made a statistical graphic, this covers some of the basics but it feels a bit dated as well. Read this book if you're looking for some history on the subject of plotting data, and plenty of opinions from the (well-respected) author.

I'm no stranger to making statistical graphics, it's a task that comes up when writing research publications, at work, and sometimes in my home projects. I was hoping to find some novel ways to think about plotting data, or at least some clean guidelines beyond those I already knew (e.g., use less ink, focus on data-ink, and emphasize unexpected or critical results). Since I had no formal training in the subject just exposure to many examples and some tips from random blog posts over the years I figured I had a lot to learn. With that perspective, the material in this book was a bit of a let down. I have to imagine that when it was written, Tufte dropped some wisdom on chart designers, but it has since percolated out into the mainstream, both embedded in tools and anecdotal advice given to plotters.

Tufte has a justifiably dim view on how computer drawing tools were used at the time to make charts, but I think he unrealistically kept the focus on manual production of plots in the second edition. As a point of reference, I have never published in a venue that allowed hand-drawn graphics to be included in a manuscript, and I think that's pretty much a universal standard these days. He also highlights a few plot designs that were pretty interesting (and unused) in 1980 when this first came out, but have not caught on at all in the fields that I know of in the 35 years since. Time to revisit their utility, maybe? One major omission in this book was the role of bias in chart preparation. Some data visualizations are pretty straight forward and have very little bias injected into the display (think scatterplots, with simple points that let you pull out their patterns using "visual analytics"). Now consider his proposed "rugplot", which is basically a series of 2D scatterplots arranged next to each other such that 1 dimension is shared between adjacent plots (just look at the pic near "Data Ink Minimization 135" in the link). There is a huge hidden bias here: the chart preparer can select any pair of the N dimensions to show next to each other. Different choices will lead to different stories being told, but with no way for the viewer to really consider alternative hypotheses than the one presented by the designer. But what if you wanted to pick other pairs of dimensions to look through? You can't. Since there are so many possible combinations to choose from, you would be right to doubt that the designer chose the "best" or even a "fair" representation of the data. This is one specific example of bias in data visualization, but given that this problem crops up in sufficiently complex multi-dimensional data source such as those championed by Tufte, I would have thought it would have been a topic of discussion in the text.

Well, this review got away from me a bit. The book is a fun thing to flip through, it's easy reading, and just feels great to hold. More non-fiction books should be like this! One of his updated books might be more fulfilling to a student of modern statistical graphics, but this one certainly frames the history and advances through the 1970s quite well, if that's what you're looking for. ...more

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Mar 08, 2020 Max rated it liked it

Light read, though sometimes the book judged me for having used histograms to display about 5 datapoints. He would even make me quantify how intensely I should‘ve just used a table by calculating his „waste of ink“ data-ink ratio.

„Above all else show the data.

The principle is the basis for a theory of data graphics“

The book is a nice collection of the good, the bad, and the really bad graphs. Among the bad are artsy graphics, that for example use the height of three-dimensional objects like oi ...more

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Jun 24, 2017 Kjetil Endresen rated it it was amazing

This book was a joy to read.

The book is essentially about graphical display of information, like the graphs we put in our powerpoints and maps in our texts. It is not a gallery of modern and beautiful visualizations as could be expected, rather, it takes on the history and creation of visualizing data in the 1600s and forward, and giving some general principles that goes for all display of information. He talks about data pr. square centimeter and suggest that the human eye can see differences d ...more

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Feb 15, 2019 Vishal Katariya rated it it was amazing

Shelves: essentials, non-fiction

What an experience. You may find it strange that I look upon this book almost reverentially, for it is merely an exposition of what constitutes good graphic design for data visualization. However, this is no ordinary exposition: Edward Tufte is unquestionably one of the masters at the forefront in this task, and he does a thorough job of describing some heuristics and "laws" for what make good graphs, plots, maps and so on. Given his mastery of the subject, I allowed for his sometimes brazen rul ...more

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Oct 31, 2018 Mehran Jalali rated it really liked it

Recommends it for: Navid Rashidian

Recommended to Mehran by: Randall Munroe

Shelves: reading-for-knowledge, statistics

The main point was: a good graph is one that gives to the viewer the greatest number of ideas in the shortest time with the least ink in the smallest space.

Fascinating books, with fascinating charts -- both graphically and information-wise.

This should be mandatory reading for everyone who will ever draw a graph in their life. It is simply amazing.

The teachings bordered on my intuition for graph design, so I'll give it a 4. ...more

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Jan 03, 2020 Justin rated it it was amazing

I thought the book followed the principles the author was talking about, making the book an example of its thesis. It was a lot more pleasant and engaging than I was afraid it would be. I think it deserves its reputation as a must-read for those interested in data visualization.

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Apr 27, 2020 Katja rated it really liked it

Shelves: design-etc

this guy HATES the New York Times

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Jun 22, 2019 Parsa rated it really liked it

I read this at the wrong time, without really much appreciating all the information presented. To get the most of this book, you should already be working with data, and facing the design decisions treated here.

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Jan 12, 2020 Andrew Greatorex rated it it was amazing

"Above all else show the data." ...more

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Apr 02, 2020 Dominik Straub rated it it was amazing

Shelves: pop-science

This book has improved my data visualizations, but also the way I think about data in general. Unfortunately, it ruins pretty much every paper I read...

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About Edward R. Tufte

Edward R. Tufte

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Edward Rolf Tufte (born 1942 in Kansas City, Missouri to Virginia and Edward E. Tufte), a professor emeritus of statistics, graphic design, and political economy at Yale University has been described by The New York Times as "the Leonardo da Vinci of Data". He is an expert in the presentation of informational graphics such as charts and diagrams, and is a fellow of the American Statistical Associa ...more

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“Above all else show the data.” — 26 likes

“Graphical excellence is that which gives to the viewer the greatest number of ideas in the shortest time with the least ink in the smallest space.” — 15 likes

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Preview — The Visual Display of Quantitative Information by Edward R. Tufte

The Visual Display of Quantitative Information

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