Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3723 in Books
• Published on: 1990-05
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 126 pages

Amazon.com
A remarkable range of examples for the idea of visual thinking, with beautifully printed pages. A real treat for all who reason and learn by means of images. -- Rudolf Arnheim

Scientific American
A beautifully illustrated, well-argued volume.

American Mathematical Society
A beautiful, magnificent sequel to his classic,

The Visual Display of Quantitative Information

Customer Reviews

It's a good book
This is my 3rd favorite of Tufte's books after Visual Display and Visual Explanations, but it would be a good addition for any Tufte collection and still contains useful info.

An unveiling of visual design
I admit. I do not have natural tendencies for developing web sites, color maps, charts, schedules, power points, diagrams or GUIs. Anything as such comes out in complete discord until I came across Edward Tufte's name in a seminar brochure.

Edward Tufte scrutinizes design strategies all they way back in time from the Renaissance period into the 20th century. Initially I wondered, how on earth are these prestigious techniques presented in ancient times similarly applied today? They are not common today. Computer programs and marketing propaganda have limited our visual expectations to only broad and small pieces of information, limiting our learning space about the world we live in. Beyond contemporary appeals, Edward sheds out underlying utility out of these relics into everyday use. His prime example is a 1735 London figure of two dancers. The drawing describes their dance in time, motion, and sound without common resort to animation.

Chapters in this book: Escaping Flatland, Micro/Macro Readings, Layering and Separation, Small Multiples, Color and Information, and Narratives of Space and Time.

Another Good Tufte Book
This book is about telling a story. Tufte has selected a collection of the most beautiful charts. He then presents each chart design and argues the qualities and defects in each and how sometimes small differences can be used to distort the numbers. If you were to buy a single Tufte book then I'd recommend his other book "Visual Display of Quantitative Information". But if you have a few bucks to spare then this is certainly a nice plus.