Effective learning sometimes transcends the use of words.

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Product Description

A modern classic. Tufte teaches the fundamentals of graphics, charts, maps and tables. "A visual Strunk and White" (The Boston Globe). Includes 250 delightfullly entertaining illustrations, all beautifully printed.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1304 in Books
• Published on: 2001-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 197 pages

Amazon.com Review
A timeless classic in how complex information should be presented graphically. The Strunk & White of visual design. Should occupy a place of honor--within arm's reach--of everyone attempting to understand or depict numerical data graphically. The design of the book is an exemplar of the principles it espouses: elegant typography and layout, and seamless integration of lucid text and perfectly chosen graphical examples. Very Highly Recommended.

Review
A tour de force. -- John Tukey, Bell Laboratories and Princeton University

One of the best books you will ever see. -- Datamation

The century's best book on statistical graphics. -- Computing Reviews

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Customer Reviews

Very nice book
Tufte's book is a very fine book on data graphics.

Although this book gives a lot of simple advice on how to effectively communicate quantitative information, it is not just a recipe-like book, as it also makes you think about a data graphic as something that is telling a story with numbers.

Beware that not all advice given is easily applied using common office suites. This is by no means a problem with the book, it is just that the text is not at all software-oriented. In fact, you may start to see the limitations in the office suites themselves. So, for those who just want some fast rules to use in their favorite software, this book may not be enough, or even the most recommended one. For all other readers, I highly recommend it.

Masterpiece of graphic design proves timeless and universal
I returned to Tufte's first classic book of graphic design principles over 20 years after first discovering it. At the time, I was the corporate librarian for a major electric utility, and the explosion in the organization and creation of information by individuals with new personal-computer hardware and software was just beginning (I had an IBM PC-XT with 640Kb of RAM and two 360k floppies--no hard drive).

Now, I wondered, aside from the masterpiece of graphic design that "Visual Display" of course still represents, did Tufte's theories of graphics design still apply in a world where those computers at our fingertips pack the power and sophistication of the best publishing equipment? The answer is yes: Tufte's guidelines are timeless and universal, and most of his examples predate the computer era and even the 20th century.

The guidelines boil down to the single principle of making design choices that result in the simplest possible display of complex data. While that may not sound profound, Tufte provides simple and practical rules for implementing sound design choices, and the resulting improvements in your documents and web designs will be noticeable.

Easy and fun to read
I was able to read this fairly quickly. (stealing a few hours here and there at work).

Although I did not find any direct solutions to my current problems - it definitely opened my imagination to consider new possibilities.