Envisioning Information

Beautiful book, important message.

The three seminal books by Edward Tufte all address visual information presentation with a focus on accessibility and usefulness. The first addresses presentation of numeric data and different diagramming techniques. The second has a broader scope, including maps and other kinds of information, with a fine discussion of strategies for visual design. The third book is about visual representations of processes, causes and explanations. All three are unusually beautiful and well designed by the author, thus serving as good examples of their own topics.

As a non-mathematician with a serious problem with diagrams (like a lot of librarians, I connect much better with lists) this was going to be a challenge for me. But every page was a pleasure. Tuftes believes that complex information can be easily understood if presented in the right way. He applies the same principles to his writing which is clear without being dry. I'm still a long way from feeling comfortable creating anything more complex than a table, but I definitely feel I've made a start (and I'll eliminate those gridlines!). ( )

My fave of the 'original Tufte trilogy'. Awesome concepts around representing information in clear, truthful, and accurate ways. A lot of focus on map-based graphics, but concepts are applicable to other types as well. Sometimes a bit of high-and-mighty writing, but it's still eye-opening. ( )