Beautiful Evidence
by Edward R. Tufte
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Book Reviews of Beautiful Evidence
Book Review: What was I thinking?
Summary: 1 Stars
If I had gone into a brick and mortar store and thumbed through the pages of this book I would never have purchased it. I'm sorry I just don't get all this artsy type fluff that everyone seems to be so "Tufte-Gong-Ho" about. I was expecting a book from a professional business perspective on insights on how to represent various types of data in the correct visual format. One look at the table of contents gives you the impression that's exactly what this book is. However, when you look at the actual contents, you have pictures and artwork that would never make it in a professional boardroom. The examples are just plain terrible and you would think someone as good as Tufte would be able to represent and communicate concepts in a better format instead of getting nostalgic with historical artwork. Do I really care about David Smith's Cubi XXVI (1965) sculptural volumes! Oh and the slave trade ship pictures on pages 22-23 are a nice touch. Give me a break; I'm still scratching my head trying to figure out what the point of those pictures were in explaining a concept. I just hope I can resell this book and try to recover half the price I paid for it. If you are in corporate America trying to make a living adding value to your company's bottom line, skip this book.Book Review: Another Amazing Tufte Publication
Summary: 5 Stars
This is yet another amazing Tufte publication. Consistent with Tufte's earlier publications, this book is composed beautifully, in terms of the quality of paper stock, ink and clarity. The book is as much a work of art as a treatise on the principles of evidence and analytical design.
"Beautiful Evidence" codifies a number of principles laid out in earlier Tufte publications, such as those of analytical design, as well as extends Tufte's unique perspective into topics such as Sparklines.
For those interested in optimizing the presentation of information...and recognizing when information may be presented in a manner that should raise questions and concerns, there is no better source than Dr. Edward Tufte, in my opinion.
I attended one of Dr. Tufte's day-long seminars a number of years ago and found his "in person" explanation of presenting and interpreting information to be exceptionally good. As such, I highly recommend both this book and Dr. Tufte's seminar to all readers.
Book Review: A Repeat and Tackle on Previous Work
Summary: 4 Stars
Good volume for those who may want an slightly deeper insight into visual communication. For the most part the analysis is well crafted, with stimulating insights. Sometimes a bit too repetitive, and obsessed with its own neurosis. For instance in the struggle against Power Point presentations, while I agree with him on most of the analysis, like Tufte also points out quickly early on it is not about PowerPoint but about the use given to it and the paradigm associated. He could be much clearer since I believe that the most important points are not about the software. Also I disagree with his interpretation of intellectual ownership, I also think that rights should not be given exclusively away but do advocate for a public, open, and shared cultural production. But that is another conversation...
All in all, it is a recommendable book, which - even if a little bit too hyped up for what it is supposed to offer - still offers a valuable read.
Book Review: Showing evidence is hard!
Summary: 5 Stars
ET is superb in showing the goods and the bads of showing facts in graphics (and text too: both combine to give the best result). Designers and Information Architects should all sleep with this book over their pillow, in order to take a grasp everytime a single turn in bed is needed... Specially those working for magazines and newspapers, which make so many mistakes in a single info-graphics (the NYT is an exception to this horror trend...).
I would highlight the Map on Losses of Napolean Troops. Read the explanation. Then copy it in a big format and hang it on the wall. The double page of the Shuttle's disaster is also a must.
Above all, this makes us, who just fire e-mails (some of them carrying a 'document' value), so small, in the sense that we have so much to learn still...
Thank you, ET!
Book Review: Tufte B-sides?
Summary: 3 Stars
This fourth book in Tufte's series on visual information resembles a disappointing B-sides/greatest hits collection instead of an essential new work. It includes a full reprint of Tufte's recent PowerPoint pamphlet and frequent discussion of topics from earlier books (for example Minard's chart of Napoleon's march into Russia). The final chapter on Tufte's sculptures seems especially misplaced. New material includes exploration of Sparklines, word-sized graphs interspersed among normal text. In the Graphics Press tradition of superior aesthetics, this book contains richly printed images and text on thick paper.
I'd strongly recommend the previous three books in the series, esp. the first one 'The Visual Display of Quantitative Information'. Those who already own those three works can probably skip this new volume.