Show Me the Numbers: Designing Tables and Graphs to Enlighten (Hardcover)

by Stephen Few (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"A must read...for anyone working in the field of business intelligence." -- David Wells, Director of Education, The Data Warehousing Institute (TDWI)

"A real gem…clear, concise, and comprehensive." -- Dr. Richard Mayer, Professor of Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara

"More accessible than Cleveland's books and...more practical advice than Tufte's. I highly recommend it." -- Dr. Pat Hanrahan, Professor of Computer Science, Stanford University

Product Description
Tables and graphs can more adequately communicate important business information when they reflect the good design practices discussed in this practical guide to effective table and graph design. Information is provided on the fundamental concepts of table and graph design, the numbers and knowledge most suitable for display in a graphic form, the best tabular means to communicate certain ideas, and the component-level aspects of design. Analysts, technicians, and managers will appreciate the solid theory behind this outline for ensuring that tables and graphs present quantitative business information in a truthful, attractive format that facilitates better decision making.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 280 pages
• Publisher: Analytics Press (September 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0970601999
• ISBN-13: 978-0970601995
• Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 8.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #11,721 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #2 in	Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Mathematics > Applied > Graph Theory
  #2 in	Books > Science > Mathematics > Applied > Graph Theory
  #4 in	Books > Business & Investing > Skills > Math for Business

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

89 of 95 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The best there is -, November 16, 2004

By	wiredweird "wiredweird" (Earth, or somewhere nearby) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

- after Tufte. Tufte writes about brilliant, eloquent graphic design. Few writes about competent, legible business presentation. Tufte writes about good art, Few writes about servicable craft. If you've ever seen data presented in Excel, Word, or (god forbid) PowerPoint, you know how much we need competent craft.

The book is gently paced. It's for people who need to present numbers, but may not be wholly comfortable with numbers. It takes the reader by the hand, and walks through a series of very basic steps in reasoning about how a chart communicates, or fails to.

The book is very much oriented towards the chart and graph types that Excel can produce. Like it or not, that makes sense. Excel is what most readers have most acess to, and is what causes some of the ugliest problems. This book addresses those problems.

Few illustrates his points with a number of examples, both good and bad ones. He presents problems to solve, and presents answers to many of them. It's a textbook, and a good one. Its main message is, "Less is better."

This is for anyone who presents information, and for anyone who creates presentation software. I recommend this one.

//wiredweird

36 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The summaries make it worthwhile, August 16, 2006

By	Bart Denturck (Belgium) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I bought and read the books of Tufte and Cleveland (The elements of graphing data). Tufte is pushing things too far, there are certain expectation people have about what they want to see in a graph, but his analysis of the "lie factor" is great and it's a beautiful book. Clevelands book is becoming outdated; the use of colours is really helpful and other than two glued-in pages he does not mention it at all. The analysis is cristal clear and it's full of good and bad examples. Someone ought to rework it, it's invaluable to me.
The recommendation that Few makes in his book are worth buying it and you can read this book in a day, just skip the long explanations. Its indeed long and a somewhat simple, leaving the impression that the content is rather thin, but if anyone presenting data would stick to these simple rules, presentations would make a major step forward in clarity.
My conclusion:
- if you are a scientist, go for Cleveland.
- If have been a scientist and became a "manager" buy Few.
- If you are active in politics or other domains that communicate to the large public, Tufte will tell you how to tell the truth :-)
One more thing: pie charts are there to stay, no matter how hard we fight them and how many authors hate them and break them down with good arguments. One cannot turn back the clock, there is something like fashion in the way we present data.

49 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Use Excel (or PowerPoint)? Read this book, January 20, 2005

By	Mike Tarrani "www.tarrani.com" (Deltona, FL USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

As a consultant I need to gather and analyze data and transform it into information and findings. This book leads you through the transformation of data - especially if you use Excel or PowerPoint - by showing how to select the best table and chart formats to convey the information aggregated from data.

The thrust of the book is communicating. The author lays a solid foundation early in the book by covering qualtitative relationships, summarization and various data types. He then builds upon the foundation with succinct discussions and advice on selecting tablular formats and the correct charts to convey the information.

While Excel is the principal tool used to illustrate the concepts and techniques in the book, I have applied the author's advice to Visio and PowerPoint, as well as a few more obscure charting and graphics programs.

I like the clarity with which the information is presented, and the practical examples given throughout the book. More importantly, this book isn't a tome that is aimed at graphic designers, making it an ideal resource for technical and business professionals who do not fully grasp the nuances of graphic presentation.

If you present data and information - using any application - I strongly recommend this book because it will make your presentations meaningful and easy-to-understand, and will show you how to avoid a plethora of common mistakes like using the wrong chart or impossible to understand tables.