Customer Reviews

Understanding USA

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I've never had a head for facts and figures which is why statistics of how many of this or the cost of that always bored the pants off of me regardless of how much I could use the information. This book changed all that for me and is the finest example of data visualization I've ever seen.

Open it to any page and whether the subject is: how much does it cost to raise a child or poverty by race, the information screams at you in easy to understand graphics and brilliantly conceived and executed diagrams.

The information presented is almost encyclopedic in scope exploring complex and facinating issues presented in a variety of manners by a variety of contributors that employ many differing ways of explaining data, but what they all have in common is a high degree of creativity, a wonderful use of color and crystal clarity.

By the end of the book, which can be viewed in any order you choose, you are bound to be not only impressed with the design and beauty, but you're sure to have a clear understanding of just how the United States is constructed and operates at the start of the year 2000.

This book is a treasure.

From the promise of the title you expect to be presented with a lucid, logical, intuitive compilation of interesting information. You will be disappointed! The promise is empty. Not that the graphics aren't excellent, but the dis-organization of the book throws it all off. There is no table of contents, no index, no page numbers. There are about a dozen sub-tables of contents buried within the book, but they are a mess as well. Each is organized by contributor, with endlessly ovelapping topics. While it might be fun to flip through this from time to time, if you seek to look anything up, you may have to turn each of the 300 pages to find it. And heaven forbid you want to mark/refer to an interesting page - without pages numbers it's rather difficult. I think they should recall all of these and hire Don Nornam or Ed Tufte to create a thoughtful, intuitive means of knowing what's in here and how to find it. What were these guys thinking? Excellent idea, terrible implementation.

This book intrigued me when I first saw it in the store. I always have an almanac handy, and I was hoping that this book might prove to be a nice supplement. I was wrong, and my almanac has nothing to worry about. Here's why:

1. The book is poorly organized. The book is organized by contributor, and in many cases there is no logic behind the grouping of any particular contributor's topics. Don't bother looking for an index or a helpful table of contents.

2. Why did I pay for this book? The preface goes to great lengths to emphasize that this information should be free. So why isn't it? With all of the corporate underwriters attached to this book it should be given away.

3. Somebody call an editor. The number of mistakes in this book is atrocious.

4. The book appears to be less about information and more about the egos of the contributors. Most of the contributors are not subject matter experts in anything but architecture or design. This makes the commentary that accompanies the pretty pictures seem uninformed. Which leads me to my final beef ...

5. There is a major bias prevalent throughout this book. The beauty of an almanac is that it presents the facts and lets you draw your own conclusions. Unfortunately, the left-leaning contributors of this book can't help but take the opportunity to advance their social agenda.

Save your money and buy a copy of The World Almanac.

In Wurman's InformationAnxiety2, he not so sheepishly plugs UNDERSTANDING with paragraphs such as,

"Not only is this a valuable tool in a civics class or history class or economics class or social studies class, but it is the perfect demonstration for educators on the different ways in which people learn: visually, audibly and tangibly."

Too bad Wurman is grossly incorrect. The data in this book is difficult to decipher and understand. One must truly work with the book to derive the benefits of the data presented--which goes against the grain of the books mission.

Wurman tells the story of the publication of Understanding in InformationAnxiety2, indicating that UNDERSTANDING was done in fast fashion.

"It was printed in December 1999-nine months after it was an idea that everyone said was impossible. Would it have been nice to have had page numbers? Yep. A table of contents? Yep. An index? Yep. But, I got it done. That's the art of the possible."

Too bad the book is next to impossible to use.

Sadly, too, the complimentary web site is a real mess in terms of visibility (can't resize the text and must open more and more widows to get the real value of the site) and usability.

It's a shame. The information presented in the book and on the site is incredibly valuable and helpful. Prepare to work to get it though.

Do you like boring garphics? Or, do you prefer to see only labels in a chart cause you have difficulty understanding that a picture of a young teenager probably means "young teenagers" and that a picture of an old person means "old people"? If your answer is yes, this book isn't for you. Please understand that this book isn't either "good" or "bad," everything will depend of what you like.

I bave been in many countries and I have never seen a book so well done: it is beautiful, creative and makes "data" to become alive and interesting. As far as having difficulty in understanding the graphics, I found that there were only two chapters (out of 13) that were a little more difficult to understand. These chapters, in my opinion, were not important ones (but the graphics look amazing). It will be great if there could have a little preview of this book at amazon.com so people could have a better idea how it looks inside. I am sure that many people would be deligthed to have this book at home as it is one of the best book done about this subject worldwide!

I read the reviews on Amazon.com as well as other media before ordering the book. I new that Amazon would take it back if it was not up to my expectations, so I took the plunge. To my great delight, I found the book to be more than interesting- it is exciting! I'm a bookaholic - but this book would appeal to even those folks who don't usually like to read. The information leaps off the page because of the great graphic format. A couple of the graphs have information that simply can't be correct - but I have checked several in other sources and they are surprising, but correct. Buy this book and leave it on a table - your teenagers will pick it up and learn by accident.

This book contains many fascinating statistics about the USA, and presents the work of an array of information designers. Unfortunately, much of it is overblown, visually chaotic, and more concerned with "looking cool" than with conveying data to the reader. I hope no employer sees this as "what information design is", since it does nothing short of degrade the profession.

This is info-porn at its finest. Wurman has violated all of the best practices he espouses in InfoAnxiety, InfoArchitects, and the Access guidebooks. Shame on you Richard.

The overall organization is incomprehensible, the content is inaccessible, and the visual style is cacophonic. It does not tell me what I want or need to know.

Do not waste your money here. If you feel like you must own it; wait a year and find it for $3 in a remainder bin somewhere. Spend your hard earned dough on Tufte 1 & 2, or Schneiderman's Information Visualization.

I have kept this book close by ever since I first came across it in 1999. I have been surprised to see the mediocre reviews on it because I consider it to be one of the best efforts at making enormous amounts of information about everything in our society and world accessible and understandable. You have to realize that the information is complex and the graphic interface which reveals the information has depth and takes more than a cursory look to really see the entire picture. I gave this book to all my sons, friends and others who want to see and understand the huge amounts of information that swirl around our lives. Each page stands on its own and it is the kind of book I never get tired of. I learn something new every time I pick it up. This is a wonderful and fun book about very complex information. A tour de force in my opinion.

What an amazing book. Incredibly complex and massive information is broken down into easy to understand charts, graphs, and picutres.

This book is really about two things - one is understanding various aspects of the United States from politics to demographics to education. The second, is how charts can be designed in creative ways to communicate information. I've used several of the concepts myself at work.

Great book.