Visual Revelations (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

Review

Hate pie charts? Then grab Howard Wainer's Visual Revelations...It's a readable and highly informative guide on how to add elegance, grace and impact to idea presentation. ...His examples are fascinating... -- New Scientist, September 13, 1997

Product Description

This book takes the reader on an eye-opening tour of the methods and history of presenting data by visual means, showing the reader how to be both a better producer and consumer of graphics. Visual Revelations sheds light on how well-done graphic representations illuminate subtle and significant elements of the information they represent, how poorly conceived graphical devices can misrepresent and distort facts and data, and how cleverly designed displays can be potent tools for manipulating the viewer's perception and opinion.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 180 pages
• Publisher: Springer; 1 edition (January 15, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 038794902X
• ISBN-13: 978-0387949024
• Product Dimensions: 11.8 x 8.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,014,449 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Stick with Tufte, September 21, 2003

By	Liam Friedland "liamf" (Redwood City, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Visual Revelations: Graphical Tales of Fate and Deception From Napoleon Bonaparte To Ross Perot (Hardcover)

Don't waste your time on this one. Get Ed Tufte's first two books. Wainer spends many pages regurgitating and adulating Tufte's previously published work--unfortunately with less clarity.

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, but not in the class of Tufte, September 25, 2008

By	Mr. A. Wentzel "Arnold Wentzel" (Cresta, South Africa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Visual Revelations: Graphical Tales of Fate and Deception From Napoleon Bonaparte To Ross Perot (Hardcover)

Having read Tufte's "The visual display of Quantitative Information" and this book of Howard Wainer, I think Tufte's book is better. If Tufte's book is five or four stars, this one would be one star less.

It seems as though Tufte's books set the standard, and Wainer acknowledges this. Many of his examples are similar to that in Tufte's book, and he covers much of the same material. There are overlaps (and when there are, Tufte's book is usually more comprehensive). But Wainer's book also covers material that Tufte does not cover well or at all.

Wainer's approach is also different. His first two long chapters are about "graphical failures" and rules for how to display data badly. These failures are very instructive and draws the reader in to try and create improvement. His next five chapters are about graphical triumphs, not as useful as the first two chapters, but still enjoyable. His chapters here are short, too short in fact, and sometimes too dense. Here I liked his discussion of Feynman diagrams as a case in how diagrams can open up understanding of complex ideas. Chapters 8-13 are probably where there is the least overlap with Tufte (such as the discussions of trilinear plots, Nigthingale rose, double Y-axis graphs, a good discussion of pie charts, and implicit graphs.) At this point, one could stop reading as the last 30 pages or so are better covered in Tufte's book.

Overall, this is a useful book, with some insights not found in Tufte. The book is easy to read and very instructive. But if you had a limited budget, I would buy Tufte's book.

3.0 out of 5 stars Not Great, September 10, 2008

By	D. R. Pitts "daverpitts" (Fairfield, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Visual Revelations: Graphical Tales of Fate and Deception From Napoleon Bonaparte To Ross Perot (Hardcover)

This work has been covered by Tufte Generally better, and Tuftes books are cheaper. The material is sound but the print quality in this book is not as good as Tuftes Graphic Press, The majority of the charts are reproduced in the text in black and white, while some are duplicated in color plates (may look like Photographs) and the quality is very Variable. Howeverr the Subject is worthwhile and demands wider coverage, especially given the strange directions Tufte has taken in his 4th book , lets hope the Author will be encouraged to "try" again.