Format: PaperbackChange
Price:$60.20+ Free shipping with Amazon Prime
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
on May 14, 2016
it is difficult for me to describe how terribly this book is written. If you are a novice trying to learn Lattice, DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THIS BOOK! You are likely to have as much success learning Lattice if you randomly type commands at the R prompt.
For example, there are few lists of functions available in Lattice. Try finding out which options you can use with the function "type". Unless you randomly come across them by reading the entire book, or you systematically type each letter of the alphabet to determine if it is an option, you will not know what is available. This is true of almost every function that Sarkar "explains" in the book.
I learned more about the structure and use of Lattice commands in 30 minutes reading Chapter 23 of Robert Kabacoff's book "R in Action" than I learned in a week of trying to decipher Sarkar's rambling treatment of the subject.
For example, there are few lists of functions available in Lattice. Try finding out which options you can use with the function "type". Unless you randomly come across them by reading the entire book, or you systematically type each letter of the alphabet to determine if it is an option, you will not know what is available. This is true of almost every function that Sarkar "explains" in the book.
I learned more about the structure and use of Lattice commands in 30 minutes reading Chapter 23 of Robert Kabacoff's book "R in Action" than I learned in a week of trying to decipher Sarkar's rambling treatment of the subject.
on September 22, 2014
Brilliant. If you want to learn how to make useful plots for scientific publication, this is it. The Lattice package for R is fast, efficient, and free and gives you unlimited flexibility and control in how your plots are displayed. The flip side is a relatively steep learning curve. This book makes the whole process manageable and accessible to the dedicated reader. Plenty of fully-document examples with code are provided to make this an entertaining and interactive learning experience. The book is well laid out and has nicely produced color examples. If you are committed to making better scientific graphs, this is well worth your time. Highly recommended.
on December 8, 2008
Exactly the book you want if you're going to use lattice. And if you're serious about graphics in R you want to be using either lattice or ggplot2. I've been very pleased with the book and have tabbed quite a few pages for quick reference.
As a side note, lattice is like R's base graphics on steroids. After having this book for a while, I decided to investigate ggplot2, the other major R graphics package, and I think I'll stick with ggplot2. It has a totally different philosophy from lattice (and thus base graphics) which allows for an incredible flexibility without resorting to tinkering with the engine (i.e. lattice's panel functions). ggplot2 has a draft PDF manual online and a nice reference website.
I ultimately chose ggplot2, but I still give this lattice book high marks and will keep it nearby for if I have to work with lattice. With its status as a recommended R package, lattice is more widespread and several packages now use it as their graphics foundation.
As a side note, lattice is like R's base graphics on steroids. After having this book for a while, I decided to investigate ggplot2, the other major R graphics package, and I think I'll stick with ggplot2. It has a totally different philosophy from lattice (and thus base graphics) which allows for an incredible flexibility without resorting to tinkering with the engine (i.e. lattice's panel functions). ggplot2 has a draft PDF manual online and a nice reference website.
I ultimately chose ggplot2, but I still give this lattice book high marks and will keep it nearby for if I have to work with lattice. With its status as a recommended R package, lattice is more widespread and several packages now use it as their graphics foundation.
on July 2, 2008
I share the views of the previous reviewers: this book is great. I have been using R for several years now, and found the help pages for Lattice much too terse to really grasp the potential of the system. This books is loaded with examples, ranging from easy to quite involved, and the explanations given are clear and to the point.
A book like this deserved a production effort from Springer, and about three times as many color plates as it has, but even as it is seems to me quite good.
Aside from the description of the Lattice package, that Deepayan Sarkar obviously knows as only its designer can, there is a wealth of comments on graphics design and pointers to the classics of the subject --Tufte, Cleveland, etc.
A book not to miss by any seriously interested in statistical graphics, or indeed by anyone willing to add a powerful tool to his/her graphics toolbox. May I only add that those willing to make a further investment of time to obtain the most of this book, might consider Murrell's "R Graphics" (Chapman & Hall), also a masterpiece of expository writing, discussing (in its chapter 4) Lattice graphics within the context of grid ---grid being the underlying graphics model on which Lattice is built.
A book like this deserved a production effort from Springer, and about three times as many color plates as it has, but even as it is seems to me quite good.
Aside from the description of the Lattice package, that Deepayan Sarkar obviously knows as only its designer can, there is a wealth of comments on graphics design and pointers to the classics of the subject --Tufte, Cleveland, etc.
A book not to miss by any seriously interested in statistical graphics, or indeed by anyone willing to add a powerful tool to his/her graphics toolbox. May I only add that those willing to make a further investment of time to obtain the most of this book, might consider Murrell's "R Graphics" (Chapman & Hall), also a masterpiece of expository writing, discussing (in its chapter 4) Lattice graphics within the context of grid ---grid being the underlying graphics model on which Lattice is built.
on September 20, 2014
I switched from Lattice to ggplot and base R; however, there are still some visualization situations where lattice is the tool of choice. Very well written
on August 27, 2011
Lattice is easily my favorite graphing package in R, and this book makes it pretty easy to use.
It's a great supplement to some tutorials available online (as well as the R forums).
It is not comprehensive, and leaves a few issues unaddressed. But it is well written and easy to follow, enough so that even beginning users will have an easy time creating some very effective graphs.
UPDATE: Although Lattice is still a great package, and this book is one of the best ways to learn how to use it, I know use ggplot2 almost exclusively for my graphing purposes. Hadley Whickam's book is also very helpful, so I recommend checking that out. ggplot2: Elegant Graphics for Data Analysis (Use R!)
It's a great supplement to some tutorials available online (as well as the R forums).
It is not comprehensive, and leaves a few issues unaddressed. But it is well written and easy to follow, enough so that even beginning users will have an easy time creating some very effective graphs.
UPDATE: Although Lattice is still a great package, and this book is one of the best ways to learn how to use it, I know use ggplot2 almost exclusively for my graphing purposes. Hadley Whickam's book is also very helpful, so I recommend checking that out. ggplot2: Elegant Graphics for Data Analysis (Use R!)
