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The Visual Display of Quantitative Information 2nd Edition

by
Edward R. Tufte (Author)
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Edward R. Tufte (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars 252 customer reviews
#1 Best Sellerin Mathematical Analysis
ISBN-13: 978-0961392147
ISBN-10: 0961392142
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Frequently Bought Together

  • The Visual Display of Quantitative Information
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  • Envisioning Information
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  • Visual Explanations: Images and Quantities, Evidence and Narrative
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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 200 pages
  • Publisher: Graphics Pr; 2nd edition (January 2001)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0961392142
  • ISBN-13: 978-0961392147
  • Product Dimensions: 1 x 9 x 11 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (252 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,456 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsExtremely well researched book on what makes good design.
By Durand Sinclair on February 7, 2000
Format: Hardcover
You know what's so good about this book? The research, that's what. In showing both good and bad graphic design, Tufte has examples from as far back as 1686, and many examples from the 18th,19th & 20th centuries and from many different countries.
Good graphic design, he argues, reveals the greatest number of ideas in the shortest time with the least ink in the smallest space. Interestingly, some of the best examples of this come from the pre-computer era, when graphics had to be drawn by hand (and therefore more thought had to go into their design, rather than the author just calling up the Bar Graph template on the desktop.) For example, that picture you can see on the front cover of the book is actually a train timetable that packs a whole list of arrivals and departures at many different stations into a single little picture. A better example (and the "best statistical graphic ever drawn") shows Napoleon's route through Europe. It shows a) the map b) where he went c) how many people were in his army at each point and d) the temperature on the way back that killed off his army. At a glance you can see the factors that led to his army losing. AND it was drawn by hand in 1885 and is little more than a line drawing!
He also gives examples of really bad design, (including "the worst graphic ever to make it to print"), and shows what makes it so bad. His examples prove that information-less, counter-intuitive graphics can still look dazzlingly pretty, even though they're useless. In some examples, he shows how small changes can make the difference between an awful graphic and a really good one. My favourite example of this is how he drew the inter-quartile ranges on the x and y axes of a scatterplot, thus adding more information to the graphic without cluttering it up.
In summary, there's a lot more to good graphic design than being an Adobe guru. Reading this book made me feel like a more discerning viewer of graphics!
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5.0 out of 5 stars1st edition compared to 2nd
By Steve Marson on March 1, 2002
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
Years ago, I purchased the first edition of VISUAL DISPLAY OF QUANTITATIVE INFORMATION. The second edition provides high-resolution color reproductions of the several graphics found in the first edition. In addition, corrections were made. However, to most readers/users, I doubt that the changes would be worthy of purchasing the second edition if one already owns the first edition.
Edward R. Tufte is a noteworthy scholar and the presentation of the material presented in this book is awe-inspiring. Tufte has also compiled two other books that can be best described as quite remarkable. These additional books are entitled, ENVISIONING INFORMATION and VISUAL EXPLANATIONS. All three of these volumes are not merely supplemental textbooks; they are works of art.
My intent was to use VISUAL DISPLAY OF QUANTITATIVE INFORMATION as part of teaching my statistics course. Students, but mostly faculty, are overly impressed with inferential statistics. Graphics play an important role in the understanding and interpretation of statistical findings. Tufte makes this point unambiguously clear in his books.
Two features of VISUAL DISPLAY OF QUANTITATIVE INFORMATION are particularly salient in teaching a statistics course. First, the concept of normal distribution is wonderfully illustrated on page 140. Here the reader is reinforced with the notion that in the normal course of human events, cultural/social/behavioral/ psychological phenomena usually fall into the shape of a normal distribution. The constant appearance of this distribution borders on miraculous. Just as importantly, it is the basis for accurate predications in all areas of science. Tufte's illustration (page 140) speaks to this issue much more clearly than a one-hour lecture on the importance of the normal distribution.Read more ›
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3.0 out of 5 starsMixed feelings
By hunger on November 27, 2007
Format: Hardcover
I have a lot of mixed feelings about this book.

As a graphic designer and a minimalist, I love the way this book looks and I love the graphics Tufte's team has created.

Yet, the minimalist in me also dislikes Tufte's prose, which is surprisingly un-minimalist. The text is repetitive, and although Tufte does use this effectively at times to reiterate or summarize concepts, there are far more instances where I feel the repetition is simply irritating (Tufte's poems and block-quote summaries are, to me, good examples of this).

The minimalist in me is also not fond of the nature in which Tufte presents his opinions. Tufte makes frequent use of words like "lies" and "tricks," and while I am not fond of the targets of Tufte's derision, I feel that use of these words unnecessarily and unfairly assumes that poor graphs are always the result of malicious intent. Tufte's presentation as a whole, I feel, is often unnecessarily condescending (see e.g., p 120); indeed, Tufte seems to feel that unenlightened minds somehow deserve our ridicule and contempt.

As an academically oriented statistician, I also have mixed feelings. I give Tufte an immense amount of credit for opening a dialog about statistical graphics. And, I am grateful to him for pointing out the flaws and "wrongs" in the ways in which statistics are so often presented and suggesting ways in which these approaches can be changed. Moreover, I happen to agree tremendously with a large amount of what Tufte has to say, and often passionately so.

That said, I am puzzled by the amount of relevant concepts which are omitted from this text (or merely brushed over).Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsA must read

An absolutely must read.

Published 1 month ago by A. Prather
5.0 out of 5 starsA must read for everyone who's ever drawn charts and graphs

This book is as amazing as it is beautifully illustrated and packed with useful tips. After reading it I've never looked the same way at charts. Read more

Published 1 month ago by Dimitry Rotstein
5.0 out of 5 starsThis book elucidates important graphic tips and tricks necessary for...

This book elucidates important graphic tips and tricks necessary for any consumer of information to be able to correctly and critically interpret visually presented data.

Published 1 month ago by Ann Summy
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

i use this book as a reference often. Tufte is the foremost expert in this field.

Published 2 months ago by Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 starsBest introduction to graph data

Best book for deta visualization. Also of interest the classic The Grammar of Graphics (Statistics and Computing) and... Read more

Published 2 months ago by Sergio Uribe
1.0 out of 5 starsOne Star

There was a disgusting smudge on the cover.

Published 2 months ago by Alex
4.0 out of 5 starsA Good Read on Data Graphics

I received this book for attending one of Tufte's presentations. He spends the first part of the book giving a rather brief history of data graphics, and then spends the remainder... Read more

Published 3 months ago by David Snyder
5.0 out of 5 starsOne of the best

Great book. Truly one of the best work ever on display of quantitative data.

Published 3 months ago by Java developer
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

awesome

Published 4 months ago by T
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

I got this for my Trading Profession and understanding visual Charts is CRUCIAL!

Published 4 months ago by Timothy

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