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The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, 2nd Ed. 2nd Edition

4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 913 ratings

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The classic book on statistical graphics, charts, tables. Theory and practice in the design of data graphics, 250 illustrations of the best (and a few of the worst) statistical graphics, with detailed analysis of how to display data for precise, effective, quick analysis. Design of the high-resolution displays, small multiples. Editing and improving graphics. The data-ink ratio. Time-series, relational graphics, data maps, multivariate designs. Detection of graphical deception: design variation vs. data variation. Sources of deception. Aesthetics and data graphical displays. This is the second edition of The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. This edition provides excellent color reproductions of the many graphics of William Playfair, adds color to other images, and includes all the changes and corrections accumulated during 17 printings of the first edition.

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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0961392142
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Graphics Pr; 2nd edition (January 14, 1997)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 197 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780961392147
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0961392147
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.1 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 11 x 9 x 1 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 913 ratings

About the author

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Edward R. Tufte
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Statistician/visualizer/artist Edward Tufte is Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Statistics, and Computer Science at Yale University. He wrote, designed, and self-published 5 classic books on data visualization: The Visual Display of Quantitative Information (1983, 2001), Envisioning Information (1990), Visual Explanations: Images and Quantities, Evidence and Narrative (1997), Beautiful Evidence (2006), Seeing with Fresh Eyes: Meaning, Space, Data, Truth (2020).

The New York Times described Tufte as the "Leonardo da Vinci of data," Bloomberg as the "Galileo of graphics," and Nature as “The world’s leading analyst of graphic information.”

Having completed his most recent book Seeing with Fresh Eyes: Meaning, Space, Data, Truth, ET is now constructing a 234-acre tree farm and sculpture park in northwest Connecticut, which will show his artworks and remain open space in perpetuity.

He founded Graphics Press, ET Modern Gallery/Studio, and Hogpen Hill Farms.

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
913 global ratings

Customers say

Customers find the book very informative, with great context and explanations. They appreciate the examples of good graphic design, the illustration is profound and eerie. Readers describe the book as fascinating, stimulating, and entertaining. Opinions are mixed on the language, with some finding it carefully written and concise, while others say it's descriptive rather than analytical.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

57 customers mention "Information content"57 positive0 negative

Customers find the book very informative, with great context and explanations. They appreciate the interesting ways to present data. Readers also say the concepts and examples will change their perspective. They say it's an enjoyable read and filled with useful ideas.

"A stone-cold classic. Great overview of information display. All four books in this series are quite good...." Read more

"...a background in maths I thoroughly enjoyed this book, its principles, insights, and suggestions, and though it may not be everyone's cup of tea I..." Read more

"...published in 1983, this book is a timeless classic, a wealth of information and examples about how good graphics can multiply the effectiveness of..." Read more

"...breakdown of some "best and worst" practices" - and an intriguing attempt to develop a theory for data graphics, which for the most part is worth..." Read more

40 customers mention "Graphic design"36 positive4 negative

Customers find the graphic design in the book profound and eerie. They describe it as a work of art, with excellent arguments for and against graphical representations. Readers also appreciate the efficient design and layout. Additionally, they say it's one of the best books for visual display and detailed visualization.

"...The illustration is both profound and eerie. The reader is left with a feeling of death and pain for the foot soldiers..." Read more

"...sum, I'd say the main value in this book is as a beautiful compendium of varied graphical examples throughout history...." Read more

"...Anscombe's quartet (you can Google for it) is a fantastic example of how graphs show patterns even when basic statistical summaries do not...." Read more

"...for graphic design that unites legibility with efficiency and beauty in a cogent and stimulating manner...." Read more

13 customers mention "Enthralling"13 positive0 negative

Customers find the book enthralling, fascinating, and stimulating. They say it provides an excellent blend of practice and tactical advice that can be applied to any subject. Readers also mention the book can stoke passion for a subject.

"...and the presentation of the material presented in this book is awe-inspiring...." Read more

"...The book provides an excellent blend of practice, tactical advice that can be applied to any Excel or PowerPoint graph - and discussions about the..." Read more

"...unites legibility with efficiency and beauty in a cogent and stimulating manner...." Read more

"...Tufte's writing style is clear and engaging, making this book very readable and infromative...." Read more

35 customers mention "Language"20 positive15 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the language of the book. Some mention it's carefully written, concise, and informative. However, others say it's thin, descriptive rather than analytical, and overly wordy. They also mention the bullet points are an inefficient way of depicting information.

"...a bit of a background in maths I thoroughly enjoyed this book, its principles, insights, and suggestions, and though it may not be everyone's cup of..." Read more

"...In contrast, Tufte's analysis and recommendations seem overly wordy and at times misguided...." Read more

"...advice about how to sell ideas, concepts and data through beautiful, simple and appealing figures, that catch the eye and replace text in a..." Read more

"...reasoning with its "bullet points", and is a very inefficient means of depicting information as well, cluttering the display space with useless..." Read more

Book is great (Amazon service and the physical book corner is damaged...not the author's fault)
4 out of 5 stars
Book is great (Amazon service and the physical book corner is damaged...not the author's fault)
As expected, this book (content) is great. Took one star off due to poor Amazon services: we cannot communicate with Amazon about if they would or could provide a replacement which is NOT damaged. the only choice is to take the risk and buy another book in order to compare the two same books to decide which one is in good condition. Since we pay full price for new hardcopy, we expect the book to be in new and good condition. As you can see the picture, it is not. Again it is not the author's fault. We don't want to return it just in case the book is sold out. We would like to exchange it but there is no way to communicate with Amazon (does Amazon care?) to see if there is a brand new book available that is not damaged. Sadly we are keeping this book
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Top reviews from the United States

Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2024
A stone-cold classic. Great overview of information display. All four books in this series are quite good. Saw him speak once, a long time ago, and got the books for free.
Reviewed in the United States on March 1, 2002
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. Which goes to show -- once again -- "a picture is worth a thousand words." Sadly, the illustration on page 140 is small and in black and white. I wish the second edition included a larger reproduction of this photo. A color presentation would have been helpful.
Second, Tufte continues his unrelenting pattern to reinforce the importance and impact of illustrations in understanding complex concepts. In particular, page 176 demonstrates the impact of Napoleon's march to Moscow. The illustration is both profound and eerie. The reader is left with a feeling of death and pain for the foot soldiers...
284 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on June 5, 2018
I bought this book as it was recommended reading by an excel MVP (I'm on a bit of an excel learning binge) in addition to a few others by Stephen Few. Though the cover of this book was the most "bland" of them all I ended up reading the intro and the first chapter and becoming very interested in the ideas on the visual presentation of (quantitative) data, particularly the graphic showing the number of troops that Napoleon started and ended with on his campaign into Russia (I wasn't even sure of what multi-variate data was but I soon gained an appreciation for its proper presentation).

As each chapter went on I became even more interested in the material that was presented as it seemed very logical and intuitive. I especially enjoyed Professor Tufte's guidelines on maximizing the "data-ink" and minimizing "non data-ink", and was amazed at how he applied these guidelines to graphs I have been using and teaching for many years, making them seem simpler and not as cluttered even if he suggested the "unthinkable" by leaving out gridlines or piece of the axes.

I must admit that I am a bit skeptical about leaving out grid-lines when I produce graphs in excel but I appreciate that making them lighter really helps to de-clutter a graph. But I was totally blown away by how he simplified box and whisker diagrams into quartile plots and how he even removed portions of the vertical and horizontal axis making the graphs easier to read and somewhat more informative.

I'd love to teach these principle to my students (I'm a private tutor) but I know that their in-school teachers would not allow their use as the syllabuses are somewhat antiquated (as are some of the teachers, their beliefs, and methods). They'd probably lose their minds about what Professor Tufte says about pie charts :-D, which, by the way is not to use them as there are better ways to present data. "The only thing worse than one pie chart is more pie charts".

All in all, as someone who's not from a design or art background and with a bit of a background in maths I thoroughly enjoyed this book, its principles, insights, and suggestions, and though it may not be everyone's cup of tea I would readily suggest it to anyone who has more than a passing interest in graphics especially if they're presenting quantitative data. The principles are logical and intuitive, and I really do think that the presentation of graphics should (like anything) be taught well (eschew the decorations/ducks!)

This book is invaluable and has awakened my thirst for more knowledge.

I'm looking forward to reading more!
50 people found this helpful
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Reviewed in the United States on August 11, 2012
It goes without saying that this one of the books you "must read" if you have anything to do with charts and graphs.

The book is wonderful as a selective romp through a history of graphics, and is correct in constantly hammering home the point that clarity in graphics is key, and that the ratio of data-ink to non-data-ink should be high (an interesting measure).

But significant parts of the book simply come across as eccentric, at best.

Tufte advocates data on a world map that nearly stretches around the world twice (p99) -- a little overlap is useful, but this goes far overboard.

He makes truly bizarre suggestions on using barely-visible line "offsets" and barely visible line-gaps to express quartile data (p124). I can barely make out the key information on his perfectly printed page, and can guarantee that any reproduction either by overhead projector or by Xerox would render his "preferred form" utterly useless. This section alone makes me question his judgment throughout the rest of the book.

And then his section on sparklines (pp 172-174) seems to be a jarring bit of self-promotion. He extolls their virtues, but I don't recall ever coming across them in print or on the web -- they just don't seem useful enough to warrant three enthusiastic pages in this book.

In sum, I'd say the main value in this book is as a beautiful compendium of varied graphical examples throughout history. In contrast, Tufte's analysis and recommendations seem overly wordy and at times misguided. I was honestly surprised -- from such a famous book, I was truly expecting more.
8 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Praveen Vaddadi
5.0 out of 5 stars A classic
Reviewed in India on December 23, 2022
A painstaking examination of visual thought, taking no data at its face value.
Stephany
5.0 out of 5 stars Bien
Reviewed in Mexico on June 29, 2020
Llegó muy bien y en poco tiempo
Amazon Kunde
5.0 out of 5 stars Quick and correct. Happy with the book.
Reviewed in Germany on January 27, 2020
Quick and correct. Happy with the book.
Walter
5.0 out of 5 stars Imperdivel para quem tem de apresentar dados
Reviewed in Brazil on January 9, 2018
O livro é uma referência para quem trabalha com análise e apresentação visual de grandes volumes de dados. Como apresentar em forma honesta e atrativa resumo de dados.
3 people found this helpful
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chillipadi
1.0 out of 5 stars Excellent delivery time & communication, but faulty product (see pics)
Reviewed in Australia on November 30, 2020
I was impressed by the delivery time and communications by the seller, but the (soft-back) book had come apart from the book's spine.

I was left quite disappointed when I opened the package as the spine of the book had come off. This is a purchase for work-related projects and I was really looking forward to it. I would recommend others to get the hardback copy instead to avoid such issues, but limited funds didn't allow me to purchase or repurchase.

The 1 star is for the faulty item, but I would give 5 stars for delivery & seller communication.
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chillipadi
1.0 out of 5 stars Excellent delivery time & communication, but faulty product (see pics)
Reviewed in Australia on November 30, 2020
I was impressed by the delivery time and communications by the seller, but the (soft-back) book had come apart from the book's spine.

I was left quite disappointed when I opened the package as the spine of the book had come off. This is a purchase for work-related projects and I was really looking forward to it. I would recommend others to get the hardback copy instead to avoid such issues, but limited funds didn't allow me to purchase or repurchase.

The 1 star is for the faulty item, but I would give 5 stars for delivery & seller communication.
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