Metadata#
- Author(s): Edward R. Tufte
- Number of pages: 197
- Year published: 2001
- Year read: 2015
Review#
It feels sacrilege to say this, but not only did I find this Classic Text of Data Visualization a complete bore, but I also disagreed with a lot of Tufte’s principles! Uh oh. Is no one going to let me near a data visualization again? Hope not. But seriously. I’m surprised this remains the go-to graphic design book for social scientists, data scientist people, etc. It feels completely outdated, not only because it’s more 1970s than a pair of huge Dan Aykroyd sideburns, but also because it’s all about static, dead-on-the-page graphics - and we live in a world where we can make our infographics animated and interactive!
Yes, I agree that the Microsoft Office Hegemony is a bad thing - especially the way PowerPoints and Excel homogenize and bleed the passion from our work - but I just could’t agree with some of Tufte’s other principles.