Beautiful Evidence by Edward R. Tufte Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Beautiful Evidence
Book Review: Disappointing
Summary: 3 Stars
Like many of the other reviewers, I too am a fan of Tufte. This book, however, is not up to the normal standards that his other books are. The chapter on the evils of PowerPoint was very amusing and insightful, but you can purchase that separately from Amazon.com at The Cognitive Style of Power Point.Book Review: Essential Reading for Designers
Summary: 5 Stars
Disclosure: I am huge fan of Edward R. Tufte.
As a professional designer and part-time educator, I create presentations and reports every week to review with customers and students. Over the years I have developed a style that I like to use, which can be called "minimal". Tufte's work over the years has given helped me refine ideas and given me justifiable reasons to promote stylistic elements in my own, and other's presentations.
The book is truly a culmination of Tufte's ideas to date. Many of the concepts and techniques from his previous works are further defined and tailored to new examples. This tome considers a greater variety of communication and information. Many of his concepts continue to be refined, new ideas (new to me anyway), such as 'sparklines' are introduced and explored. I am amazed that every time I re-read a Tufte volume, I take away something new, usually because I am working on a different project with its own special information requirements, and I am able to see new opportunities for clarity.
What this book, and Tufte's others lack, is description of how to implement what you may learn here. Realize that this is not a step-by-step guide to presentations. The theories here, such as the inclusion of graphics in-line with text to further enhance comprehension of the stated ideas, can be easily implemented if you know your computer tools and have a desire to make better communications. There is little description of how to achieve what these ideals propose.
The book itself is also physically beautiful with heavy stock and perfect printing and graphics. It is part textbook, part heirloom. This is a comprehensive text covering many forms of visual communication. If you want to explore Tufte, but don't want to invest in all of his works, I recommend starting with this book.
Book Review: Flawed
Summary: 2 Stars
I am a big fan of Edward Tufte and his previous books. So I was excited when I was given this new book last year. Unfortunately it took a full year to work through it since it's full of bad writing, redundant graphics, boring topics, and pet jargon.
The text is just very dense, filled with lists of terms when the author wants to be sure he covers the bases: "The analysis of cause and effect, initially bivariate, quickly becomes multivariate through such necessary elaborations as the conditions under which the causal relation holds, interaction effects, multiple causes, multiple effects, causal sequences, source of bias, spurious correlation, sources of measurement error, competing variables, and whether the alleged cause is merely a proxy or a marker variable."
He also falls in love with his own jargon: depedestalization, PP, Phluff, pitch culture, economisting. The book has a few typos, which suggests that he couldn't get an editor to stomach proofreading the whole thing.
Much of the material in this book was already presented in sections of his other books and pamphlets: Minards map of the French invasion of Russia, chartjunk, loss of shuttles due to Powerpoint bullets, sparklines, cognitive styles of Powerpoint.
One really annoying habit is that when a graphic is discussed on more than one page, it is reprinted on each of those pages. The Minard map appears six times, at different scales and positions! At other times the graphics are plopped across the crease between pages.
If you've never read Tufte's other books you might learn something from this one, but most of it is presented better elsewhere.
Book Review: Geek Food
Summary: 5 Stars
I gave this to my son for Christmas. A splendid gift he said. He said it gave him points in the office. He is a Systems Engineer.
I, being a frugal person, have to satisfy myself with the Library. I have read all of Tufte's books repeatedly, and will probably continue to do so. However,anyone who would like to give me one or two or three is welcome to do so.
I have been struggling with the problem of presenting complicated ideas simply for years. I think Tufte is closer to the goal than most of us.
Book Review: Good But Content Diluted, Concept-Elucidation Blurred?
Summary: 2 Stars
Yes it is indeed a sad enterprise when an author--runs out of steam. Begins to repeat; begins to dilute. A near-universal in visual art, also in literature. Mark Twain's early travel books ran dynamic, rich--but then at least one later work slowed to show results of fatigue and the end of inspiration. We can call it an issue of Specific Gravity. What is the amount of material compared to the word-count? One speaks of "op-ed books" today, full-length treatments whose gist and essence could have been presented in, say, 1000 words.
Edward Tufte's invaluable first three books show this proportionate packing with material. Just possibly, this fourth and latest book--shows dilution, watering-down, inappropriate repetition. At least one other reviewer has made this point; I suspect so.
But let's accentuate the positives of Tufte's vision--even if imperfectly presented here. New here (among good stuff such as "sparklines") is the indispensable attempt at explicating universal principles of design. Above the Concrete Particulars, the flux of graphs, charts, pictures, etc., what Conceptual Principles can guide us? And the half-dozen issues he identifies, are helpful.
However, the presentation of them is not. Tufte employs Menard's famous graphic of Napoleon's 1811 Russian campaign to illustrate the principles. However, in terms of sheer Information Elucidation, two errors seem to occur.
First, number of examples. To convey difficult concept, more than one example, illustration, instance is needed. We lack a "rounded ensemble" (in my system's terminology) of several and varied instances to better cinch the point. Example: someone trying to convey the idea of a map as more than just an image of the earth's surface, of presenting knowledge, referenced chromosome maps in genetics, weather maps in meteorology, animal range maps in zoology, magnetic field maps in geology, and wiring diagrams in engineering. [Geographer Peter Gould is even better in elucidating how maps are not terrestrial but conceptual, representing relationships between things. He references "maps" of emotional states of married couples, South Pacific geobotanically, New Zealand "in changing aircost space," intellectual winds blowing through psychology journals, my gosh, world journalism, Shakespeare, influenza...] Bravo, a rounded ensemble cinches the concept with polypod footings. Too bad Tufte fell short here as the multiple instances ploy is actually similar to Tufte's own excellent tactic of "Small Multiples."
Second, comparison/contrast, or rather,Tufte's non-use of this keystone principle of thinking-writing-communicating. Only the excellent Menard graphic is shown; he should have either shown a bad attempt by another of the same subject, or created a "ruined" version also of Menard's, given a flawed example. This dualism for each of his universal principles. One thinks of Tufte's own dictum, statistics always asks, "compared to what?" Or, "He who knows not a foreign country knows nothing of his own." Or, to teach freshmen students good qualities of poetry, give a first draft or inferior poem on the same subject as well as Yeats' excellent final-draft "The Old Pensioner." Or give even a triad: as in, a too-lightly- inked graphic, a just-right density, and then an over-inked graphic.
So much for better elucidation of Key Principles. This is more important than the issue of irrelevant items, such as the issues of introductions and of sculptures. A little charity here; it's hard to exclude one's own enthusiasms. But Convergence to Point is also a principle of good communication.
"At least a quintet [of books] is projected," states Tufte. But let him await the wellspring re-filling itself with Heavy Water, not diluted dew. And please use comparison-contrast and multiple examples to cinch point.