Books by Edward Tufte

The sequel to "The Visual Display of Quantitative Information", the author goes into a more analytical study of various techniques used for representing information. The book discusses how color, layering, and separation should be used. It emphasizes the value of using small multiples of images to display variations in data. A very useful book for user interface designers as it explains how you can display more information in less space using different methods.

Tags: statistics

In this book, Tufte explores how graphs are used to display quantitative information. He analyzes how data can be misinterpreted willfully and accidentally though bad graphical representations. He also suggests various means to emphasize the informational component of graphical data while removing as much of non-data graphical elements.

Tags: statistics

This is a small pamphlet from Tufte's "The Visual Display of Quantitative Information" demonstrating two examples of real-life graphics that had consequences. One was how British medical authorities were able to locate the source of cholera by John Snow's map of cholera deaths in a London locality. Another was the disastrous Space Shuttle Challenger disaster where the root problem was known before the launch, but the engineers were unable to present their facts effectively to management.

Tags: statistics

Tufte explains how information can be more effectively conveyed to audiences, even those with less knowledge about the details. As an example, he shows how the NASA Challenger tragedy could have been prevented by better presentation of engineering data that showed the possibility of failure. The book also describes various methods of displaying data to emphasize similarities and differences in data. One problem with the book is that the writing is inconsistent. The latter portion of the book is very tedious at places.

Tags: graphics statistics