This post is a review of “Atlas of the Invisible” by James Cheshire and Oliver Uberti. Subtitled “Maps & Graphics that will change how you see the world” it’s basically just that. Whether it changes how you see the world, well that’s up to you – but the book is packed full of maps and […]
Category: book reviews
How can we use comics to tell data stories?
This is a repost of an article in Medium, the online journal of the Data Visualization Society, which you can find here: https://nightingaledvs.com/how-can-we-use-comics-to-tell-data-stories/ This post is a review of From Data to Stories, a book from Richie Lionell and Ramya Mylavarapu of Gramener, described on its front page as, “an end to end guide to Storytelling with […]
How can we use data visualisation to make better decisions?
The title for this question comes from the subtitle of the next book in my series of reviews. In fact, the full text reads “How to use data visualization (sic) to make better decisions – faster“. The spelling is a clue that this is a book from a leading US expert, and indeed this is […]
How do we visualise text?
There’s certainly nothing cryptic about this post’s title – it’s a review of Visualizing with Text, by Richard Brath. As explained on the back cover, the book “uncovers the rich palette of text elements usable in visualizations from simple labels through to documents.” One of its claims is “Eight new approaches to data visualization leveraging […]
How do we become active citizens of data?
This post is a review of Jer Thorp’s “Living in Data”. It’s one of the hardest books I’ve had to review, in part because of the nature of the book and in part because of my own circumstances and the nature of how I read this book. But if you want a spoiler (a tl:dr; […]
What can we learn from colour interactions?
This is a review of the seminal book “Interaction of Color” by Josef Albers – in particular the 50th Anniversary Edition (below). Right from the start, it’s important to state that it is full of high quality colour plates, every one illustrating an important experiment, illusion or lesson around colour theory. This experience already is […]
What can we learn from the Minard System?
This post is a review of The Minard System – Sandra Rendgen’s excellent book from 2018. It’s a book which showcases the full collection of Charles-Joseph Minard’s distinctive work, the most famous (and notorious) of which is displayed on the front cover. The depiction of Napoleon’s Russian campaign has been championed by Edward Tufte with […]
How do you make better data visualisations?
This question might be a pretty broad subject, and a pretty ambitious one to answer. But in fact, the answer is simple – you read “Better Data Visualizations” by Jonathan Schwabish. This post is a review of that book – recently released with the subtitle: “A Guide for Scholars, Researchers and Wonks”, continuing my series […]
How do we visualise branches of knowledge?
This question is answered by the subtitle of “The Book of Trees” by Manuel Lima. I’m reviewing this as part of my 2021 project to review 20+ books on my shelves – a combination of those that are unread, and those that are brand new. For me, The Book of Trees falls into the first […]