Rating: 
Summary: You'll Never Make a Chart the Same Way Again
Review: Edward Tufte is a prophet of the Information Age come to warn us that we must repent or be consigned to oblivion. One of the great advances which has made the Information Age possible has been the development of easy-to-use graphing software to swiftly create charts which used to take skilled draftsmen days to produce. Unfortunately, the commoditization and automation of this once-dear skill set has resulted in the proliferation of lies, damned lies, and lousy statistics. Tufte, a Princeton professor and polymath with passionate interest in statistics, information design, and public policy, offers up a thorough diagnosis of what ails our data-rich, information poor society: - Poor graphical integrity, where the visual proportions are out of synch with the data's proportions - Chartjunk, unnecessary clutter which reduces the proportion of data-ink in a graphic - Poor labeling, which robs data of context - Low-density presentations, where complex and nuanced data are "dumbed down" for the sake of a fleeting aesthetic Fear not---Dr. Tufte also provides the reader with a course of treatment (called "Graphical Excellence") thoroughly illuminated with real-world examples drawn throughout history. This is one of those rare works which feeds both your right and left brain. It is a closely-argued work on behalf of clean and clear communications. It is also a wonderful art book depicting the evolution of an often-misunderstood art form. Whether you're an engineer, a statistician, a businessman, or a teacher, this beautifully-designed book will help you become a more effective communicator.
Rating:
Summary: Superb Introduction to Quantitative Information Display
Review: Prof. Tufte uses an excellent assortment of charts and graphics to illustrate his points. I found this book to be a quick read; and one I could return to for years to come, as the principles he describes are quite applicable to web site design. I would recommend this book, in fact, I was impressed enough to sign up for the design seminar.
Rating: 
Summary: Very Short on Substance; Has Essentially Only A Single Point
Review: Other reviewers have mentioned a few negatives. To me, these mostly boil down to short-on-substance problems. The author is a bit pompous -- which wouldn't matter that much if he had a lot to say. Alas, he does not. In essence, the author makes one -- and only one! -- point with the whole book: eliminate "chart junk" (e.g. 3-D effect bars, etc). He is manically obsessive-compulsive about this point so that he takes it to extremes -- get this: computing "data ink" to "junk ink" ratios he even eliminates the axis line (to increase the ratio). While he's at it, just put tics and only where data are (thus giving marginal distributions of x and y) -- cute idea and it does increase "info"-to-junk ink to the max, but these ideas are nearly absurd extremes. If you really want to learn new techniques and real-value PRINCIPLES get William Cleveland's "Elements of Graphing Data" (original or revised). Don't be put off by publication date -- Cleveland's book is a superbly enjoyable read with eminently useful ideas. I've used principles from Clevelend's book to great effect. I've been graphing for decades, but with Cleveland's book I recently made a very large jump in the quality of my graphical communication. Skip the low-on-substance, one-note Tufte and go for the full-of-substance, emminently useful Cleveland.
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