Rating: 
Summary: Not for non-graphic designers
Review: I am a business person and I thought this book would be helpful to me in making better presentations--which often involve graphic representation of quantitative data. The book was way too serious though. I'm not saying it's a bad book, but it's clearly geared toward someone who wants to go in-depth on the topic--not someone who just wants some quick tips on better business presentations.
Rating: 
Summary: For everyone with an interest in how pictures tell.
Review: If you make figures, look at figures, are interested in how figures tell, you MUST own all three of Tufte's books. There is nothing else like them. Informative, interesting and intelligent, I enjoy rereading them.
Rating:
Summary: Ultimately it's about truth-telling
Review: In the spring of 1998, I participated in a semester-long class taught by Edward Tufte.The subject was information design and his three books, Visual Explanations, Envisioning Information and The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, were the core reading materials of the seminar. Had I only read the books and not participated in the class, I might have missed some underlying core themes that Tufte conveyed through his passionate presentation of the material. Beyond just putting the right mark on a piece of paper or on a computer screen, these books are about truth-telling, about removing all impediments to understanding between the communicator and the receiver, and about being selfless in one's representation of the truth. Similar books just catalog graphical techniques. Tufte's books will leave most readers with an indelible sense of obligation to communicate transparently, selflessly and truthfully.
Rating:
Summary: examples where pictures really tell 10,000 words
Review: In this third book by Tufte on graphics, he provides great examples through history where good pictures conveyed important information to decision makers and bad graphics left uncetainty and indecision. A great success story is the identification of the source of the cholera epidemic in London in the 1850s. With regard to the Challenger Space Shuttle, Tufte suggests that one good picture may have convinced the NASA engineers of the need to avoid launching at low temperatures. Great pictures, great examples and great advice are found throughout the book. You may not believe that graphs can be used to answer all scientific questions but Tufte will convince you that they are important and must be done right!
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely superb, lucid, educative feel good book
Review: It is difficult to find different words for each of the three books in the serious. They all share the same kind of quality and the different aspects are minor points. They are all three outstanding. The only problem they have, how can we mere mortals live up to it or even come only close.
Rating: 
Summary: Intellectual
Review: Leave this book lying open in your office and people will think you're smart.
Rating:
Summary: Author May Not Have Read "The Abilene Paradox".
Review: Not having read Visual Explanations... however, after reading a few reviews which mention the author stating that the Challener disaster occurred due to a "visual communication breakdown", prompts me to guess he hasn't read "The Abilene Paradox and Other Meditations On Management" by Jerry B. Harvey. As a designer, now I'll have to read his book.
Alice's Shoe Shop
alices@interlog.com
Rating:
Summary: Readers Delight
Review: Oh my - Mr. Tufte just carries on producing one fine piece of work after another. This third book in the triology on "information presentation" is as splendid as the previous two books. In this volume the emphasis is, as the title suggests, on methods for creating powerful illustrations and graphics that could help you present your knowledge in a non-disputable way. The most intriguing section in this book without doubt the chapter on the Challenger disaster in 1986. The rocket engineers back then had worries about the launch on Jan 28. However they were not at all able to communicate their worries to NASA and so it ended... In a worrying few number of pages, Mr. Tufte, dissects the data presented to NASA by the engineers and creates a information redesign which makes it clear to anyone that the launch should have been postponed. I still belive that book 2, "Envisioning Information" is the most required. Buy that book and if you love is (as I do), then buy the other two books as well. The layout of this book is fully in thread with the others in the series. Beautiful, engaging, ingenious, etc. The print quality is second to none - you really have a feeling that the crew behind these books have been nursing their babies. So Mr. Tufte - where is number four in the series?
Rating:
Summary: Readers Delight
Review: Oh my - Mr. Tufte just carries on producing one fine piece of work after another. This third book in the triology on "information presentation" is as splendid as the previous two books. In this volume the emphasis is, as the title suggests, on methods for creating powerful illustrations and graphics that could help you present your knowledge in a non-disputable way. The most intriguing section in this book without doubt the chapter on the Challenger disaster in 1986. The rocket engineers back then had worries about the launch on Jan 28. However they were not at all able to communicate their worries to NASA and so it ended... In a worrying few number of pages, Mr. Tufte, dissects the data presented to NASA by the engineers and creates a information redesign which makes it clear to anyone that the launch should have been postponed. I still belive that book 2, "Envisioning Information" is the most required. Buy that book and if you love is (as I do), then buy the other two books as well. The layout of this book is fully in thread with the others in the series. Beautiful, engaging, ingenious, etc. The print quality is second to none - you really have a feeling that the crew behind these books have been nursing their babies. So Mr. Tufte - where is number four in the series?
Rating:
Summary: Every software engineer/teacher/illustrator/editor needs it
Review: Oh, lovely! For those who know Tufte's earlier books, all I need to say is "he's written another." It looks like he publishes one every seven years ("The Visual Display of Quantitative Information" in 1983, "Envisioning Information" in 1990) so Ithink I'm going to budget $0.02 per day and get them all. Perhaps the most significant chapter is his analysis of how bad graphic presentation contributed to the loss of the space shuttle "Challenger." Basically, he believes that data were available which could and should have led to a decision to cancel the launch, but that the engineers failed to communicate it to the decision-makers. And he shows exactly how and why they failed. Left brain? right brain? Tufte shows us visual elegance in the service of quantitative thinking.
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