Rating: 
Summary: pictures
Review: statistics and pictures, what could be more fun
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent information, bad organization
Review: There is a lot of excellent information in this book. To have all this information in one place is wonderful. But, to echo some other reviewers' comments, the omission of page numbers and an index was an incredibly bad decision. You get a sense from the intro that some of these "information architects" are just a tad bit full of themselves, which I mostly find amusing. Their attitude about their work may explain the lack of quick-reference details like an index--if the graphics are works of art, well, do you really need an index in an art book? Here is where amusing can become annoying, because the overall goal, getting information to the people, is impeded. Then again, as I write this I think: with no index, is one more likely to read it through, rather than relegate the book to the reference shelf? This could be an advantage to the lack of an index. But it's not a big enough advantage to outweigh the loss of usefulness.
Rating: 
Summary: terrible
Review: This book contains many fascinating statistics about the USA, and presents the work of an array of information designers. Unfortunately, much of it is overblown, visually chaotic, and more concerned with "looking cool" than with conveying data to the reader. I hope no employer sees this as "what information design is", since it does nothing short of degrade the profession.
Rating:
Summary: terrible
Review: This book contains many fascinating statistics about the USA, and presents the work of an array of information designers. Unfortunately, much of it is overblown, visually chaotic, and more concerned with "looking cool" than with conveying data to the reader. I hope no employer sees this as "what information design is", since it does nothing short of degrade the profession.
Rating:
Summary: Style over substance
Review: This book intrigued me when I first saw it in the store. I always have an almanac handy, and I was hoping that this book might prove to be a nice supplement. I was wrong, and my almanac has nothing to worry about. Here's why: 1. The book is poorly organized. The book is organized by contributor, and in many cases there is no logic behind the grouping of any particular contributor's topics. Don't bother looking for an index or a helpful table of contents. 2. Why did I pay for this book? The preface goes to great lengths to emphasize that this information should be free. So why isn't it? With all of the corporate underwriters attached to this book it should be given away. 3. Somebody call an editor. The number of mistakes in this book is atrocious. 4. The book appears to be less about information and more about the egos of the contributors. Most of the contributors are not subject matter experts in anything but architecture or design. This makes the commentary that accompanies the pretty pictures seem uninformed. Which leads me to my final beef ... 5. There is a major bias prevalent throughout this book. The beauty of an almanac is that it presents the facts and lets you draw your own conclusions. Unfortunately, the left-leaning contributors of this book can't help but take the opportunity to advance their social agenda. Save your money and buy a copy of The World Almanac.
Rating: 
Summary: A Book Like No Other!
Review: This book is the super model of books! It's truly a work ofart. It's a must have for anyone who loves America and wants to get anoverall picture of what makes America tick, complete with pictures on every page and lots and lots of numbers! The quality of the paper is stunning and will ensure that the book will look like new years from now, if you take care of it.
Rating: 
Summary: OK, but...
Review: This is a very "pretty" book, and there's a lot of interesting information presented in it. However, as information graphics, these take a lot of work to really understand. Sometimes text on colored backgrounds is difficult to read, or difficult to find on the page when you're looking for more information about the data in a chart. Some of the statistics presented are quite shocking, but often the source of that data is not cited, which reduces the credibility of the entire book (other reviewers have said that they've verified the data, but my point is that part of presenting information is making it credible -- if it's effective, you don't have to go out and do your own research to verify that it's correct). I was hoping to learn something about creating information displays from this book, but I'm afraid I didn't find much in that respect. Still, it's interesting to browse.
Rating:
Summary: OK, but...
Review: This is a very "pretty" book, and there's a lot of interesting information presented in it. However, as information graphics, these take a lot of work to really understand. Sometimes text on colored backgrounds is difficult to read, or difficult to find on the page when you're looking for more information about the data in a chart. Some of the statistics presented are quite shocking, but often the source of that data is not cited, which reduces the credibility of the entire book (other reviewers have said that they've verified the data, but my point is that part of presenting information is making it credible -- if it's effective, you don't have to go out and do your own research to verify that it's correct). I was hoping to learn something about creating information displays from this book, but I'm afraid I didn't find much in that respect. Still, it's interesting to browse.
Rating:
Summary: OK, but...
Review: This is a very "pretty" book, and there's a lot of interesting information presented in it. However, as information graphics, these take a lot of work to really understand. Sometimes text on colored backgrounds is difficult to read, or difficult to find on the page when you're looking for more information about the data in a chart. Some of the statistics presented are quite shocking, but often the source of that data is not cited, which reduces the credibility of the entire book (other reviewers have said that they've verified the data, but my point is that part of presenting information is making it credible -- if it's effective, you don't have to go out and do your own research to verify that it's correct). I was hoping to learn something about creating information displays from this book, but I'm afraid I didn't find much in that respect. Still, it's interesting to browse.
Rating:
Summary: RS Wurman violates every principle he claims to hold dear
Review: This is info-porn at its finest. Wurman has violated all of the best practices he espouses in InfoAnxiety, InfoArchitects, and the Access guidebooks. Shame on you Richard. The overall organization is incomprehensible, the content is inaccessible, and the visual style is cacophonic. It does not tell me what I want or need to know. Do not waste your money here. If you feel like you must own it; wait a year and find it for $3 in a remainder bin somewhere. Spend your hard earned dough on Tufte 1 & 2, or Schneiderman's Information Visualization.
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