Information Graphics

It's quite hard to write a review that does this book (or should it be tome?) justice. It's big, beautiful and stunning. If you're interested in visual communication, and how to illustrate data in graphical form, then this book is for you. It's a huge book - this isn't one for bedtime reading. The first part of the book is printed on smaller width paper and features essays by Richard Saul Wurman, Simon Rogers and Paolo Ciuccarelli - all look at data in some shape or form, be it understanding data, how data changes journalism, or turning data and visualisations into stories. All the essays are insightful - for me, the most interesting one was Rogers' essay (as a former journalist, I was very intrigued by what he had to say on data and modern journalism). The essays are in English, French and German. The bulk of the book is dedicated to all manner of infographics and data visualisations. It's split into four categories - Location, Time, Category and Hierarchy. There is barely a subject that isn't covered - hunting whales, choosing a typeface, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Biofuels, City Waste Management, Fraud, Governments, Tax, Sports, Swine Flu - the list is endless. Some graphics are accompanied by explanation text, while others are granted a short caption. These are the types of illustrations you're likely to see in everyday life (news/broadcasting websites, consumer websites, global brand websites etc) as opposed to academic text books. A lot of credit needs to go to the publishers and the team that put this book together - it must have been a labour of love. You cannot fail to be inspired by the contents. If I have two criticisms, it's that (first) many of the graphics have been reproduced over double page spreads, and because of the spine of the book, it makes it very difficult to read them. And (second) some of the diagrams are virtually impossible to read because the text is so small. These minor flaws don't detract from what is an excellent book.

I ordered this book because, well, of course, I'm new and interested in the subject. When the book arrived, I actually asked the postman if the parcel were for me.... it's THAT BIG !!! It's 2" thick (really), 15" tall by 10" wide, that is, 5 x 38 x 25 cm, and the book weighs 7.14 lb, that is a little under 3.6 kg! And then the design and the graphics, I have never seen anything so exquisitely, stunningly beautiful! Even if you're not so much 'into Information Graphics', but do love Art, go and buy yourself this book, for the ridiculously low price you pay, seen its sheer size and content. And I must admit, I'm so blown away, that I haven't even start READING the book....! No doubt, it must be awesome. And if not, well then I'll still cherish the book for its sheer beauty.

A really well assembled and written book that provides good information while also being a great pastime. One can spend hours just browsing the huge variety of information graphics collected between the covers.

I have just received it today, this is big, this is beautiful, there is loads. Recommended for fans of data visualisation, but also for people that likes nice books and pretty images.

I Bought this book because I wanted to learn more about information Graphics undoubtedly this book is packed full of useful information throughout each chapter, It was shipped fairly quickly by courier But I was just surprised at the size of it but other than that it is a great book and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in learning about information Graphics.

Very good. First off all, the printing quality is amazing so the graphics come out very well. The essays in the beginning of the book are quite interesting as well. This is definitely a book for people who are interested in data visualisation.

It's a visual delight with tons of info-graphics to enjoy. For a info-graphic artist it's only to explore the solutions and dig into "why"... and be inspired

I recommend this book for any designers who are in need for infographic inspirations. This book is filled with different styles in visually communicating your ideas. This is definitely worth purchasing as part of your collection!

No me esperaba un libro de esta envergadura cuando lo compré. Al ser de grandes dimensiones los graficos y dibujos se ven estupendamente o sea que aquí no hay letra pequeña. Eso sí, pesa lo suyo.

O livro contempla diversos exemplos práticos que podem ser implementados no dia a dia, repleto de figuras que se auto explicam, sem a necessidade de leitura do texto. Excelente para quem está iniciando a formação em Infografia.

Ce livre est impressionnant par son contenu, sa qualité et sa richesse. Il présente diverses manières de représenter visuellement de l'information complexe, dont on peut s'inspirer à l'envi. Le rapport qualité-prix est excellent (on peut même en l'espèce parler de rapport poids-qualité...) Rédigé en trois langues dont le français, ce livre satisfera la plupart des lecteurs. Prévoir cependant une bibliothèque imposante pour le ranger, le livre est un véritable meuble.

Let's get the obvious out of the way: The 480 page book is beautiful and packed with dozens of very good info graphics. Only 10% are worthy of return visits, and that critique is meant for the field itself. It's very difficult to make a convincing, data-rich infographic and this book makes that problem painfully obvious. The problem with so many of the infographics is their inability to convey a meaningful concept within a few seconds. This problem is compounded by vague rules of interpretation where you spend considerable time mentally mapping the relationships. For some people this may be fun, but infographics need more discipline as Tufte preaches, if we are to use them purposefully. The simpler the rules are, the faster you can start playing with it to draw your own conclusions about the data. Many of the infographics appear to be more focused on aesthetic treatments than showing information convincingly. The book misses an opportunity to present data-similar infographics but with different concepts, sequentially. This would allow readers to see how data can be manipulated rhetorically. More often than not, the data we want to show has some kind of skew that needs attention.

Beautiful collection of information representations. I like the historical context of some graphics.