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debz57a52's review
3.0
Back in the late '00s and early 2010s, the website InformationIsBeautiful.net was an interesting place to stop and browse. I admit I haven't visited it since. But I remembered the fact that David McCandless had a book out with his creations and I wanted to remember to seek it out and peruse it. I have now.
It's a great book if you're interested in data presentation in all its odd forms. This, I think, is the kind of book that's meant to be picking up and flipped through and stopped on pages here and there as the eye catches something or the brain is curious. It's not the kind of book you can sit down with and read cover to cover in a sitting. I tried to do that, and I think my opinion of the book is a little worse for wear because of it. For one, I think some of the data was either shared in confusing graphics or in confusing graphics for my brain specifically. Also, reading this cover to cover would likely overwhelm all but the most exceptional brains, and, frankly, not all the information will be of equal interested to people.
It is a neat collection of data, if a bit outdated, and I think I would like to keep a few particular pages in mind, if I were to suggest my students - for example - check out the book.
- Must reads (word cloud)
- Creation myths
- dance genre-ology and rock genre-ology
- taste buds (complementary tastes) - this was eye-opening because I don't have that talent
- types of Information Visualization - a little tongue-in-cheek
- types of coffee - good barista fodder
- daily diets - I liked this visual representation of what people might eat by the hour
- 22 stories - I'm a big fan of prepping for the archetypes and tropes. This was fun.
It's a great book if you're interested in data presentation in all its odd forms. This, I think, is the kind of book that's meant to be picking up and flipped through and stopped on pages here and there as the eye catches something or the brain is curious. It's not the kind of book you can sit down with and read cover to cover in a sitting. I tried to do that, and I think my opinion of the book is a little worse for wear because of it. For one, I think some of the data was either shared in confusing graphics or in confusing graphics for my brain specifically. Also, reading this cover to cover would likely overwhelm all but the most exceptional brains, and, frankly, not all the information will be of equal interested to people.
It is a neat collection of data, if a bit outdated, and I think I would like to keep a few particular pages in mind, if I were to suggest my students - for example - check out the book.
- Must reads (word cloud)
- Creation myths
- dance genre-ology and rock genre-ology
- taste buds (complementary tastes) - this was eye-opening because I don't have that talent
- types of Information Visualization - a little tongue-in-cheek
- types of coffee - good barista fodder
- daily diets - I liked this visual representation of what people might eat by the hour
- 22 stories - I'm a big fan of prepping for the archetypes and tropes. This was fun.
tin_squid's review
3.0
This is a really lovely book. The design of the infographics are eye catching and inviting. Its definitly worth a look. This book will also give you a look into some ideas and information that you'll want to find out more about. I think that McCandless' fabulous work gives some otherwise mundane information a liveliness and interest that fully supports his assertion that information is beautiful. I'm looking at you color trends in women's clothing :)
mynameiskate's review
3.0
This book is a little all over the place. Some of the infographics I loved - they showed me something new about information design and about their content. Others I really didn't know why you'd even bother to infograph the data. Good one to check out from the library or borrow from a friend.
patrick_'s review
3.0
Colorful and engaging as a means to show how to relate data in an interesting way. Some layouts work better than others, and Google & Wikipedia as sources? Really?
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