"...you can up your data-viz game with nothing more than pencil, paper, and a few trusted principles to guide you. Good Charts delivers those principles in a manner that never feels like nagging, scolding, or–at worst–homework." —FastCompany
Good Charts is the book I need; that's why I wrote it. I've always loved finding visual solutions to problems, whether it's for something I'm writing or if I'm trying to explain a complex concept, or if I just want to make someone say "Whoa!" This book captures some of the approaches that make all of that possible.
We're entering a golden age of visualization. So much data and so many tools are available now that make it easy to get started. But I've discovered that when someone starts to learn visualization, they find themselves quickly overwhelmed, confused, and worst of all, intimidated by a sometimes-oppressive community of dataviz enthusiasts proffering draconian rules and judging others' work.
Enough of that. Good Charts is not a rule book. It equips you with a way of thinking about your dataviz challenges that, with just a little practice, will get your charts from the standard, underwhelming output from software to something better. Typical charts visualize data. Good charts communicate ideas. I hope you enjoy it!