Truthful Art, The: Data, Charts, and Maps for Communication (Voices That Matter)

In brief: this is an excellent book. Packed full of excellent examples from across the world. Clearly written, easy to digest and well structured. Cairo knows his subject very well. First of all, this book looks and feels nice. It gets lots of praise in the insidde cover pages and, like Nigel Holmes says, you too might be horrified upon reading this book at how much you didn't know. Me too. But I don't think it's really a cover-to-cover read anyway; more of a life-long companion/resource text. The book really is packed full of stuff - so much so that I found myself wondering how he could get so much in there but somehow keep me interested - it's a real barnstormer. I've added a few images so you can see the kinds of thing Cairo covers - including a chart on his weight to make a point! Nice touch. The Truthful Art is a hugely impressive work and absolutely worth every penny. I work in a University and teach and research this kind of stuff but it's not pitched at too high a level - but at the same time it's full of depth and nuance. What can I say? Highly recommended. A real achievement and the best book of its kind I have seen.

I've read many data visualisation books over the years and this has to be one of my favourites... having felt that I've mastered the 'basics' of what makes a good vis, I was looking for something that took my thinking on a few levels and covered the topic in more depth, which is what this book offers. I've been a fan of Alberto's work for a while, particularly due to his focus on how to tell stories from often complex data in way that engages a wide range of audiences, something often overlooked by others when trying to make data look 'pretty'! This book helps to reinforce the need for science behind your visuals and as a result I find myself dipping into it time and time again, particularly the stats and mapping sections. A great book that always leaves me feeling motivated!

Great book! Helped me immensely during the writing of my dissertation. It is well-research, academic and in-depth, at the same that it is accessible and easy to follow for those venturing in the field of data visualization. It is not a guidebook on how to create or code the graphics; instead, it exposes theories and practices on the communication of data, with interesting remarks throughout and a critical examination of the existing literature. It's mainly focused on data journalism, but it can be translated to all realms of data visualization. It's a must for anyone interested in telling data stories effectively, beautifully and truthfully.

50% content, and 50% ranting about other people. That said, good material, useful quotes and references and links to further reading. Would recommend.

What I like about Alberto Cairo 's work and advice is that it is practical, especially in corporate / less data literate settings Page after page of stunning graphics, each with multiple links to further examples and sources. Even if you think that you know all about data visualisation, you should still make time to read this because it will make you think about new ways of presenting data

This book is full of very meaningful examples, well explained and easy to read. Definitely a must both if you want a grasp on infographics or find further inspiration for your work.

A good book and makes many interesting points, ironically for a book about visual communication the paperback version is let down by the visuals which are rendered with unreadably small text - illustrating these points with unreadable graphics undermines things.

The start of the acknowledgements section starts with: "I always chuckle when someone calls me an expert", and the end of the index ends with "Zappa, Frank". Well this should make Alberto laugh heartily - the breadth and variety of examples throughout the book is huge, a testament to the author's deep knowledge and experience. The style of the book is friendly and informal throughout which makes it feel less like a textbook and more like a book that you can pick up and read from start to finish.in a few settings (as indeed I did). The underlying theme is the need for visualisations to be true representations of data and to show that in the best way possible, so focuses on statistical accuracy and the need for critical thinking. However the easily readable conversational style and huge number of examples (many of them current) make all chapters easily accessible, such that the book feels like it is pitched at anyone with an interest in visualisation, from hobbyists to professional journalists or visualisers. Well worth the read for anyone in the field - once you're done, there's always the author's previous complementary book: "The Functional Art" to check out too,

Es un libro excelente, contiene una gran cantidad de ejemplos sobre cómo visualizar datos de forma clara. En mi opinión es el mejor libro que hay sobre este tema.

This was the first time of me finishing a book with that many pages talking about one of the topics I used to dislike in my student life, statistics. Alberto Cairo has been an amazing instructor who brought me to embark on this journey of statistics.

Foremost, the illustrations and visualizations in the Truthful Art make it worthy of the coffee table in any quant's home. However, I do not think Mr. Cairo intended to resonate just as much with its written content, so we will dive a bit deeper. Alerto Cairo does something in the Truthful Art that I seldom came across in grad school: He hooks us for nearly half the book, discussing guidelines, and principles, with illustrious visualizations to drive the point home, before diving into any formal quantitative discussion. This is a necessary book in an age when trending graphics are popping up across media platforms that can quickly shift the opinion of thousands. Visuals are incredibly appealing and quite often, the modern day worker only has time to examine a visual and its captions, rather than a full written narrative. One such guideline: The more adequately a model fits whatever it stands for without being needlessly complex, and the easier it is for the intended audience to interpret correctly, the better it will be. So how does Cairo define a visualization? As a model that serves as a conduit between a mental model in the designer's brain and a mental model inside the audience's brain. Cairo addresses various conundrums and fallacies that we all face in making visualizations. At some point -- we must keep our own ego in check. He slowly walks us into where we must acknowledge and apply the introspective traits necessary -- and how we quickly stray off path with the three mind bugs that are human tendencies we must keep in check. 1) Patternicity: We will strive to see patterns even when they aren't there 2) Storytelling: We try to develop a story, even with disparate facts 3) Confirmation Bias: We look selectively for data to support our own thoughts, even when what we see says otherwise As for the quantitative section (Part III: Function), this is something I will be handing to future junior analysts as a soft refresher on statistics. It comes in easily digestible components for any audience, a wonderful break from what we encounter with most statistics books. His disarming prose accompanied by stunning charts walk you along on how to translate basic statistical moments into a robust visual. Seasoned quants will be tempted to skim it, but must heed to understand his thought process behind the visual applications. Thank you for the wonderful read Mr. Cairo!

I like the visual , and narrative and the passion from the author. It is such an enjoyable read. Looking forward to the next one “insightful art”

A really fascinating book and one that makes you learn so many things and brush up on concepts you felt like knowing before. I liked the way the chart examples complement the topics and honestly I had to stop every couple of pages to dig more into the subject using the names and references pointed in the book. I have a background in Computer Science and I work daily with lots of data and I was looking for a way to grasp more knowledge on how to represent it. What I got was more than that, because the author has a real vision on how you should always be honest with your data, assess if it was correctly collected or aggregated and then dwell into meaning and representation/aesthetics. Hope you enjoy as much as I did and if you're into data journalism, it must be one of those essential books for your career!