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> My one-sentence summary of the book would be “information graphics need to spend more effort on showing patterns.” That’s the central abiding message of the b

> My one-sentence summary of the book would be “information graphics need to spend more effort on showing patterns.” That’s the central abiding message of the book, which Tufte hits us all over the head with again and again, on almost every page. I just searched the book for the word "pattern" and it appears on only six pages in the entire book. Tufte throughout the book is far more impressed with how many data points you can jam into a graph than how clearly the graph conveys a pattern or idea. I'm also curious which of Tufte's statements I quoted that you think were intended to be taken tongue-in-cheek. They all seem pretty straightforward and factual. Your reply reinforces my belief that most people's admiration of this book has to do with what they imagine it says, rather than what it actually says.

jacobolus 9y ago
I would reply at length and quote extensively from every section of the book, but 15 years of internet arguments has convinced me there’s really little point and it would be largely a waste of time. If you can even flip through the pages in a few seconds and come to the conclusion that Tufte doesn’t care about how clearly graphics convey data, there’s really nothing I’m going to say that can convince you. So I’ll just leave it at “bae, you cray-cray”. I can only recommend re-reading the book closely and carefully, ideally spending 5 or 10 minutes really looking at and thinking about each graphic. Maybe start with the first few pages where Tufte lays out his criteria for graphical excellence. You may also want to look at his 2 subsequent books Envisioning Information and Visual Explanations wherein he goes into considerably more detail about particular aspects and techniques statistical graphics can use to show various types of patterns. I have probably spent 50 hours over the years studying Tufte’s four data-viz books, and every time I look I find something enlightening, fascinating, or inspiring. Some individual pages reward 30 minutes or more of careful study. If you can’t find anything useful inside, I don’t know what to tell you.
- haberman 9y ago
  > If you can even flip through the pages in a few seconds and come to the conclusion that Tufte doesn’t care about how clearly graphics convey data That's not what I said. If you project your own meaning onto my 100-word comment, it does not surprise me that you project your own meaning onto an entire book.
  - jacobolus 9y ago
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    - haberman 9y ago
      I'm glad that you like the book. If your goal was to share your positive feelings about it, "obtuse deliberate misreading" and "bae, you cray-cray" may not have been your best strategies. If you want people to be kind and understanding, don't start with insults and insinuations. It is also not convincing when you say that I missed the tongue-in-cheek dry humor but decline to say which of my quoted passages you think were intended to be humorous. I read this book because I had high hopes for it. It disappointed me a lot. I understood your sentence. You didn't understand mine: I made a clear distinction between data and patterns/ideas. I think Tufte overemphasizes data and underemphasizes patterns/ideas.

jacobolus 9y ago

I would reply at length and quote extensively from every section of the book, but 15 years of internet arguments has convinced me there’s really little point and it would be largely a waste of time. If you can even flip through the pages in a few seconds and come to the conclusion that Tufte doesn’t care about how clearly graphics convey data, there’s really nothing I’m going to say that can convince you. So I’ll just leave it at “bae, you cray-cray”. I can only recommend re-reading the book closely and carefully, ideally spending 5 or 10 minutes really looking at and thinking about each graphic. Maybe start with the first few pages where Tufte lays out his criteria for graphical excellence. You may also want to look at his 2 subsequent books Envisioning Information and Visual Explanations wherein he goes into considerably more detail about particular aspects and techniques statistical graphics can use to show various types of patterns. I have probably spent 50 hours over the years studying Tufte’s four data-viz books, and every time I look I find something enlightening, fascinating, or inspiring. Some individual pages reward 30 minutes or more of careful study. If you can’t find anything useful inside, I don’t know what to tell you.

haberman 9y ago
> If you can even flip through the pages in a few seconds and come to the conclusion that Tufte doesn’t care about how clearly graphics convey data That's not what I said. If you project your own meaning onto my 100-word comment, it does not surprise me that you project your own meaning onto an entire book.
- jacobolus 9y ago
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  - haberman 9y ago
    I'm glad that you like the book. If your goal was to share your positive feelings about it, "obtuse deliberate misreading" and "bae, you cray-cray" may not have been your best strategies. If you want people to be kind and understanding, don't start with insults and insinuations. It is also not convincing when you say that I missed the tongue-in-cheek dry humor but decline to say which of my quoted passages you think were intended to be humorous. I read this book because I had high hopes for it. It disappointed me a lot. I understood your sentence. You didn't understand mine: I made a clear distinction between data and patterns/ideas. I think Tufte overemphasizes data and underemphasizes patterns/ideas.