Lying with Visualizations: Seeing Isn't Believing

This is the one to get if you are serious about analytics.

I had been on the fence about this one for a while, and I should have bought it sooner. I found myself making notes in the margins, which is always a good sign. I appreciated the honesty about what the book does not cover — it saved me from expecting things that were not there. A few of the examples could be more realistic, but the underlying points come across clearly. This is the book I wish had existed when I started working with analytics.

Good book. The writing is direct and the author is honest about limits.

There is a particular kind of technical book that is dense without being difficult, and this is one of them. The author clearly knows the subject deeply and has thought hard about how to teach it. The explanations are careful without being condescending, which is a difficult balance to strike. The author clearly knows the subject deeply and has thought hard about how to teach it. Four stars, and I suspect a second edition could easily push it to five.

Better than I expected. Rare to find a technical book this well judged.

There is a particular kind of technical book that is dense without being difficult, and this is one of them. The index and cross-references are surprisingly good, which matters for a book I will come back to. I appreciated the honesty about what the book does not cover — it saved me from expecting things that were not there. It is denser than the page count suggests, and I found myself slowing down around the middle. I have already recommended it to two colleagues and will recommend it to more.