Information
Graphics: A Comprehensive Illustrated
Reference
Reviewed by Pete Greenfield FISTC [1998]
Having been asked to do a book review, the resulting package arriving on
your doorstep can be a bit daunting; but when the dog has trouble picking
it up and the size resembles a telephone directory, you quickly begin asking
yourself why you said "Yes" in the first place. However, once the initial fear
had been left behind and I began to look through the book, I quickly began
to realise that not only would I enjoy the review, but I had been presented
with a book that would be of value to me in the work place.
This is a true reference work. It is not a book for reading cover-to-cover,
but for dipping into or looking up a particular problem that you might be
experiencing and seeking guidance on. That said, like most dictionaries or
maps, you find yourself dipping deeper and deeper and finding all sorts of
facts and interesting points that make you wonder how on earth you survived
before you had the book.
This is an exhaustive publication that covers all types of illustrations
and graphics. It is to graphics what a dictionary or thesaurus is to words.
The point in this case is that examples are given of each type in a clear
manner, and the accompanying descriptions are helpful and clear without being
too in-depth or academic in nature. The reference is also easy, being arranged
alphabetically, not only by name but also by use and by multi-reference where
different names might be used.
Using this book, I discovered the wide range of information graphics that
are now available. I have never been an illustrator, or pretended to be one,
but the advice on use, construction and interpretation was of tremendous use
and should help me work closer with an illustrator. Explanations are precise
and the reader will require no special knowledge of maths or graphics to understand
the material. The book, however, has such breadth that it should be of use
to all in our industry.
The book has 448 pages, which contain 850 entries and over 3000 illustrations.
Without the ability to reproduce many of the pages, it is difficult to describe
a book like this but the book should of benefit to any communicator, whether
in engineering, finance, computing or science.
Let me try to describe a typical entry. Each example is simply illustrated
and a text is presented with it, but the examples are presented in groups
that help the reader to assess the variations and make a choice of a suitable
application. In this way, the breadth of a particular graphic is seen and
the similarities and differences become obvious. Graphs, for instance, might
be presented in three ways, The major types might be shown, such as point,
line, area, column, bar, vector, polar, contour, surface box or slice: in
addition column graphs might have an entry to include simple, grouped, stacked,
floating, difference, range, high-low, circular and so on.
The book includes graphic formats that range from the simplest to the most
complex. The same detail is applied whether it is for a complete type or for
terminology or method of construction. When you look up simple terms such
as bathtub curve, brushing, graticule or tether, you will find an easy example,
which is clearly defined and illustrated. And if you were unsure of any of
the terms I just used, where would you find them from a single source at the
moment? As I have said, the book covers all disciplines too, so that an isometric
projection, flow diagram, Venn diagram, statistical map, scatter graph or
organisational chart are all included and treated with the same detail. It
really is a most useful addition to any reference library.
The breadth and depth of entries and examples are almost overwhelming. You
can explore in depth or by overview, nothing seems to be missing. This is
one review book I will not give back without a fight.
Oxford University Press Inc, USA
Available from Amazon.co.uk
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