Reader reviews

Well worth picking up if you already have the basics.

A colleague recommended this and I can see why. It does something that few technical books manage: it respects the reader's time. I found myself making notes in the margins, which is always a good sign. The explanations are careful without being condescending, which is a difficult balance to strike. There is a section near the end that ties several earlier ideas together in a way I had not seen before. Four stars, and I suspect a second edition could easily push it to five.

A genuinely enjoyable read that also taught me a great deal.

This is the third book I have read on graphics this year, and it is comfortably the best of them. The progression from chapter to chapter is well thought out; nothing feels out of order. Some of the material is available elsewhere, but rarely presented this clearly. The code samples assume a particular environment, which took a bit of fiddling to get running properly. One of those books that pays for itself within the first few chapters. Highly recommended.

Recommended, with the caveat that it is not a gentle introduction.

I came to this book already familiar with the basics, and it still had plenty to offer. A couple of chapters felt like they could have been merged, but that is a minor complaint. The code samples assume a particular environment, which took a bit of fiddling to get running properly. The code samples assume a particular environment, which took a bit of fiddling to get running properly. Good value for the price and worth the time it takes to work through properly.

Exactly the book I needed. Straight to the point and genuinely useful.

There is a particular kind of technical book that is dense without being difficult, and this is one of them. A couple of chapters felt like they could have been merged, but that is a minor complaint. The author is unusually honest about where the simplifications break down, which I appreciated. This is the book I wish had existed when I started working with analytics.

I have read a lot of books on this subject and this is the clearest.

I picked this up after getting stuck on a project and it turned out to be exactly the right book at the right time. 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. The author avoids over-explaining, which keeps the pace up but means you need to pay attention. If you have the prerequisites, this is an easy recommendation. I will be keeping it on my desk rather than the shelf.

The clearest explanation of graphics I have come across.

There is a particular kind of technical book that is dense without being difficult, and this is one of them. The book rewards careful reading. Skimming it would be a mistake. There is a section near the end that ties several earlier ideas together in a way I had not seen before. One of those books that pays for itself within the first few chapters. Highly recommended.