Seeing with Fresh Eyes: Meaning, Space, Data, Truth Paperback – November 30, 2020

For my wifey

Timely, packed well in foam envelope. Good job!

Iread anything that Edward Tufte writes. This “father of data visualization” has taught classes at Yale on the subject for decades. His books have also taught the reading public how to present data more effectively in the digital age. This work represents his fifth book. While his other books focus on getting the data right, this one’s subject meanders around transforming presentations into a form of art that provokes an audience response.I enjoyed this book, and it certainly compares favorably with other authors’ books in the field of information visualization. Nonetheless, it’s not as compelling and paradigm-shifting as some of Tufte’s earlier works. Of course, the earlier works changed the entire landscape of how the material was taught, so that bar represents a high standard.Nonetheless, it offers more tips on how to create a positive, lasting effect through a data-filled presentation. Some of Tufte’s earlier hallmarks are present: He shows ways to deviate around a work culture fascinated with Microsoft PowerPoint. Instead, he suggests handouts and reading time during the start of meetings. He even suggests that such an approach will cut down on meeting times by 10-20%!Science and data geeks, like me, who spend their lives trying to express what they’ve learned in the depths of numbers, can benefit from anything Tufte writes. This book is no exception. He reminds us that as readers and listeners, we have to look at the finer points of any presentation; as presenters, we have to make sure our presentation actually conveys what we intend to convey. White space, placement, annotations, and the like – all expounded on clearly in this book – can teach us to see the world more clearly as the title suggests… with fresh eyes.

Tufte shall reign forever, this a masterpiece, mark my words, a book you will never forget.

Tufte is a powerhouse in graphic design but I don't find him helpful for me at least. I once took one of his workshops and I own all of his books, but I have decided to return this last one. He holds some strange believes (like you should start every meeting with 10 min of silent reading). The material is also strangely organized, so its difficult to find content relevant to what I am doing (map design). I find that I need to do too much work to convert him knowledge base into something useful and helpful for me that I can easily apply in my work or when doing workshops.

If you got here from Tufte‘s masterpieces, „The Visual Display of Quantitative Information“ or „Envisioning Information“, stop here and re-read those. This book lacks a clear thesis, and resembles nothing so much as the scraps on Tufte‘s desk pasted into bindings for those foolish enough to pay for it. A couple of points recur in the text, especially Tufte’s conviction that lists in a sentence should be replaced with what he calls „stacklists,“ which are basically bulletpoints but without the bullets, and centered. He also devotes more space than you would expect to his loathing of the American healthcare system.Sections of his earlier, better books are reprinted here to pad the runtime. I would not recommend this book to anybody.

I have no idea who this book was written for.Designers?Data wranglers?It just seems you are lost in Tufte's rambling brain.There are moments of brilliance, but turbulence of ideas you have to sort through makes it not worth the effort.FINAL RECOMMENDATION: buy all of Tufte's other books. And save your time and money and skip over this one.

There are numerous good insights in this book, but Tufte provides absolutely zero organization, information hierarchy, or clearly articulated principles. The book is full of rants about the evils of rigid, grid-based typography and the need for thoughtful layout, but the book's own text struck me as disorganized and cramped, with the main text running together with image captions that made it difficult to follow the thread of any idea.This book could open your mind to some important new ideas but I don't recommend it for anyone looking for the clarity of Tufte's classic works.