Whether it's statistical charts, geographic maps, or the snappy graphical statistics you see on your favorite news sites, the art of data graphics or visualization is fast becoming a movement of its own. In Data Points: Visualization That Means Something, author Nathan Yau presents an intriguing complement to his bestseller Visualize This, this time focusing on the graphics side of data analysis. Using examples from art, design, business, statistics, cartography, and online media, he explores both standard-and not so standard-concepts and ideas about illustrating data.

• Shares intriguing ideas from Nathan Yau, author of Visualize This and creator of flowingdata.com, with over 66,000 subscribers
• Focuses on visualization, data graphics that help viewers see trends and patterns they might not otherwise see in a table
• Includes examples from the author's own illustrations, as well as from professionals in statistics, art, design, business, computer science, cartography, and more
• Examines standard rules across all visualization applications, then explores when and where you can break those rules

Create visualizations that register at all levels, with Data Points: Visualization That Means Something.

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Review

A detailed handbook, Data Points is espe-cially useful for those working on scientific data visualization, guiding the reader through fascinat-ing examples of data, graph-ics, context, presentation and analytics. But this is more than a mere how-to manual. Yau reminds us that the real purpose of most visualiza-tion work is to communicate data to pragmatic ends. (Nature, May 2013) Ultimately, I would recommend this book for anyone interested in the process of design and analysis. It is about making sense of data and that is becoming a crucial skill in this digital age. (Madia Information & Technology Journal, August 2013) Data Points opens an exciting view of information blending data analysis, visual interaction, and digital storytelling the visuals are stunning. (Managing Information, October 2013)

From the Back Cover

Reveal the story your data has to tell

To create effective data visualizations, you must be part statistician, part designer, and part storyteller. In his bestselling book Visualize This, Nathan Yau introduced you to the tools and programming techniques for visualization. Now, in Data Points, he explores the thinking process that helps you create original, meaningful visualizations that your audience will both understand and remember. Here's how to make your data mean something.

• Discover what data is and what you can learn from it
• Learn how to explore your data, find the story, and bring it to life
• Understand visualization as a medium that lets you present and express meaning in data
• Tap into your creative side and determine the most effective way to tell your story
• Compare tools for exploration and analysis
• Allow data, the story, and your goals to dictate visualization techniques with geometry, traditional charts, maps, color, art, and even humor