Visual and Statistical Thinking: Displays of Evidence for Making Decisions

This is a book (an excerpt from Visual Explanations) that I regularly give away because it is short and compelling about analysis and communication.There are two stories: one heroic and one tragic.The heroic story is John Snow and the cholera epidemic in London in 1854. Tufte does a great job showing how the visual analysis of the data provided insights to identify the source of the cholera, both by where there were deaths and where there weren't deaths. Tufte also shows how the data could have been graphed in ways that would have concealed the key clues.The tragic story is the decision to launch the Space Shuttle Challenger.I have to confess that I'm emotionally involved with this story. My first step to becoming an engineer was seeing the SkyLab launch with my elementary school class. At that moment, I decided I wanted to be an astronaut and immersed myself in learning the machinery of the space. Ultimately, I realized that I was more interested in the machines than the people so I focused on engineering. I was 19 years old in my first month working as an engineering co-op student when the tragedy occurred. I was devastated.When I first read this in Visual Explanations, I didn't really appreciate how poor communication was at the heart of the tragedy.Tufte made me face an embarrassing realization--I engaged in many of the bad practices those engineers used: I often didn't put my name on reports, I didn't present information clearly, and my recommendations weren't very persuasive.The focus of this story is the decision to launch. Launch time is a really bad moment to argue persuasively to address profound design issues.Tufte's proposal for a graph to explain the danger of the launch is really good. However, it is looking at the output response (o-ring damage versus ambient temperature). That makes sense looking at the context of the launch decision, but it's not really enough for the engineering process.In my mind, there should also be a graph of o-ring durometer (hardness) versus temperature--the engineering knowledge to use for designing the joint. Did the engineering team establish maximum and minimum limits on o-ring durometer for the joint to perform its function? Shouldn't the engineering team have been telling their leaders that the o-ring turns as rock at, say, 40F?In many ways, I read this story as a failure of engineering education. I've been coaching problem solving to engineers for 20 years and I regularly see the same failures in communication as the Morton Thiokol engineers made. The MT engineers understood the mechanisms of failure months before the tragedy, yet they couldn't articulate persuasively the gravity of the situation and how to address it in a timely fashion. It seems like explaining the significance of your work is something that should be, at the least, introduced in engineering school.I love this book. It's short enough that a good fraction of the people who pick it up will actually read it and the stories are important lessons well told.

If you're anything like me, you'll want to have Tufte's finest book, Visual Explanations, sitting on your shelf. If that's the case, then you don't need this slim volume, which is Chapter 2 of that large and beautiful book. But one way or the other, it's important to read it.Tufte describes visual plots of statistical evidence in two cases: Its success in diagnosing the cause of a London cholera epidemic, and the failure of a small group of engineers to convince their superiors to halt the disastrous launch of the Challenger in 1986. Together, these examples provide a guide and an inspiration to anyone putting together charts and graphs with a purpose.

This pamphlet is largely two excerpted case studies from Tufte's other books, so it doesn't really bring anything new to the table. Having said that and understanding its limited scope, it makes a great classroom tool both for information graphics and for areas of related study. It is inexpensive enough to supplement a text book and it a nice - as are all of Tufte's books - object.

Edward Tufte is a great author for this kind of stuff

This book is just ok

If you want to get a deep dive into Tufte's views of visual thinking - this is not the book. It merely provides a very surface level discussion (which should have been obvious from the price).

This is a very well written, very well edited and very well published book.It is highly informative and motivating. Even if one has no interest in statistics, conveying information or even graphic design, you are likely to learn a few relevant facts and enjoy the tactile qualities of this item. A real bargain if you consider its depth and quality against price. A must have!

I learned quite a bit from this book. It really helps with logical and analytical thinking. I would recommend this for being able to see through Political BS like polls and discerning fake statistics and data. Also helps me recognize and implement good data representation.