I'm trying to decide on a good set of 4 books that would be considered the "best" books to read for people wanting to learn about how best to display and visualize data. I'm particularly interested in language-agnostic books (e.g. I'm not so interested in books specifically about Processing). Currently I have:
- Data Visualization - Principles and Practice - not really sure about this one.
- Envisioning Information - Not necessary as practical as I'd like.
- The Visual Display of Quantitative Information - Maybe having two of Edward Tufte's books in the list is overkill.
- Readings in Information Visualization: Using Vision to Think
Note that I'm not so keen on books on data mining.
I'm somewhat torn about:
- Now You See It: Simple Visualization Techniques for Quantitative Analysis - I like it's practical nature, but not sure if it can fit in the top 4.
- Visual Data Mining: Techniques and Tools for Data Visualization and Mining - I'm wondering if there are other books more focused on the data visualisation than this one. Information Dashboard Design: "The Effective Visual Communication of Data" is another one to consider. *
This PDF by Stephen Few provides some good ideas, but as he recommends two of his own books, I'd like another opinion :-)
Can anyone suggest how to improve or round out my list? If I had to focus on a particular aspect of data visualization, It'd have to be around displaying data in an interactive manner onscreen to people who want to "think about the data".
Thanks for any suggestions.
Edit
I finally decided on six books, slightly changed from the above list. They were:
- Envisioning Information - Because Tufte's considered awesome.
- The Visual Display of Quantitative Information - Because it was not easy to choose between this and Envisioning information.
- Beautiful Data: The Stories Behind Elegant Data Solutions - Toby Segaran, as suggested by Zsolt.
- Creating More Effective Graphs - Naomi B. Robbins
- Information Visualization, Second Edition: Perception for Design (Interactive Technologies) - Colin Ware
- Turning Numbers into Knowledge: Mastering the Art of Problem Solving - Jonathan G. Koomey PhD
I dropped Readings in Information Visualization: Using Vision to Think from the list because, although I'd love to include it, at 80USD it isn't cheap. I also dropped Data Visualization - Principles and Practice because I think the other books will cover it well enough.