Design Books

Liedtke's commentary on the works of Vermeer displays the deepest appreciation and a satisfying comprehension of the intent of the artist (as well as Vermeer's technique).

An excerpt from Liedtke's words comparing the Wrightsman bequest "Head of a Young Girl" (Salon 12 at the Metropolitan) - with the more famous "Girl With a Pearl Earring" (at the Mauiritshuis) illustrates Dr. Liedtke's perceptive eye:

"...The differences between the pictures are as remarkable as the similarities.

To be sure, the Mauritshuis painting is more immediately appealing, but the Wrightsman picture is equally impressive in its naturalism and perhaps more so in its suggestion of character. The less conventional physiognomy suits the thoughtful, sideward glance and the very different smile; here is no question which young woman would have posed for Martha and which for Mary had Vermeer, some years after painting these studies, undertaken to treat again the subject of Christ's visit to the house of his cousins."

Liedtke has intuitively recognized the particular charm of the Wrightsman painting: its homely grace and implicit familial love between the artist and his subject. The girl in the painting at the Met is obviously humbled and overjoyed that the artist has deemed her "beautiful enough in his eyes" to paint her picture, even as a mere study.

In my mind, Vermeer had already conceived the Mauritshuis painting as a typological portrait before he painted the Wrightsman piece. However, before he committed to creating the Mauritshuis composition, he decided to execute a study to examine the skin tones and light effects, as well as to assess the potential for expressing an iconic portrait of beauty in period dress.

I imagine that Vermeer, for the Wrightsman work, asked one of his daughters to "stand in" for the girl who later would become the Girl With a Pearl Earring. The surprising thing about the Wrightsman painting is that it is so much more satisfying emotionally (even empathic) than is the more famous and "prettier" Mauritshuis work.

The girl in the Wrightsman picture communicates a humble joy that brings tears to my eyes whenever I view it. Though I have no children, I experience the love that Vermeer had for this homely child who must have idolized her father, the master painter.

Liedtke evidently has picked up on the special quality of the Wrightsman girl, since he pays her the subtle tribute of being fit to portray the faithful and adoring Mary in the Biblical story of Jesus, Mary and Martha. I find this suggestion to be particularly apropos.

If anyone in the world understands and correctly interprets Vermeer, it is Dr. Liedtke. The Metropolitan Museum of Art has a treasure in him. Any of his books are well worth the price.

Words cannot describe the impact this weighty volume has had on me. From the moment I held it in my trembling hands, I was hooked. The rich, carefully crafted prose is a delight to the eye and the imagination. Its author is undoubtedly a man of breath-taking vision who has reconstructed the 17th-century past with unique skills of research and analysis. His character shines through in every page and the reader cannot help but conjure up in his or her mind a dazzling image of a dark tall handsome curator with beautifully slick and greased black hair, a whiff of moustache, and sparkling gold-rimmed glasses. Every inch a man of learning. I could go on - and I will.

This is a catalogue published in conjunction with the exhibition "Vermeer and the Delft School" held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, from March 8 to May 27, 2001 and The National Gallery, London, from June 20 to September 16, 2001. It is written by Walter Liedtke, Curator in the Department of European Paintings at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York with contributions from eight other art curators and historians. This is a hefty book reflecting this monumental ehibition which includes 15 of the 35 known works attributed to Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675) who spent his entire life in Delft. Other prominent 17th Century artists include Pieter de Hooch, Gerard Houckgeest and one of my favorites, Carel Fabritius, who was killed in a munitions explosion in 1654 at the age of 32. The catalogue is 640 pages containing 526 illustrations with 225 colorplates. The quality of the colorplates is good. The history of Delft and the development of "The Delft School" is thoroughly researched. In addition to the artists mentioned there are many beautiful paintings by artists who are relatively unknown. This is a catalogue where the interested reader will spend the rest of his life perusing. There is much to be mined here. The exhibition is worth a journey.

This may not be the book with which to start a Vermeer trek. But it is one to savor mid-way on the journey. And it's a fitting coda for the many books on Vermeer published since the wonderful Washington/The Hague exhibition in 1995-1996. Walter Liedtke comprensivley and colorfully provides context for Vermeer's style, technique, and themes. For all his erudition, however, Liedtke doesn't explain Vermeer's genius, which is sui generis. The combination of painterly skill, scientific observation, poetic insight, and musical/theatrical nuance all seem perfectly coordinated in this Delft Master. That Vermeer made rather extensive use of the camera obscura to inform his work is without doubt (see Philip Steadman's Vermeer's Camera), although Liedtke continues even now to insist he did not. Nonetheless, as Liedtke exhaustively details, Vermeer could not have been Vermeer without the cultural milieu in and around The Netherlands in the seventeenth century.

The quality of the hundreds of illustrations included in the book, especially those which reproduce Vermeer's paintings, is extraodinary; the cover reproduction of Vermeer's Art of Painting is alone worth the price of the volume. Note particularly the pairing of The Girl with a Pearl Earring and the Study of a Young Woman (making a good case for pendant status), as well as perhaps the best reproduction ever of The Girl with a Red Hat (although it is somewhat over-sized).

Liedkte also generously provides a trove of bibliographical citations, more than enough to keep scholars busily productive well into the next generation. No serious study of Vermeer can proceed without reference to this book. Yet, it is a good read for anyone with a reasonably sophisticated knowledge of European history of that era, and will reward amatuer art historians of the Baroque period with its pinball-like associations.

Lovers of Vermeer will make this book a centerpiece in their library, returning to it again and again for information, clarification, and, most of all, aesthetic pleasure. Liedtke's opus is the next best thing to visiting the several handfuls of museums in the USA and Europe that hold Vermeer's 36 known works.

Bravo to Walter Liedtke for his sense of humor, see below. The fact that 17 out of 24 did not understand his subtle comments on himself, he did write most of the book, is testimony as to lack of discernment of those who read these reviews. I have heard his lecture on the exhibition and all he says is absolutely true. Actually, his comments on himself are rather modest.

Read and take with you to Thailand. This book covers it all. By no means is it a travel guidebook. It is more of an informational book with bright colorful pictures and indepth cultural information.

I finally finished Very Thai and I enjoyed it very much. If you have been to Thailand a time or two it certainly helps explain a lot of things you wondered about.

The book is basically organized like a series of magazine articles on all sorts of topics. The tiny font takes some getting used to. Of course some articles are more interesting than others and there is a bit of repetition between and among some of the articles. The book is well-organized, thoroughly sourced, and lavishly illustrated with tons of photos.

I see there are some copies available now that are quite reasonably priced. I paid a ton more for this book, but I certainly don't regret. If you love Thailand and wished you could better understand the Thais and the things they do this book is essential.

great value, an asset for the home or the classroom as it shows daily living with the ordinary and the spectacular

This book contains many explanations of the apparent vagaries of Thai pop culture, and is profusely illustrated with superb photographs. I have been living here for 7-8 years and have grown accustomed to a lot of this -- and I find a lot of it delightful.

For example, when I moved back to Thailand in 2002 ("Bye Bye Internet Bubble!") I was intrigued to find out that the room out in front of my house was being used as a make-up central and staging ground for Thai ladyboys who were going off to compete in beauty contests! Sometimes the "utterly bizarre" occurred -- a friend or a sister would appear with an urgent problem, and this teenage Thai boy would rush outside to consult, wearing nothing but his underwear and a fully-made up Thai female head!

What may take the cake, for some lingering Puritans, is that some of these "lady-boy beauty contests" took place at temple fairs. In the grounds of Buddhist temples.

Well, when the good folks in Austin, Texas begin holding such beauty contests for the Church Fair, I guess we will have reached some sort of parity! Right now it seems a little hard to imagine. (I don't think the Pope would like it, either. :-) )

But I digress...or do I? One of the salient facts about Thailand is that it seems to be a country which is entirely free of homophobia, at least among Thai families. The Chinese-Thai are a different story. But in Thailand, and in Burma, there is just NOTHING in the culture which is homophobic. I learn from the book under review that the monk celebrated for sculpting phallic amulets (!) recommended carrying the amulet in the right pocket when going to visit a female, and in the left pocket when going to visit a male. (I may have reported that backwards, sorry!)

But other piercing questions are answered: why are those little tiny napkins in restaurants -- why are they so tiny, and why are they always pink? You''ll have to read the book to find out!

Basically, the book is just a feast for people who love Thailand. Lots of details on the Big Bird (Garuda) -- wingspan 12,800 kilometers! Lots of details about Thai hawker food, pop stars, the high-society crowd, and all the other Thai people who make this country such a fascinating place!

Highest possible recommendation!

I have been living and working in Bangkok for nearly three years.

I bought the Very Thai book 6 months ago and was amazed and delighted to find clear and helpful explanations for the sights and sounds I encounter almost every day. What a great book! I helped me to gain a greater appreciation for Thai culture and in particular for the Thai people. The better understanding of Thai culture and people added new enjoyment to my life in Thailand.

I now recommed the book to all my family and friends who plan to visit Thailand in the hope that it will make their visit more interesting and enjoyable. It has worked so far for my American visiors.

This book is an "eye candy" delight. Not only are there beautiful black and white sketches of the fashions, but the heavy line drawings behind the sketches are ornate and depict a setting that corresponds to the era. Anyone looking for the fantasy romance behind the fashions of this era will not be disappointed with this book.

Fashions are compiled chronologically and the fashion plates are very detailed. Many plates don't just show the front of the models, but they also show the same posed women from the back. One of the main things I like about this book is that it's not just all formal wear. There's also a lot of day wear being featured which helps in understanding the lifestyles of Victorian and Edwardian ladies (albeit the privileged class). This book is simply a beautiful resource and should be included in every Victorian/Edwardian fashion-lover's library.

This book is one of the most comprehensive, well-done and complete guide to both Victorian and Edwardian fashion I've ever seen. Although the illustrations are black and white, they are surprisingly well done (most costume design books don't detail hair styles, patterns, etc, but this one does.) I recommend this book as a very accurate guide to the period for researchers, costumers or fashion enthusiasts. The book, along with fantastic illustrations, includes a summary of the times and fashions and a very helpful glossary. Also it is much more than any other book I've seen--- it included SEVERAL fashions for each year and several different occasional wear layouts. If you are curious about this period, you must buy this book. I only wish they had a similar book for every period!

"La Mode Illustree" was to 19th-century fashion mavens what "Vogue" and "Elle" are today, with its gorgeous color and B&W line illustrations of the latest in fashions for men, women and children. Joanne Olian, former curator of the costume collection at the Museum of the City of New York, has painstakingly assembled a huge collection of the finest illustrations showing beautiful ladies' fashions from 1860 to 1912, with almost every year getting at least one page (though, as another reviewer mentions, some years unfortunately aren't examined in much detail). Every illustration is full-page and accompanied by a paragraph or two of text, generally taken directly from the original description of the item in LMI. Nobody who is at all interested in fashions of the late Victorian and Edwardian periods should be without this book!

I was leery of ordering this book, because most of the books that claim to illustrate both the Victorian and Edwardian eras merely skim over the Edwardian. But I was pleasantly surprised.

The book covers the years 1860-1914 and gives equal (or slightly superior) coverage to the Edwardian and pre-WWI years. The illustrations are large and detailed, allowing for very good views of the trimmings of the garments, and the smaller rear views of many garments are invaluable to the recreationist. Also included are period captions describing the intended uses of the garments (tea or opera, for young girls or women "of a certain age"); these are both interesting and very helpful for the self-educated costumer. The selection of dresses, coiffures, hats, parasols, coats, lingerie, nightdresses, and children's clothing is well chosen and the garments are lovely.

My only complaint is that a few years are either entirely skipped, or skimmed over: 1866, 1872, 1875, 1878, 1883, 1893, 1899, and 1911. However, the existing material is excellent and very useful--I wholeheartedly recommend it.

I could not have decorated my recently renovated 100 year old Victorian home without this book. Friends and family think I have great potential as a decorator, little do they know.

I found this book at a local library, I have went threw several books to get ideas on styles and of the victorian era. I found this one to be one of the best. It has wonderful, all color photographs, has a dictionary of old words and is wonderful for discribing details. I am going to purchase it for my own collection.

I bought this book about a year ago and I still refer back to it often. The photos are so gorgeous, they give me goosebumps. They transport me into a place I'd like to live, a fantasy of design and genteel composure. The text is informative and the quality of photos is top notch. I highly recommend this book to folks who like Victorian design, both contemporary and traditional. You will feel the money was well spent!

This book is loaded with color photographs! I went through this book several times before putting it back down. It's a must have if you are trying to get decorating ideas for a victorian room.

This is a beautiful book to dream by. I bought one because we are building a Victorian home, but this would be enjoyed by anyone who loves Victorian style and design. Lovely!

When a co-worker/friend approached me at the office one day saying that he was looking for a publisher I had to ask what it was he was publishing. He explained the book "The Virgin Project" to me and I was so excited to have a copy that I gave him a check right then.
When the book arrived it was more than I expected and was such a fun read that I ate it up in one sitting. As have many of my friends who see it on my living room book shelf.
This book is funny, sad, bleak, and happy. It is real stories about real people and the real ways they lost their innocence. Some of the stories will make you cringe, others will bring tears to your eyes, and others will make you laugh out loud.
Every book collector needs this book in their collection.

Looking for the ultimate conversation starter? You need look no further than The Virgin Project. This book relates the real life stories of ordinary people and how they lost their virginity. And get this- it's presented entirely in comic book form.
Silly, sad, embarrassing, horrific- this book explores the entire gambit of this universal experience. These tales are touchingly told, only mildly titillating, (R Rated, not X), and written by grown-ups for grown-ups. The Virgin Project is an amazing work that sets a new standard for adult literature. Your coffee table will thank you.

I had the pleasure of attending the Seattle Erotic Art Festival when this book debuted, so I was able to buy it the very first day it came out. I got to meet the authors and get my book signed, as well as have the opportunity to see the original artwork in the gallery space.

I love this book. It is real, it is personal, and Boze and Kato handle their subjects with sensitivity and respect.

I took it home and read the whole thing cover to cover. Twice. But don't take my word for it. Order your own and see for yourself.

The book also tells you how to e-mail the authors and share your own "first-time" stories. I want to share my own and be a part of this!

This is a very reader-friendly book telling people's true tales of how they 'lost it' drawn in a very friendly, engaging comics style--nothing in the least sleazy about it. From cheerful to truly chilling, consensual to anything but, featuring everyone: men, women, hetero, gay, undecided, I think learning about how many ways people have experienced this has the potential to break down barriers and I am sure many readers will find it therapeutic. The art is never boring, much of it is very humorous and it is a really unique creation. Highly recommended.

As if sex weren't complicated enough, the first time can be as difficult to make peace with as it was to finagle. Or it can be maddeningly forgettable. Or an adolescent tragedy. Or a triumph. One thing's certain: this collection of true "first time" experiences, retold and illustrated by K.D. Boze and Stasia Kato, is an instant contender for the title of "Sweetest Adult Comic Book Ever Published."

Whether they're retelling a story of adolescent discovery, messy experimentation, sexual initiation with a hooker, or the anguish of rape, Boze and Kato, individually and in collaboration, infuse each story with heartfelt humanity. If you're looking for bodice-ripper prose or explicit depiction of conjugating genitalia, go elsewhere. While this book has plenty of nudity, positions, and an undeniable arousal factor, it's truly about people. The laughter generated by "Arlen's" story is as straight from the soul genuine as the gut-wrenching tragedy of "Jayne."

Each story is anywhere from a page to three pages long; some are in color, but most are black & white. They are, by turns, funny, sad, hilarious, heartbreaking, gay, very gay, and exuberant. Everything but nasty; Boze and Kato don't go there.

Wyeth, Pyle and the others captivate my imagination and this book captures their mastery. Strongly recommended!

This book covers very well some of the most important people in American History. N.C. Wyeth,Howard Pyle, Dean Cornwell,Harvey Dunn, Frank Schoonover and Philip Goodwin have illustrated the turn of the 1800's to 1900's with the same spirited passion that bred our great country. It's this great passion that is given to the pictures that they created that seperates their work from photographs which are just taken. Looking at the Illustrations shows you that Pyle was successful in creating an American art which will always be a foundation for Illustrators to follow.

Incredible collection of paintings and the stories that go along with them. Colorful with spectacular detail of the famous paintings of a time gone by. Amazing how the author was able to put together a collection of this magnitude. A must have for anyone who appreciates art. It is perfect as a gift to that special person you care about.

i m french so i say it with my word : c'est trés beau !

Visions Of Adventure surveys the arts of N.C. Wyeth and the Brandywine artists, providing a lavish display packed with color plates and paintings by Pyle, Wyeth, Dunn, and others. Histories and backgrounds of each featured work accompany the fold-out and full-page illustrations and make for an excellent review. Highly recommended.

I bought this book from Amazon.con after seeing posters of his prints (The Pagoda in Moonlight and the Benton Shrine over a lillies pond).

I also saw his framed woodblock prints in Japantown in San Francisco. Very rich colors. Stunning, comparing to his posters and calendars. Only a few hundred $$$. Buy me one of those for Xmas, please.

Check them out when you are in San Francisco.

When I think about a master of quality in Japanese printmaking a few artists immediately come to mind: Hiroshi Yoshida, Paul Jacoulet, and Kawase Hasui. This little paperback book is jam packed full of color woodblock prints,...page after page of an artists masterful works. If you are not fond of landscapes this is not for you, but if you enjoy Japanese printmaking, this book is an absolute must. The simple compositions, the colorful gradations, and the mastery in image, carving and printmaking comes through on every page. GET IT NOW!!!

As art books go, this one gets it just about perfect. 100 of Kawase Hasui's prints, arranged in chronological order and finely reproduced with great care in full color and as large as the book's format will allow (the format being large enough to show off the prints to advantage without being unwieldy to hold and peruse). The text at the beginning by Kendall Brown is informative and helpful in better appreciating the prints, placing them within the context of the larger Shin-Hanga ("New Print") movement of the 20th century and tentatively explicating an aesthetics for this underappreciated art form--derided as it was (and is) by modernist artists and art critics for whom lyrical beauty and sentiment in art are passe and collaboration with engravers and publishers a damning compromise of principle. Brown goes on to focus more specifically on the life of the artist himself, his methods and practices, and his overall artistic development over the years. I especially liked how he was able to address issues of nostalgia, invented tradition, and cultural nationalism in Kawase's works without being reductive, politically trenchant, or dismissive of intrinsic artistic value.

And these prints definitely have the latter. Kawase is a master of evoking the quiet, tranquil moods of dusky twilight and drifting snow, of rainy days and moonlit nights. Both his rural and urban landscapes are imbued with these qualities, and places both famous and anonymous seem to shimmer with moods and resonances of an archetypal Japan you always wanted to visit but found only fleetingly when you actually went there--and in this too there is a subdued hint of something more universal and eternal still. And yet on a more down-to-earth level these are very accessible, nice scenic pictures that look great on calendars, postcards, and computer desktops. Esoteric and humble at the same time. But is it art? Close enough for me, anyway.

My wife and I were very pleased with this book. The commentary was interesting and the numerous photos were of decent quality. A lot better than paying the $400 for the complete book by Brown. A nice book if you like Hasui and are on a normal budget.

One hundred woodblock prints of the 20th-century Japanese artist Hasui are cataloged in bright colors on large pages roughly 9" x 11". Captions for the hundred are grouped following the prints. With annotations which are comments by Hasui on the particular print or informative remarks by Narazaki Munishige, editor of a book on the artist's prints, the captions are instructive. Instructive too are two introductory essays by Kendall H. Brown. The first is on the Japanese cultural sources of Hasui's prints; the second focuses on Hasui's life and art. The succinct text with the appealing pictures of numerous prints offers an ideal introduction to and sampling of the woodblock prints by this outstanding Japanese artist who is regarded as one of the primary artists of the 20th-century Japanese art movement known as "New prints" (Shin-hanga).

This large-format book brings together paintings, etchings and other visual images of how humans envisioned travel to the moon and the planets from early Renaissance times to the 1950's. Most were illustrations accompanying published works of fiction. These images, collected by Ordway, are very well reproduced and have useful captions.

Until the second half of the nineteenth century, these depictions of space vehicles, other worlds, and their possible inhabitants were wildly fanciful. After Jules Verne, improved astronomical observations and better engineering made these visions increasingly recognizable for those who grew up with the Space Age. The book, which includes photographs of early rocket experiments, ends with an extensive section on the 1950's, covering the ideas of Wernher von Braun and illustrated with paintings by Chesley Bonestell and Fred Freeman.

Readers may wonder why there are no visions from non-western cultures; were none sufficiently interesting, or do they really not exist? The foreword by Arthur C. Clarke is disappointingly flippant.

Beautiful "coffee table" book. The author's love for the pictorial material in his collection and this book shows at every page. The author is at his best with the "post-Goddard" material and 20th century representations of space flight. Being the proud owner of some of the original, older material, I did notice that a couple of captions for Flammarion and Terzi are wrong but I am just being picky... Enjoy!

Author Ordway's absorption with rockets and spaceflight began before NASA even existed: he was one of the first to work in the space industry and assembled a beautiful collection of images relating to astronautics and rockets. Five centuries of spaceflight images are presented here, in a stunning collection of both real rockets and illustrations of imagined creations. Many a science buff as well as science fiction fans will find Visions Of Spaceflight fascinating.

All of the paintings in this volume are dated, the paintings are for the most part not accurate as we see spaceflight today, but their historical value is immense. For example, early paintings of the lunar surface often exhibit sharp peaks on mountains, of course we now know eons of cosmic bombardment smoothly rounded most features. Text at the beginning of this book explain how these paintings were collected over many years, they date from before the 1600's to the 1950's, a fascinating story in itself, and there is also a foreword by Arthur C. Clarke. Each painting is accompanied by a caption in this large-format book.

From our perspective today many of these paintings look very quaint, though when they were first published they must have appeared very futuristic. Buy this book for it's historical and art value, not for scientific accuracy.

Fred Ordway has to be the world's leading space historian. If he isn't recognised as such he darned well should be! True to form Fred delivers an outstanding book filled with beautiful reproductions of some of the greatest space art ever painted. In the past fifty years Fred Ordway's contributions to the documentation of man's preoccupation with the heavens has to be unsurpassed. This book is a brilliant and perfect addition to any space enthusiasts collection. Trust me...buy this book!

Easily the best book I have found on Visual Merchandising for retail. It has great pictures and is easy to follow. It covers all aspects of the subject clearly.

At last a book that that not only explains the concept of visual merchandising, but also demonstrates how to implement the various techniques that help promote retail sales.

The book is divided in to easy to read chapters from window displays to in-store layouts and even covers a brief history of window displays. This book is a MUST for retailers, it covers areas of visual merchandising that are often forgotten- ambience, signage, window props, colour and mannequins.

I found the section on store design particularly interesting.

From fashion to home the book has been clearly well researched.

The generous amount of images have been sourced from the worlds influential retailers (Japan, Paris, Hong Kong, USA and UK to name a few) and the illustrations are a useful tool to help explain the principles of visual merchandising.

Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R3I2B281HI4SWX This book is essential not just to retail store designers but also to business people in retail.

The book takes an in depth look at all subjects relating to merchandising. It takes care to help readers understand every aspect of it.

There are 6 main chapters namely, The Role fo the Visual Merchandiser, Store Design, Windows, In-store Visual Merchandising, Mannequins, The Visual Merchandiser's Studio. The titles of the chapters are pretty self explanatory.

They get down into the details of concept and provides tons of examples and case studies from the real world. Some of the big store names featured includes Lane Crawford, Atelier 1 and Giorgio Armani.

There are lessons on how stores can be designed, right down to the placing of lights and placement of shelves. Readers can also learn how to create ambience, carry out sales promotions, improve the usage of signages and fixtures and many other useful techniques.

I've to say it again. This book is essential if you're opening or managing a retail store or helping to design one.

Then this one is for you! Teaches a descriptive, realistic view on a visual designer and the work that goes with it - not by experience - but i have learned so much from it.

Well written, great photography & illustrations. The text is approached logically with clear explanations of practical, real information that can be applied immediately. A 'must have' for anyone entering the Visual Merchandising field or for retailers needing to 'up their game' or train staff. Gave me a good understanding of how the visual merchandising field is structured, who does what, how to layout a retail space correctly and guidelines & approaches for creating effective displays. Great book.

First and foremost, this book has a definite audience: people who need to produce graphs for somewhat sophisticated audiences. This is not a book about producing graphs for mass marketing or other flashy arenas. While this point is implicit throughout the book, it is not often stated explicitly.

The biggest strength of this book, and what makes it worth the purchase, is Cleveland's discussion about the relationship between graphing and visual processing. We've all seen a thousand pie charts, for example, but it turns out that people are not good at visually processing pie charts. The way we process visually has implications for everything from line graph construction to color choices to deciding how to code data on XY scatter plots. Although this information does exist in other places, Cleveland brings it together concisely here. Some of the discussion can get a bit technical, however, so be warned.

This is a great first book to read to learn more about how to construct graphs, and it has enough references to point you to other sources if you feel you need more. I myself have purchased several other books about the visual representation of data (including Cleveland's other book "The Elements of Graphing Data"), but this is where I started, and the information in this book has enriched my understanding of those other books immeasurably.

Behaviour elucidation is done amazingly well. This book is even more powerful than Cleveland's "Elements of Graphing Data". Key words for what you achieve: incisive, powerful, salient behaviour eludidation. The principles of graphical perception from "Elements" are great (and themselves powerful) but this book invents and emphasizes yet more incisive visualizations. These new visualizations involve considerable computation IN SUPPORT OF CONSTRUCTING the graphs. But the GRAPHS -- and the behaviours they make manifest/salient -- are the point. As in "Elements", Cleveland is not just about the techniques as if they were rote procedure; he helps you build perspective too. This book, in a very real sense, (even explicitly so stated by Cleveland himself) is an alternative paradigm to the pervasive statistical inference paradigm. No wonder, then, that another reviewer (a Statistics student) learned so much he had never even seen before. Boy was "Visualizing" useful for a project I had on univariate data in multiple categorical groups (folding durability; 6 groups of data); Chapter 2 of "Visualizing" TRULY had me seeing things I NEVER would've otherwise. The book also guides you in the computations you need to get to the visualizations.

Goo

This book was recommended highly to me by a former university professor (and now consultant). It exceeds my expectations. The figures and acompanying explanations are very clear, as is the language throughout. Visualizing Data discusses several tools with which I was not familiar, and clarifies tools that I thought I understood (including box plots). I have taken several university statistics classes, but I believe this book would help anyone involved in displaying or interpreting data. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but when your business depends on it, a well-defined plot or graph can be worth much more. Visualizing Data enables you to produce well-defined plots and graphs with confidence.

Simply the best book of its kind.