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Better Data Visualizations: A Guide for Scholars, Researchers, and Wonks

by Jonathan Schwabish (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 363 ratings
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Now more than ever, content must be visual if it is to travel far. Readers everywhere are overwhelmed with a flow of data, news, and text. Visuals can cut through the noise and make it easier for readers to recognize and recall information. Yet many researchers were never taught how to present their work visually.

This book details essential strategies to create more effective data visualizations. Jonathan Schwabish walks readers through the steps of creating better graphs and how to move beyond simple line, bar, and pie charts. Through more than five hundred examples, he demonstrates the do’s and don’ts of data visualization, the principles of visual perception, and how to make subjective style decisions around a chart’s design. Schwabish surveys more than eighty visualization types, from histograms to horizon charts, ridgeline plots to choropleth maps, and explains how each has its place in the visual toolkit. It might seem intimidating, but everyone can learn how to create compelling, effective data visualizations. This book will guide you as you define your audience and goals, choose the graph that best fits for your data, and clearly communicate your message.
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  1. ISBN-10
    0231193114
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0231193115
  3. Publisher
    Columbia University Press
  4. Publication date
    February 9, 2021
  5. Language
    English
  6. Dimensions
    7.25 x 1 x 9.25 inches
  7. Print length
    464 pages
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

An excellent primer for anyone who wants to display quantitative information clearly and powerfully. -- Robert B. Reich, Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy, University of California at Berkeley, and former U.S. secretary of labor

This is an immensely practical guide to more effective communication through data visualization. From basic principles, to an extensive taxonomy of visualization types, to developing a style guide, this will be an invaluable and accessible read for anyone who needs to turn data into information. -- Mara Averick, RStudio

Too often, good data falls prey to bad or lazy visualizations. At last, an indispensable guide for presenting your work intelligibly and compellingly. -- DJ Patil, former U.S. chief data scientist

For many of us, it’s tough to understand data without visuals. But visualizing data is hard! This book is the authoritative guide. It’s terrific―and spectacularly useful. -- Cass R. Sunstein, Harvard Law School, and author of Too Much Information

A stellar variety and number of visualizations are included in these pages, an enjoyable-to-read encyclopedia of graphs. Jonathan Schwabish provides practical considerations for when to use which visual and thoughtful design guidelines in this excellent resource for those who work and communicate with data. You’ll be inspired and―as promised―learn better data visualization! -- Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic, author of Storytelling with Data: A Data Visualization Guide for Business Professionals

Navigating the myriad chart types available today can be a daunting experience. This book provides you with not only a guiding light but also an important foundation in the burgeoning field of data visualization. You will want to keep its set of principles and guidelines right next to you in your next project. -- Manuel Lima, author of The Book of Circles: Visualizing Spheres of Knowledge

Better Data Visualizations carefully teaches the reader when to use which type of visualization and why. This engaging book takes you from the basics to the entire breadth of today’s visualization methods. There are hundreds of clear, elegant, and varied visualizations to give you ideas for your own work. -- Max Roser, founder and director, Our World in Data

Better Data Visualizations is a practical guide to a large catalogue of chart types. No other book introduces the reader to specific chart types with such detail and finesse. It is an excellent resource for students, analysts, and researchers alike. -- Alberto Cairo, author of How Charts Lie: Getting Smarter About Visual Information

Not only is the book well designed from fonts to white space, it’s also well written and enjoyable to read. ― Technical Communication

About the Author

Jonathan Schwabish is an economist and writer, teacher, and creator of policy-relevant data visualizations. He helps nonprofits, research institutions, and governments at all levels improve how they communicate their work and findings to their colleagues, partners, clients, and constituents. He is the author of Better Presentations: A Guide for Scholars, Researchers, and Wonks (Columbia, 2016).

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Columbia University Press (February 9, 2021)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 464 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0231193114
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0231193115
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.5 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.25 x 1 x 9.25 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 363 ratings

About the author

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Jonathan Schwabish

Jonathan Schwabish

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Jonathan Schwabish is an economist, writer, teacher, and creator of policy-relevant data visualizations. He is a senior research associate and data visualization specialist at the Urban Institute and publishes a blog and podcast at his site PolicyViz.com, where he helps people improve the way they process, visualize, analyze, and present their data and research. His tutorials, remakes, and interviews with data visualization and presentation experts speak to scholars, policy wonks, and anyone with a data story to tell. He is on Twitter @jschwabish.

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
363 global ratings

Customers say

Customers find the book very useful as a reference guide. They describe the content as good, excellent, and engaging. Readers appreciate the detailed examples and great overview of graph types. They find the text clear and direct, and the page quality is good. However, some customers have reported that the book binding is poor and the pages are falling out.

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Information qualityBook contentVisualizationReadabilityBook bindingPage closure
15 customers mention "Information quality"15 positive0 negative

Customers find the book very useful as a reference guide. They say it's packed with informative content, is an incredible resource, and has great guidance for best practices on how to create beautiful and relevant data visualizations. Readers also mention the examples are detailed and relevant. They appreciate the approachable guide to creating visualization guidelines and the excellent foundation builder for the discipline.

"...The text is clear and direct, with great guidance for best practices on how to create beautiful and engaging figures for data analysis...." Read more

"...The author lays out many good guidelines, both those derived from Tufte ("integrate the graphics and text") and others I've figured out on my own..." Read more

"Excellent foundation builder for the discipline! It is very useful as a reference guide...." Read more

"...It has helped me find better ways to present data, according to the audience and the type of data I need to show." Read more

12 customers mention "Book content"12 positive0 negative

Customers find the book content informative and engaging to read. They say it's one of the best introduction books on the topic.

"This is a fantastic book that I assign as supplement to my econometric course...." Read more

"Great content. Well-written. Good examples. One of the best intro books on the topic...." Read more

"...Overall worth the read and handy if you look for inspiration for making your next viz" Read more

"This book is excellent. It walks you through each chart type, how it’s used, data and design considerations, and alternatives...." Read more

10 customers mention "Visualization"10 positive0 negative

Customers find the book excellent. They say it walks them through each chart type, how it's used, and the examples are detailed and relevant. Readers also mention the book focuses on concrete features of data visualization that can immediately improve. They appreciate the fancy and simple concepts, and that the book has a logic layout and comprehensive coverage of material.

"...the text is that unlike many data viz books, it focuses on concrete features of data visualization that can immediately improve presentation, rather..." Read more

"Lots of examples, visuals" Read more

"...There is a lot to choose from and each reader, including the more experienced data visualizers, will find a couple of charts that they have never..." Read more

"It turns out that this volume provides a fairly comprehensive overview of graph types with commentary on how well suited each is for telling a clear..." Read more

8 customers mention "Readability"8 positive0 negative

Customers find the book very easy to read and understand. They appreciate the clear, direct text and beautiful, legible graphics. Readers also mention the page quality is really good.

"...The text is clear and direct, with great guidance for best practices on how to create beautiful and engaging figures for data analysis...." Read more

"...It is very easy to read, even for those who aren't familiar with technical concepts or have an extensive background in this area...." Read more

"Great content. Well-written. Good examples. One of the best intro books on the topic...." Read more

"This book far exceeded my expectations. The author did a fantastic job of compiling and explaining the visuals...." Read more

6 customers mention "Book binding"0 positive6 negative

Customers are dissatisfied with the book binding. They mention the glue is insufficient and the first few pages have come unglued.

"...It's some kind of light glue holding the pages in. I'm three chapters in and the first 20 pages are now loose and falling out...." Read more

"...My only complaint is with the glue binding. This book is over an inch thick, and the glue binding is insufficient...." Read more

"The book binding failed immediately - like other reviewers mentioned, the first few pages have come unglued" Read more

"Rated 1 star because the binding is terrible. I took a risk even though other folks had commented and it didn’t pan out...." Read more

5 customers mention "Page closure"0 positive5 negative

Customers are dissatisfied with the page closure of the book. They mention the pages just fall out.

"...I'm three chapters in and the first 20 pages are now loose and falling out. More are going to peel out." Read more

"...the first 20 pages (so far) individually in my hand and each page just pops right out when I turn it...." Read more

"...I bought a NEW paperback copy of the book, opened it, and pages are just falling out...." Read more

"As soon as I opened this book to start reading, pages started falling out by the dozen. The page quality is really good, but the binding is awful...." Read more

Helpful but too much text
4 out of 5 stars
Helpful but too much text
I get it, the author needs to write a book, but anyone in the field of UX will tell you, people don't read. I will pick this up from time to time when I have some data that needs a unique visualization and I am looking for ideas. I did not read this book cover to cover.
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Top reviews from the United States

Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham
5.0 out of 5 stars An absolutely phenomenal data viz book
Reviewed in the United States on April 3, 2023
Verified Purchase
This is a fantastic book that I assign as supplement to my econometric course. The text is clear and direct, with great guidance for best practices on how to create beautiful and engaging figures for data analysis.

What I like most about the text is that unlike many data viz books, it focuses on concrete features of data visualization that can immediately improve presentation, rather than leaving aesthetic decisions up to the reader. As someone who is not particularly artistic, it was very helpful to see what dimensions are most important to focus on -- I will not necessarily be creating pictures on the NYTimes homepage, but I can make far better figures than I used to.
11 people found this helpful
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The m
5.0 out of 5 stars That rarest thing: a good dataviz book
Reviewed in the United States on March 12, 2022
Verified Purchase
I cut my teeth on Tufte, and still love his book series. However, they are very high-concept and not so excellent at getting into the weeds.

I've bought quite a few other dataviz books to try to teach myself how to take the philosophical Tufte information and turn it into specific actionable methods to improve my work. Sadly, those books all tend to be not good.

Then I found this one. My gosh! This book is exactly what I wanted. First, it's software agnostic and doesn't try to show you how, but rather shows what and why. The author lays out many good guidelines, both those derived from Tufte ("integrate the graphics and text") and others I've figured out on my own ("start with gray"), but also goes much deeper and provides many other good guidelines and suggestions.

I read this book cover to cover, I'm going to keep it on my desk, and I'm already recommending it to others.
26 people found this helpful
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Michelle
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book
Reviewed in the United States on May 7, 2024
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Lots of examples, visuals
One person found this helpful
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Vincent Indelicato
4.0 out of 5 stars Great Foundation Builder
Reviewed in the United States on June 21, 2021
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Excellent foundation builder for the discipline! It is very useful as a reference guide. I will say that it is fraught with typos and errors in both the text and the graphs (and the text referencing the graphs) so just be aware of that. Other than that, it's great!
5 people found this helpful
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Ginnia
5.0 out of 5 stars Very interesting book for anyone dealing with data visualization
Reviewed in the United States on September 3, 2024
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I got this book to help me improve the way I communicated at work. It has helped me find better ways to present data, according to the audience and the type of data I need to show.
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Peter V.
5.0 out of 5 stars Packed with informative content and engaging to read!
Reviewed in the United States on March 12, 2021
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This is a highly informative and easy to read book on data and data visualization. Having spent a career using and communicating with data across several sectors for very technical policy and program issues, I found myself continually saying "I wish I had this book years ago!"

It is very easy to read, even for those who aren't familiar with technical concepts or have an extensive background in this area. What's great is that Jon also shows you how to integrate creative and informative data visualizations into your overall project or presentation, related to and helping your written content as well. Because Jon practices what he preaches, the pages literally pop and instantly communicate facts and figures; and more importantly, it inspired me to create the same way, and apply these tools in my own work.
11 people found this helpful
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jupiterrrrr
5.0 out of 5 stars GOOD
Reviewed in the United States on June 25, 2024
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it is very interrsting
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Testing Queen
3.0 out of 5 stars Great book, poor binding
Reviewed in the United States on November 21, 2022
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Great content. Well-written. Good examples. One of the best intro books on the topic. And I've read a lot of these for the data viz part of my job.

3 stars because the binding is poor quality. It's some kind of light glue holding the pages in. I'm three chapters in and the first 20 pages are now loose and falling out. More are going to peel out.
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Testing Queen
3.0 out of 5 stars Great book, poor binding
Reviewed in the United States on November 21, 2022
Great content. Well-written. Good examples. One of the best intro books on the topic. And I've read a lot of these for the data viz part of my job.

3 stars because the binding is poor quality. It's some kind of light glue holding the pages in. I'm three chapters in and the first 20 pages are now loose and falling out. More are going to peel out.
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16 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Esteban Licona
5.0 out of 5 stars Better Data Visualizations
Reviewed in Mexico on January 22, 2024
Verified Purchase
Buen libro, contenido interesante, llego a tiempo y en buen estado, ampliamente recomendable.
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D.Coutts
5.0 out of 5 stars An incredibly thoughtful guide to data visualization
Reviewed in Canada on July 12, 2021
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Better Data Visualizations is a great reference for any data focused individual. Jon does a great job of breaking down the where, when, why, and how of modern visualization. A highly recommended read for those looking to increase their knowledge on these topics.
One person found this helpful
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Bianconi Francesco
4.0 out of 5 stars Ottimo libro, peccato la rilegatura
Reviewed in Italy on November 1, 2022
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Il testo sembra molto interessante; peccato per la rilegatura: si è rotta quasi subito e le pagine hanno iniziato a staccarsi. Ho chiesto la sostituzione, spero che sia stato solo un problema della mia copia.

Aggiornamento: Amazon ha sostituito il libro senza spese (ottimo servizio), e la nuova copia sembra non avere problemi di rilegatura.
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Bianconi Francesco
4.0 out of 5 stars Ottimo libro, peccato la rilegatura
Reviewed in Italy on November 1, 2022
Il testo sembra molto interessante; peccato per la rilegatura: si è rotta quasi subito e le pagine hanno iniziato a staccarsi. Ho chiesto la sostituzione, spero che sia stato solo un problema della mia copia.

Aggiornamento: Amazon ha sostituito il libro senza spese (ottimo servizio), e la nuova copia sembra non avere problemi di rilegatura.
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puckie
5.0 out of 5 stars Cengage böcker är utmärkta
Reviewed in Sweden on September 17, 2022
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Cengages böcker är alltid av högsta kvalitet, bland de absolut bästa i världen, tycker jag.
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Thomas
5.0 out of 5 stars There's loads of value in this book for anyone who creates charts
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 29, 2022
Verified Purchase
The book contains hundreds of charts encompassing loads of different chart types.

The book has been well organised into different sections. You can either read cover to cover or just find the specific type of chart you are looking for e.g time, qualitative, geostationary etc.

On top of displaying interesting charts, it also describes how to choose between each one for your data as well as best practices and design tips.

100% I would recommend as a companion guide to chart selection and design.
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