Introducing our Data Viz Book Club

In 2017 I really want to read more books about data visualisation, and as I mentioned in this post, I need some help sticking to my #DataResolutions. So I decided to start a data viz book club! Every two months I'll read a book about data viz, and I'd love you to read along with me. As I read I'll be:

• Posting questions about data visualisation to help me think critically about visualising data
• Building vizzes to help me put what I'm learning in to practice
• Hopefully have some great conversations around data viz with the Tableau Public community

After I've finished each book I'll post a summary of what I've learnt. If you'd like to read along with me, or get involved in the discussion, tweet using the hashtag #VizBookClub, or join the conversation on our Slack channel.

1^st #VizBookClub: The Truthful Art: Data, Charts, and Maps for Communication by Alberto Cairo

Alberto Cairo is Knight Chair in Visual Journalism at the School of Communication of the University of Miami. He has over 20 year experience in data journalism and data visualisation, and is the author of The Functional Art: An introduction to information graphics and visualization, and is an authority on data visualisation and data journalism (he blog about both topics at The Functional Art.

The Truthful Art: Data, Charts, and Maps for Communication looks at the role that data visualisation plays in our world. Cairo gives particle steps and advice on how to build an effective visualisation, and outlined how to critically assess any data visualisation you see. The Truthful Art is a standalone book, and can be read, and instructive without having read The Functional Art.

What I'll Focus on while I Read

• Techniques to critically think about, and assess, data visualisations
• How the role and prevalence of data visualisations is changing in the world around us
• Ways to make my vizzes clearer and easier for my audience to understand

Get Involved!

If you want to read all (or just some) of The Truthful Art you can order it from Amazon through the link on this page (I'm reading the Kindle version). You can also borrow a copy of it from your local library, and Cairo has also made the 40 pages freely available here. Already read the book, or just want to get involved in the discussion? Tweet using the hashtag #VizBookClub, or join the conversation (and be able to use more the 140 characters!) on our Slack channel. and let's all learn a little more about data visualisation together.