Tableau 8: The Official Guide now available for pre-order

Here at Tableau, we take great pride in building intuitive, easy-to-use software and providing outstanding online training materials. That said, we all appreciate the value of a good old-fashioned book.

That's why we're thrilled to announce that George Peck's Tableau 8: The Official Guide is currently available for pre-order on Amazon. The book will make its official debut on September 13, but early copies will be available at the Tableau Customer Conference.

In Tableau 8, Certified Tableau trainer and bestselling BI author George Peck teaches you how to build meaningful data visualizations and dashboards using the latest version of Tableau.

I received an advance copy of the book this week, and I can tell you it will have a permanent place on my desk for the foreseeable future.

If you're new to Tableau, the book walks you through the user interface -- including connecting to data, chart types, maps, filters, parameters and calculated fields, among others -- explaining relevant terms and foundational Tableau concepts in clear language.

After comprehensively covering Tableau Desktop, Peck also dives into Tableau Server and the brand-new Tableau Online, Tableau's hosted solution.

Plus, the function reference guide in the appendix is a life-saver for Tableau users who often find themselves deep in calculated fields.

If you're eager to get out of the reading and into the doing, the electronic content accompanying to book provides videos that bring the book's examples to life, empowering you to follow along every step of the way.

If you'll be at the Tableau Customer Conference, you're in luck. George Peck will be exhibiting at the conference, and his book will be available in our TCC store -- before it's available to the general public.

If we'll miss you at conference this year, be sure to pre-order Tableau 8: The Official Guide on Amazon today!