The elements of graphing data
by William S. Cleveland · first published 1985
86% recommend14% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Research-backed guide to graphing data that focuses on communicating information rather than decoration; readers value its practical advice and tests of how people read graphs, suiting anyone making charts.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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…one example is "Graphic Discovery: A Trout in the Milk and Other Visual Adventures." They're non-technical, short chapters, discussions of different data sets. Bill Cleveland's "Visualizing Data" and "Elements of Graphing Data" cover the same material -- graphing data -- at a more technical level. I don't know Cleveland's books would help with the issues you asked about, but... they are amazing books and if you're interested…
on “Try R — A new online course, for free” ↗…gnuplot wasn't very smart about how it chose points when plotting expressions (e.g., telling it to plot "sin(x)" rather than passing it points on a sine curve). Re guides, I liked William Cleveland's "Elements of Graphing Data". However, I'm not widely-read on this subject, so this is kind of one point in the noise.
on “Ask HN: Favorite software and/or guides for graphing/charting/visualizations?” ↗…psychological studies on comprehension of graphics) rather than one man's opinion. Also, Cleveland actually has accomplished something other than scolding and praising. Personally, I liked Cleveland's "Elements of Graphing Data" (http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Graphing-Data-William-Clevela...) better than "Visualizing Data", though they overlap a lot.
on “The Financial Times on Edward Tufte” ↗Another good source on visual presentation (of data) is Cleveland (author of "The Elements of Graphing Data", see http://www.win-vector.com/blog/2013/02/revisiting-clevelands... ). The neat thing is Cleveland formally tested a lot of his visualization principles (asking people to estimate things from different…
on “The Financial Times on Edward Tufte” ↗William Cleveland, "Elements of Graphing Data"[1] and "Visualizing Data"[2] Cleveland worked at Bell Labs and his work is timeless and very practical. It isn't about artwork or making things look nice. It's about communicating information. I like…
on “Ask HN: What is the best book on data visualization in 2021?” ↗William Cleveland did some research along those lines and he wrote two good books: - The elements of graphing data - Visualizing data The first one is of general interest, the second one more specialized for statisticians.
on “Friends don't let friends make certain types of data visualizations” ↗A colleague says great things about Cleveland's "The Elements of Graphing Data." It talks about how to leverage the way people perceive graphs in order to convey information. I've flipped through it, and it's on my to-read list. Sorry I can't say more about it.
on “Ask HN: Any good books on graphing/charting/visualization?” ↗…misleading (the scatter plot in particular). The most egregious is the use of a log-scale on three of the graphics, which isn't highlighted at all. Humans don't compare and interpret log scales well (see The Elements of Graphing Data by Cleveland, etc.). I would've much rather seen percentages (say on return on investment) or break out the analysis into tiers that were more comparable.
on “Benchmark of 100 crowdfunding videos reveals what works and how much to spend” ↗