Now You See It Book Review + Giveaway

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Quick Facts
Book Name: Now You See It: Simple Visualization Techniques for Quantitative Analysis
Type: Hardcover
Size: 329 pages
Where to buy: Amazon.com
Organization: 14 chapters split into 3 primary groups. Building Core Skills for Visual Analysis (6 Chapters), Honing Skills for Diverse Types of Visual Analysis (6 Chapters), and Further Thoughts and Hopes (2 Chapters)

About a month ago, I got a hold of a copy of Stephen Few’s newest composition. I’ve been a fan of Stephen Few for a while, specifically when I read his book Information Dashboard Design: The Effective Visual Communication of Data and I was pretty excited about this book too. I may be somewhat biased in my assessment, however, I think I can provide a somewhat objective review as I, and countless others, haven’t quite reached the level of information design mastery.


Stephen Few compresses visualization and data principles into a single source that would normally be scattered over several hundred (maybe not that many, but enough to discourage). The book is transcends the role of a reference guide and is more of a guide on the ‘journey of discovery’. Stephen makes a note early on that the amount of information in the world is not the issue, but more of the lack of skill in making good use of it. Ironically, this is the premise for all of the new bing.com commercials where people suffer from information overload when asked a question that has a very singular and fixed answer)


Stephen outlines the traits of good data analysis, information visualization, and even goes as far as to outline the aptitude and attitude of an effective data analyst. In addition, he outlines the traits of meaningful data, which include high volume, multivariate, atomic, and of known pedigree. Stephen even goes as far as to outline the components of analytical interaction and navigation, which was a new learning point for me. In addition, Stephen covers a LOT of ground including pre-attentive attributes, working memory, and Ben Shneiderman visual information-seeking mantra.

In all, this book is outstanding and should serve as a good standalone for those interested or aspiring for good information visualization or as a supplemental addition to an existing collection of Edward Tufte and Colin Ware books.

I like this book so much, I want to hand a copy to someone who will use the power for good. All you have to do is:

1. Write a tweet about this giveaway and include a link to this post

2. Leave a comment with a link to your tweet

That’s it! Contest will end on Friday, July 3rd at 12:00 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time. Good luck!

Update: Congratulations to @bump! Stay tuned for prizes and discussions coming up soon...

Balsamiq Mockups Giveaway

Sometimes there is a need for really good software tools to help visualize a concept. Balsamiq Mockups is easily one of the best wire framing and conceptual drawing tools available. Equipped with a vast UI Library that includes controls for websites, iPhone screens, and software user interfaces, it’s a must have for those who want to plan and design with maximum benefit and minimum cost.

Now, for the good news....
Balsamiq has allowed me to give away a copy of Mockups to one lucky individual. All you have to do get in on the action is:

1) Follow me on Twitter (@compoundj)
2) Leave a comment below with your Twitter username
3) Tell me how your life can be easier with Mockups

The winner will be announced @ 11:59 p.m. EST on May 22nd, 2009. Feel free to retweet and download the trial version of Mockups so you can get some practice in. You may be surprised what you are able to do with it. Good Luck!

Update: Congratulations to @sheatsb! Thanks to everyone that participated in this giveaway. Stay tuned for prizes and discussions coming up soon...