Data Visualization Made Simple: Insights into Becoming Visual

...but personally this book has been invaluable to me. It has been instrumental in shaping how I communicate about and through data. The concepts and techniques have helped me understand the ‘why’ behind creating the right chart at the appropriate time. Also, I came away with a concrete sanity checks that ensure that I’m being clear, concise, and obvious with my visualizations.What I didn’t know when I decided to buy this book was how much I would change the way I collaborate on data visualization with colleagues, stakeholders and clients. Having that consistent language and terminology has opened up numerous dialogs and significantly reduced how much time we spend across teams trying to understand each other. It sounds so obvious but this was the material that got me there.

Professor Kristen Sosulski’s book on Data Visualization is comprehensive, practical, and clear. In an era of Big Data, we have to thank people like Sosulski for sharing their knowledge. Her book not only addresses a variety of useful graphs, from the simple to the most complex; but also includes additional resources to apply Data Visualization in a practical way. The reader will add a new skill and will become more visually savvy after completing this book.

Whether you are a business leader, entrepreneur or student, this is a must-have book as a reference and guide. In a clear and concise way, Sosulski explains why data visualization is essential, the tools you need to be successful, practical tips and real-world examples. I've taken the strategies from the book and was able to put them in practice in my own work to help improve presentations and research. I highly recommend this book.

I was looking for a book focused on business visualizations. Chapter 1 contains visualizations that are difficult to read, have incomplete labels on axis, and lack a legend. Many of the visualizations use background grids and colors that distract from the data story. The author used word clouds too. If you delivered visualizations like these in your job, you would be considered an amateur.

Data Visualization Made Simple by Professor Kristen Sosulski of NYU Stern is a great resource for more effectively communicating using data, an increasingly valuable skill in the information economy.