How Charts Lie: Getting Smarter about Visual Information

This was one of the most enjoyable books I've ever read on data visualization. In this compact volume, Alberto lays out the foundations of 'graphicacy' -- essentially literacy for charts and graphs. The book is broken up into easily digestible sections and written with succinct and precise language, making it an absolute joy to read. Unlike other technical books, I never felt bogged down when reading, and the structure allows you to sit down, take 10 minutes to read a section or two, and come back to it later--perfect for people that are busy and easily distracted (like myself).The book is filled with important and practical advice on how to read and interpret charts and graphs. Not only does it cover the techniques that disingenuous chart makers can use to deceive, but also the mistakes and misinterpretations that even well-educated folks make when reading charts. In the era of mis- and disinformation, when data is quickly becoming a lingua franca, this book is more important than ever, and should be considered required reading for high school students (and adults!) the world over. But while the book is certainly aimed at the layperson, there's valuable information even for seasoned dataviz practitioners. I had an education in science and mathematics, and now I work full time as a researcher/data analyst/dataviz expert and I still found the book quite useful as a summary of common numerical and graphical misconceptions. I learned new information, and I found the book an excellent refresher.TLDR - A top notch book for anyone wanting to be a more informed person. Buy this book, you'll be glad you did.

Alberto Cairo’s latest seems perfectly timed considering the current state of news, media and politics. The book targets itself more to the average consumer of charts rather than data viz professionals, and to that end it contains a lot of examples from politics starting off with variations on the 2016 presidential voting map. It’s a good example to kick off the discussion as it demonstrates in various ways how charts can deceive.The rest of the book is broken down into different ways that charts can lie—either intentionally or not—leaving the reader with the ultimate takeaway to be skeptical of everything. The more successful examples are the ones—like the presidential voting maps—that show the same data presented in different ways.While any data viz pro will recognize a lot of expected topics, there is still some very good in depth coverage of Y-axes, scales, shading, data defining, and omission of data. All covered with accessible and understandable examples—some we’ve seen before and many we haven’t.As always with the author, the book is thoroughly researched and well-notated with an excellent bibliography.If there is a criticism, it might be in the production values of the book. Unlike Cairo’s previous works printed in full, glossy color, this is a 2-color production that forces you to focus more on the words really than the charts. Add to this the smaller form factor, and some of the charts printed all in shades of red and black can be a little hard to read at times. Ultimately the mood feels more academic than previous books, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.Definitely worth adding to the bookshelf!

The book is short and easy to read. It offers certain details on chart style and good practices for showing data. However, the book focuses on a narrow group of charts (classic y vs x or time series), and doesn't delve into other types of graphs. I also wished that the book had more colorful figures. Overall, the book is a good introduction book for data visualization.

I am a huge fan of Alberto Cairo so when this book was released, I quickly grabbed a copy. it's taken me awhile to post a review, but didn't take me long to read through the book! It's a fabulous book for anyone especially in these days where we are constantly bombarded with charts and maps in the news. Cairo explains how to read charts and how to best create charts and maps that are clear and easy to understand. If you work with data at all, this book is a must have so you create effective and clear visualizations. Often the best ways to learn is to see how NOT to something - and this book accomplishes that for sure.Reading through the table of contents you can see that he covers all the key points - how charts work, poorly designed charts, dubious data, insufficient data, uncertainty, and misleading patterns.Get this book. You won't regret it.I also highly recommend Alberto Cairo's other books - The Truthful Art and The Functional Art. I've always been a proponent of good data visualization, but it was the Truthful Art book that turned me into a data viz evangelist!

I’m a big fan of Cairo’s work and recommend his two previous books, "The Functional Art" and "The Truthful Art", to people who attend my workshops.Those books are for people who need to create charts and information graphics.With "How Chart Lie", Cairo is targeting a much larger audience.Everyone.Cairo is concerned at how politicians, advertisers, and the media use charts to bamboozle the public. He desperately wants to stop the spread of misinformation and wants you, the reader, to know BS when you see it. As he writes “we all have the civic duty to avoid spreading charts and stories that may be misleading. We must contribute to a healthier informational environment.”Cairo is an entertaining and engaging writer and a superb graphic designer. He’s also a very good teacher and those with any degree of curiosity will learn a great deal from him.Please be assured that the book is not just about how to avoid being duped by charts. There are many uplifting examples where Cairo channels his inner Hans Rosling and shows how much better life can be when we truly see and understand the data.I’m sorry our education system doesn’t require that people take civics classes anymore, and that this isn’t the primary reading material for those classes. We’d have better citizens.

Excellent work by Alberto Cairo. I have read the book several times and use it as a reference. Like the part about visualizations as a language... and the many examples in there.

Alberto Cairo has explained in very good detail, how tweaking charts can portray a different message altogether.

É melhor ler no celular/tablet/Pc precisa do gráfico para entender o raciocínio do autorValeu a leitura. Muito bom.Revela como devemos olhar para os gráficos como uma ferramenta e não como a tese em si.Recomendo

Excelente libro, logra explicar de forma sencilla y entendible conceptos que pueden ser complicados de entender utilizando un argot técnico.Todo está referenciado en el libro, lo cual muestra un rigor metodologico en su escritura.Excelente texto de divulgación, recomendable a cualquier persona

Having read Cairo's other books, I preordered this. It's a different angle from his other books, but just as important. The text is easy to understand, but gives an in-depth understanding on what to be aware of when seeing datavisualization, graphs and diagrams especially in the news.Not least now, during the corona crisis where graphs and data are rife, it's important to know how to ask the relevant questions and make sure you understand what is actually there. Well worth a read!