Learning Tableau 2022

I really enjoyed this book and it quick started my jumping into Tableau the instructions and examples were so easy to follow. I was able to create dashboards with this book.

(Background: I read an early review copy of this. It's an update to previous editions. I haven't read those earlier editions and evaluated this as a standalone work. This is an end-user book, not aimed at developers or administrators of Tableau systems.)This book starts with the basics and slowly builds up to fairly sophisticated techniques for doing visualizations using Tableau. If you are a Tableau beginner, this is a great way to learn to use it at your own pace. If you already have some Tableau experience, I'll bet there will be things in here that are either new to you or that you have kind of forgotten about. I know that was true for me.If you are a beginner, I recommend that you stay in Chapter 1 until you feel completely comfortable with all the things he describes in that introduction. Like pretty much any sophisticated tool, there is some terminology that you will find it best to have burned into your brain cells to make the rest of the material easier to take in. Not that it's hard; it's just that it may be new ground for you, and you don't want to be bothered with trying to remember that sort of stuff when you are really trying to digest some larger concept. He does a good job of explaining what you need to know for the rest of the book, so don't skip it thinking it's a lightweight introduction.One of the things I like best about this book, besides its thorough coverage of the topic, is that the author goes beyond merely explaining how to do various things. He explains why you would or would not make various choices. This is the creative part of storytelling with data, and he's interested in having you accomplish your storytelling goals rather than just presenting visual facts from the data.

Prior to acquiring this book I had done a bit of free video learning on Tableau. But I also like to learn from books and to have a book as a reference, where I can write questions and notes in margin, underline and highlight.There were several things I was looking for in a beginning Tableau book. First, I wanted a good description of Measures versus Dimensions. Second, I wanted a good description of discrete v. continuous values. Third, I wanted a good reference on Level of Detail calculations. Finally, I wanted a thorough treatment of the “actions” features in Tableau.Other things that I appreciate being included in the book is the chapter on calculations and parameters, a discussion of groups versus sets, and an entire chapter on table calculations. I also liked the color version of the book and thought color was quite valuable, especially when distinguishing pill types.As for suggestions, something as seemingly simple as sorting is not completely simple in Tableau, and sorting didn’t even have an index entry. There should also have been index entries on things like the AGG() and ATTR() functions, and there are a number of typographical errors.In summary, this is a great book for people starting off with Tableau and it will serve as a great learning tool and reference.

Josh Milligan’s Learning Tableau 2022, 5th edition is a great read. Josh has written this book for an absolute beginner, so a full introduction to the interface and all menus/options is covered. Josh explains all the fundamentals in the first half of the book with step-by-step follow along instructions, in the context of thinking like a data professional. More importantly, his explanations of the behind the scenes processes internal to Tableau are straightforward and make learning how to use this incredible package much smoother.Intermediate and some advanced topics are explained and demonstrated. The latest additions to Tableau are covered. I really enjoyed the explanations of fundamental topics like data types (dimensions vs. measures and discrete vs. continuous) and LOD (Level of Detail) calculations. The dashboard created in chapter 8 has quite a bit of end user functionality. Josh does a great job with custom calculations, filters and parameters.I have only read and worked through the first half, and looking forward to learning more about dynamic dashboards, adding extensions, and even Tableau Prep. I have picked up many great nuggets while working through this book, so far.If you would like to learn Tableau or up your skills and understanding, this book should definitely be in your collection.

I have had the pleasure of reviewing Joshua Milligan book, "Learning Tableau 2022". The fifth edition contains updates with Tableau's latest features, such as dashboard extensions, Explain Data, and integration with CRM Analytics (Einstein Analytics), which will help you harness the full potential of artificial intelligence (AI) and predictive modeling in Tableau.Joshua covers so much content within the book that I know it would be like having a #Tableau visionary to turn to at a moment's notice when you're trying to figure something out and it is just not working.I really liked how he explained LOD expressions FIXED, INCLUDE and EXCLUDE and in reviewing the section on Table Calculations, which is challenging to understand without formal training, Joshua breaks them down and goes behind the scenes.This book will be a valuable resource for me to use as a reference and when I want to dive deeper into a topic. I highly encourage you if your new to Tableau or a seasoned professional developer to add this book to your reference material.Thank you, Joshua Milligan, for taking the time to share all of these insights and thank you Vidhi Vashisth for letting me review this copy! #data #analytics #training #learning