Simply one of my favorite data vis books out there, and a book I have recommended to lots of people. I think it’s the deepest and clearest explanation of something that’s close to my heart: Explanatory data vis, that makes a statement, that guides the reader.
I especially like the book a lot for putting blurry ideas I’ve encountered over the years into concrete words. But a completely new idea for me was the comparison of live presentation and written doc on page 24. Cole explains that in a presentation, you have complete control, and in a doc you have far less control and need to deliver a higher level of detail. I’ve never considered that. I’m not sure what it was, but something clicked there, and I thought: “WOW, yes, that makes so much sense!”