For recreational reading it has to be Dune by Frank Herbert.
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Beautiful Visualization
Looking at Data through the Eyes of Experts
Julie Steele, Noah Iliinsky
This book describes the design and development of some well-known visualisations. It's a great way to learn how others approach visual design. The thing I liked most about this book is that every single author describes the collection and cleaning of their data as being the hardest part of any project. It was heartening to know that this is a pain point for all of us!
I wouldn't go as far as trying to figure out which one is the best... the most practical one I have read is Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard (The Heath brothers). I highly recommend that everyone read this.
For some reason Mother Night (Kurt Vonnegut) comes to mind in the non-practical books list, though I'm sure it's not the best one ever.
Shoe dog by Phil Knight
Jurassic Park and The Lost World
Enzo's ride around Thunderhill...
Two great data visualization books I use on a weekly basis for both Dundas designing and other applications is:
1. The Wall Street Journal Guide to Information Graphics: The Dos and Don'ts of Presenting Data, Facts, and Figures by Dona M. Wong.
2. Good Charts: The HBR Guide to Making Smarter, More Persuasive Data Visualizations by Scott Berinato.
Jordan - A good follow up to this is 'The Singularity Is Near
The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology' is a 2005 non-fiction book about artificial intelligence and the future of humanity by inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil.
Totally agree, there is a quote in those two for anything.
My favourites;
- "Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!"
-“But I don’t want to go among mad people,” Alice remarked.
“Oh, you can’t help that,” said the Cat: “we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.”
“How do you know I’m mad?” said Alice.
“You must be,” said the Cat, “or you wouldn’t have come here.”
-“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where–” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.
“–so long as I get SOMEWHERE,” Alice added as an explanation.
“Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough.”
Seems like a really fascinating read, Chris! I may have to pick this up. I also noticed you mentioned you're a big fan of Terry Goodkind. His latest books are usually my go-to gift for my father every Christmas.
Good Charts is a great read, although I've unfortunately only ever read exerpts and never its entirety.
Love these! The whole book is essentially the best quotes all strung together in a mad way. We should have a book club whithin in The Cube :)
Data Science from Scratch, Joel Grus, O'Reilly.
Covers all of the basics, from sourcing data to math to statistics to munging data to visualization, but just at a need-to-know level (not deep dives). Fairly quick read and great reference to have at hand. You can skip most of the Python parts, or read it and learn some great tricks for learning what information your data really holds.
Show Me the Numbers, 2nd Ed., Stephen Few, Analytics Press
Why are pie charts evil? How does information get into the brain? What is enough information and what is too much? Few has spent a lifetime testing and trying visualizations, so this is realy a deep dive, but it can truly help you get your critical points across to your audience.
I don’t know if this is fair but I want to recommend an author rather than a book.
The author I will recommend is Hampton Sides who writes history but it reads like a story. Everything is true but it always keeps me riveted. Whether it is a polar expedition, the hunt for Martin Luther King’s assassin or WW2, his books are a brilliant way to learn history.
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Lord Of The Rings, hands down!
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When does the movie come out?
I should probably read more
The Three-Body Problem
(Remembrance of Earth’s Past)
Hard Sci-Fi that is full of technical exposition about everything from quantum mechanics to artificial intelligence.
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