Better Data Visualizations: A Guide for Scholars, Researchers, and Wonks
- Learn about principles of visual perception and data visualization best practices.
- Expand your graphic literacy by learning about more than 80 different visualization types
- Learn how to define your audience and goals, and choose the chart, graph, or diagram that best fits for your data.
Latest Books
Learn how to give great presentations and reach wider audiences using multiple platforms in my first two books.
Data Visualization in Excel
- This is the first book available on the market that shows people how to create more advanced data visualizations in the Excel software tool. It provides step-by-step instructions and downloadable Excel files, that readers can use to expand how they use Excel and communicate their data to their audiences.
- Through how-to tutorials for more than 20 advanced graph types, readers will move beyond the standard area, bar, line, and pie charts to heatmaps, waffle charts, dot plots, slope charts, cycle plots, and more.
- Visit the CRC Press website to download accompanying, editable Excel files.
Elevate the Debate: A Multilayered Guide to Communicating Your Research
- This book helps researchers, analysts, and scholars to use traditional and digital media environments to their advantage.
- Real-world guide helps readers present their data-driven research with greater clarity, coherence, and impact.
- An array of practical strategies and proven techniques enables readers to make their research accessible to diverse audiences, form engaging narratives, and design and implement meaningful outreach plans.
Recommended Books
If you want to further enhance your data visualization and communication skills, there are a number of great books and resources. Here are 10 of my favorite books with more listed in my Amazon shop.
How Charts Lie: Getting Smarter about Visual Information
- Learn how to decode and use visual information
- Spot and identify lies and misleading data and charts
- Contemporary examples ranging from election maps to box office records
Storytelling with Data: A Data Visualization Guide for Business Professionals
- Introductory data visualization book to help you leverage the power of storytelling with your data
- Understand the importance of context and audience
- Recognize and eliminate the clutter clouding your information
Data Visualisation: A Handbook for Data Driven Design
- The rare book in the data visualization field that takes you through the process of creating a visualization
- Step-by-step approach to analyze, design, and curate information
- Use the chart gallery to see what visualizations work best for your data
Data at Work: Best practices for creating effective charts and information graphics in Microsoft Excel
- Written for the spreadsheet user but also goes beyond basic Excel skills
- Learn how to extract, clean, and transform data
- Thorough, modern reference about data and data visualization
Cartography
- One of the best books about data-driven maps available.
- This book distills the essence of cartography into useful topics, organized by the specific idea or method you need
- At the intersection of science and art, this book serves as a guidepost for designing an accurate and effective map.
Slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations
- Turn ideas into informative slides and graphs
- Use sketching and diagramming techniques effectively
- Develop influential presentations
Talk Like TEED: The 9 Public-Speaking Secrets of the World’s Top Minds
- TED Talks have redefined the elements of a successful presentation and become the gold standard for public speaking.
- Gallo breaks down the secrets of giving a great presentation
- Gallo’s step-by-step method makes it possible for anyone to deliver a presentation that is engaging, persuasive, and memorable.
Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery
- Combining the solid principles of design with the tenets of zen simplicity, Reynolds puts you solidly on the path to creating simpler, more effective presentations that will be appreciated, remembered, and acted upon.
- Offers new design examples and techniques to create beautiful, effective slides.
- Learn how to build slides that focus your audience’s attention precisely where you want it.
Confessions of a Public Speaker
- Highly practical book that shows techniques to be a great speaker.
- Practical advice to not bore people, survive nerves, and what to do when things go wrong
- Funny disaster stories that will help you avoid making the same mistakes
R for Data Science: Import, Tidy, Transform, Visualize, and Model Data
- My go-to book for all things R related
- This book introduces you to R, RStudio, and the tidyverse, a collection of R packages designed to work together to make data science fast, fluent, and fun.
- Suitable for readers with no previous programming experience, it is designed to get you doing data science as quickly as possible.