by 3 people |
Recommended reading
A lot of people have asked me to recommend books on visual thinking, visual learning, the brain, business, etc., so I have compiled this list. I've added a brief note to each book so you can see why I think it's important.
This isn't an exhaustive list, but I try to add to it whenever I have a moment.
You can click on any book to buy it.
This isn't an exhaustive list, but I try to add to it whenever I have a moment.
You can click on any book to buy it.
Marks and Meaning
By Dave Gray
Of course I would be remiss if I didn't mention my own book, Marks and Meaning. It's an unfinished book, by which I mean that is continually under revision.If you buy the book you'll also be invited to an email group conversation, where the next set of revisions is always under discussion.
Buy version zero here.
You can buy the most recent version here.
Edward Tufte
The Gallileo of graphics; the Da Vinci of Data
Edward Tufte is one of the most influential thinkers in information visualization. He's the one who inspired me to get into this business in the first place. His books are elegant, thought-provoking and visually stunning.
I recommend the entire set.
I recommend the entire set.
The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, 2nd edition
Mostly focused on charts, graphs and data-driven graphics.
Amazon Price: $22.02 (as of 11/09/2009) 
Envisioning Information
Perhaps Tufte's best book. Builds on the previous book and starts to explore ideas for displaying multiple data dimensions on a page or screen.
Amazon Price: $23.04 (as of 11/09/2009)
Visual Explanations: Images and Quantities, Evidence and Narrative
In this book, Tufte gets into how visuals can be best used to educate and explain.
Amazon Price: $31.75 (as of 11/09/2009)
Beautiful Evidence
Tufte's most recent book is more like a collection of essays than a cohesive thesis, but still worth reading.
Amazon Price: $34.40 (as of 11/09/2009)
Donald A. Norman
Guru of usability
Donald A. Norman is a former Apple fellow and champion of user-centered design. The principles he discusses and advocates will help you see how to make your designs easier for people to understand, think with, and work with.
The Design of Everyday Things
His first and still, in my opinion, the best. This book changed the way I think about design.
Amazon Price: $11.53 (as of 11/09/2009)
Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things
Amazon Price: $6.34 (as of 11/09/2009)
Information Rules
By Carl Shapiro and Hal R. Varian
This is one of the best books that I have ever read on how the information economy works. It takes an historical look at networks, and how network-oriented businesses evolve over time, by looking at the history of other network-oriented businesses like the electricity and railroad businesses.
This is a dense book, which takes some time to read, but well worth it for the insights it will deliver. The lessons of history are more valid today than ever.
This is a dense book, which takes some time to read, but well worth it for the insights it will deliver. The lessons of history are more valid today than ever.
Information Rules: A Strategic Guide to the Network Economy
Amazon Price: $25.08 (as of 11/09/2009)
GLUT
by Alex Wright
This book is a fascinating journey through the history of how humans classify ideas, starting before the written word was invented and continuing through the present. This book will help you understand why organizing information is so important, and how we have done it through the ages.
It's an amazing book -- I quote from it and refer back to it all the time.
It's an amazing book -- I quote from it and refer back to it all the time.
Glut: Mastering Information Through The Ages
Amazon Price: $14.94 (as of 11/09/2009)
Rapid Problem-Solving with Post-it Notes
By David Straker
This great little book is written by a former internal consultant at Hewlett-Packard and has served as the foundation for many of XPLANE's consultative methods. It's full of simple, easy-to-understand drawings and "recipes" that will help you use sticky-notes to solve problems visually, in collaboration with others. I refer to it often.
Rapid Problem Solving with Post-It Notes
Amazon Price: $14.04 (as of 11/09/2009)
Thinking Visually: Business Applications of 14 Core Diagrams
By Malcolm Craig
This little-known book is a real gem. Malcolm Craig offers a brilliant introduction to some basic diagrams and how they can be used to solve business problems. He's got numerous examples and case studies, but this is not a simple book. Any time you spend with it will be truly rewarded. My copy is completely covered with notations, drawings and underlining, and I will never loan it to anyone or let it out of my hands for any reason.
Thinking Visually: Business Applications of 14 Core Diagrams
Amazon Price: $31.49 (as of 11/09/2009)
Visual Language
By Bob Horn
This book is written by my friend and mentor Bob Horn, and I liked his book so much that my company, XPLANE, decided to reprint it. Bob believes as I do that visual language is the global language of the future, and to prove the point he wrote his entire book using clip art. It might be a little daunting at first, but a deep read will offer many insights.
Visual Language: Global Communication for the 21st Century
Amazon Price: (as of 11/09/2009)
Visual Thinking
By Rudolph Arnheim
This is the classic book that started it all for me. Former Harvard professor Rudolph Arnheim has studied the psychology of art and makes an argument that vision and thinking are inextricably linked -- that seeing IS thinking. It's a groundbreaking book. Written in 1969, but still relevant today.
Visual Thinking
Amazon Price: $16.47 (as of 11/09/2009)
Small Pieces Loosely Joined
By David Weinberger
Some have called David Weinberger "Marshall McLuhan for the Web" and I agree. This short, very readable book does a great job of analyzing the web as a medium for communication and exchanging ideas. One of the best books I've seen on the internet as media.
Small Pieces Loosely Joined: A Unified Theory of the Web
Amazon Price: $11.54 (as of 11/09/2009)
Dictionary of Symbols
By Carl G. Liungman
This excellent book is a broad-ranging reference that contains more then 2,000 symbols used in western civilization, from ancient societies until today. Special features of this book include a visual index to identify and find symbols visually, and some excellent appendices, which include insights from the author that by themselves are worth the price of the book.
Dictionary of Symbols (Norton Paperback)
Amazon Price: $16.46 (as of 11/09/2009)
A Pattern Language
By Christopher Alexander
Christopher Alexander is a maverick and innovative architect. In this book he explores the patterns of life and building. The book is a catalog that moves from the very macro -- socio-political patterns -- to the micro -- patterns for joining beams.
But the patterns in the middle are the ones I find most fascinating. Patterns like "Common Areas at the Heart" and "Flexible Office Space."
This is a book built for browsing rather than reading. Not only has this book brought me much joy, it has inspired many software designers and architects: Patterns are now considered an essential concept in software design.
But the patterns in the middle are the ones I find most fascinating. Patterns like "Common Areas at the Heart" and "Flexible Office Space."
This is a book built for browsing rather than reading. Not only has this book brought me much joy, it has inspired many software designers and architects: Patterns are now considered an essential concept in software design.
A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction (Center for Environmental Structure Series)
Amazon Price: $40.95 (as of 11/09/2009)
Space and Place
By Yi-Fu Tuan
An amazing but little-known work on human geography, that is, how humans understand and operate in physical space. Although the book was written in the sixties it has many implications when considering online experience.
Yi-Fu Tuan explores concepts of space, including home, neighborhood and how we experience places in time and across different cultures.
One of my favorite books.
Yi-Fu Tuan explores concepts of space, including home, neighborhood and how we experience places in time and across different cultures.
One of my favorite books.
Space and Place: The Perspective of Experience
Amazon Price: $11.27 (as of 11/09/2009)
Picasso on Art
Edited by Dore Ashton
The master artist speaks out on life, love, creativity, art and just about everything else you can imagine. This is one of those books that is always a joy to open and always delivers a jolt to the imagination.
It's organized by theme, so it's never difficult to find a quote that will help you break out of a creative slump.
I keep it within arm's reach of my desk and travel with it often.
It's organized by theme, so it's never difficult to find a quote that will help you break out of a creative slump.
I keep it within arm's reach of my desk and travel with it often.
Picasso On Art (Da Capo Paperback)
Amazon Price: $16.95 (as of 11/09/2009)
The Elements of Typographic Style
By Robert Bringhurst
The best book on Typography I have ever read. Beautiful and lucidly written, it's not so much an introductory book as a thorough exploration of type. This book will help you understand the history of typography from the 1400's till today, and if you read it carefully, by the time you finish you will have a love for typography that will never be extinguished. It happened to me.
The Elements of Typographic Style
Amazon Price: $19.77 (as of 11/09/2009)
The Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting
By Michael J. Hiscox and Mai-mai Sze
This book was written about 300 years ago as an instruction manual for Chinese artists. It has helped me understand some of the differences in "seeing" between eastern and western cultures.
By all accounts this is a terrible translation, but since I don't read Chinese I wasn't overly disturbed.
Some food for thought though: Written Chinese is an ideographic language; that is, it's not tied to phonetics but to ideas, which are represented visually. Even though I can't read or write Chinese, I am certain that language is deeply tied to thought.
In China, I suspect, learning to read/write and learning to draw are more closely linked than they are in the west.
Like Christopher Alexander's Pattern Language, this book is very browsable, and a great window into another way of seeing the world.
By all accounts this is a terrible translation, but since I don't read Chinese I wasn't overly disturbed.
Some food for thought though: Written Chinese is an ideographic language; that is, it's not tied to phonetics but to ideas, which are represented visually. Even though I can't read or write Chinese, I am certain that language is deeply tied to thought.
In China, I suspect, learning to read/write and learning to draw are more closely linked than they are in the west.
Like Christopher Alexander's Pattern Language, this book is very browsable, and a great window into another way of seeing the world.
The Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting
Amazon Price: $29.70 (as of 11/09/2009)
Marginalia
By H. J. Jackson
An interesting and very readable anthropological history of "readers writing in books." Why do people write in books? When did the practice begin? How has it changed throughout history? What are some of the common themes?
In a kind of archaeological investigation, the author examines hundreds of books in libraries around the world and discovers some interesting social patterns and behaviors.
Not for everyone, but a great read for bibliophiles who like to mark up their books and want to understand the phenomenon in greater depth.
A side note: As I read my copy, I tried out every annotation method described by the author, so my copy of this book has been marked, folded, starred and underlined more than any other book I own :)
In a kind of archaeological investigation, the author examines hundreds of books in libraries around the world and discovers some interesting social patterns and behaviors.
Not for everyone, but a great read for bibliophiles who like to mark up their books and want to understand the phenomenon in greater depth.
A side note: As I read my copy, I tried out every annotation method described by the author, so my copy of this book has been marked, folded, starred and underlined more than any other book I own :)
Marginalia: Readers Writing in Books
Amazon Price: $29.92 (as of 11/09/2009)
Language in Thought and Action
By S. I. Hayakawa
A thoughtful and illuminating book on language and its power to persuade and manipulate. In this educational and cautionary, tome, S. I. Hayakawa -- not only an author but also a U. S. Senator -- shows how language works, how it shapes our thinking, and also how it can be manipulated.
This is a book that will change the way you "think about thinking." It has helped me understand my own mind, which is a lot to say about a book. Hayakawa also offers some thoughts that can help clarify why it's so easy to fall into "two-party thinking" and offers some ideas about how we can escape that trap.
A good book to read before voting!
This is a book that will change the way you "think about thinking." It has helped me understand my own mind, which is a lot to say about a book. Hayakawa also offers some thoughts that can help clarify why it's so easy to fall into "two-party thinking" and offers some ideas about how we can escape that trap.
A good book to read before voting!
Language in Thought and Action: Fifth Edition
Amazon Price: $10.88 (as of 11/09/2009)
The Art Spirit
By Robert Henri
Robert Henri was a member of the Ashcan School, an American painting movement from the early 20th Century. He was also one of the most inspiring painting teachers in history.
This is a great book from a great teacher. It's inspiring, and if you want to learn to paint, it also has many practical tips.
This is a great book from a great teacher. It's inspiring, and if you want to learn to paint, it also has many practical tips.
The Art Spirit
Amazon Price: $13.57 (as of 11/09/2009)
Pedagogical Sketchbook
By Paul Klee
A classic and quirky book from another great artist and art teacher. Taken the notes that Paul Klee used to teach his students at the Bauhaus, this small, highly illustrated volume seems simple on the surface but rewards careful and repeated reading.
Pedagogical Sketchbook
Amazon Price: (as of 11/09/2009)
E. H. Gombrich
E. H. Gombrich was an Austian-born art historian who spent most of his life in the UK. One of his books, The Story of Art, was and is a standard text in Art History. But Gombrich goes far beyond art history and has written extensively, and influentially, on art, cognition and perception.
He writes with elegance and wit, and although he is an academic, his work is very accessible to the lay reader.
He writes with elegance and wit, and although he is an academic, his work is very accessible to the lay reader.
The Story of Art: Pocket Edition
A small version of the classic art history text.
Amazon Price: $13.57 (as of 11/09/2009)
Art and Illusion
Great series of essays on art and perception. This is probably the best one to start with.
Amazon Price: $19.26 (as of 11/09/2009)
The Image and the Eye: Further Studies in the Psychology of Pictorial ...
More great essays.
Amazon Price: (as of 11/09/2009)
Art, Perception, and Reality (Thalheimer Lectures)
This is an excellent book of essays by different authors, including Gombrich.
Amazon Price: $17.22 (as of 11/09/2009)
James Elkins
James Elkins is another great art teacher who currently teaches at the Art Institute of Chicago. His books are provocative, thought-provoking and mercurial -- and fun to read.
What Painting Is
Wherein he compares painting to alchemy, among other things.
Amazon Price: $26.95 (as of 11/09/2009)
The Object Stares Back: On the Nature of Seeing
Amazon Price: $10.20 (as of 11/09/2009)
Why Art Cannot Be Taught: A HANDBOOK FOR ART STUDENTS
Amazon Price: $20.70 (as of 11/09/2009)
Painting and Reality
By Etienne Gilson
This is perhaps more of a philosophy book than a book on painting. Nevertheless it changed the way I think about art. It's not an easy read but it's ideas are original and thought-provoking.
Painting and Reality (Meridian books)
Amazon Price: (as of 11/09/2009)
First Drawings: Genesis of Visual Thinking
By Sylvia Fein
An excellent book that examines how we represent thoughts visually. Lots of visual comparisons of children's drawings and drawings from ancient societies. A great demonstration of how images, thoughts and world views evolve together. With a foreword by Rudolf Arnheim.
First Drawings: Genesis of Visual Thinking
Amazon Price: (as of 11/09/2009)
Hare Brain Tortoise Mind
By Guy Claxton
I love this book. If you want to understand current research into brain science, this book has a lot of examples and the studies are well-described and well-cited. The author also does a great job of pulling them together. The book's main premise is that there are "kinds of mind" that are conducive to different kinds of thought.
This book is a rare combination: Scientifically based and intuitively true.
This book is a rare combination: Scientifically based and intuitively true.
Hare Brain, Tortoise Mind: How Intelligence Increases When You Think Less
Amazon Price: $12.59 (as of 11/09/2009)
Multimedia Learning
By Richard Mayer
If you are interested in the research that supports visual learning, this is a great place to start. It's written by a researcher from UC Santa Barbara, and it's very clear, succinct and easy to read (A rare combination).
Mayer's principles, if applied, will help you dramatically improve your PowerPoint presentations. Many of today's "PowerPoint gurus" use it as their bible and reference it often.
Mayer's principles, if applied, will help you dramatically improve your PowerPoint presentations. Many of today's "PowerPoint gurus" use it as their bible and reference it often.
Multimedia Learning
Amazon Price: $31.49 (as of 11/09/2009)
Colin Ware
Colin Ware is the Director of the Data Visualization Research Lab at the University of New Hampshire. His books are a great resource if you want to understand how the brain processes visual information.
Ware is focused on both research and practical application, and his books offer a wealth of information that will be useful for any information designer.
Ware is focused on both research and practical application, and his books offer a wealth of information that will be useful for any information designer.
Visual Thinking: for Design (Morgan Kaufmann Series in Interactive Technologies)
Amazon Price: $35.95 (as of 11/09/2009)
Information Visualization, Second Edition: Perception for Design (Interactive Technologies)
Amazon Price: $48.87 (as of 11/09/2009)
Scott McCloud
Scott McCloud does for comics what Marshall McLuhan did for the medium of television. Using the medium to explain the medium. I follow his explorations with excitement and anticipation. All of the works below are excellent, each explaining and exploring a different facet of this versatile medium.
Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art
Amazon Price: $15.82 (as of 11/09/2009)
Reinventing Comics: How Imagination and Technology Are Revolutionizing an Art Form
Amazon Price: $15.80 (as of 11/09/2009)
Making Comics: Storytelling Secrets of Comics, Manga and Graphic Novels
Amazon Price: $16.52 (as of 11/09/2009)
A New Kind of Science
by Stephen Wolfram
A fascinating tome that develops a new framework for exploring and understanding the world. Like Euclid, Wolfram builds a new framework from scratch, using visual elements to simulate and explore complex phenomena.
It's thicker than a phone book and not for the timid, but rewarding to thumb through. But don't drop it on your foot or you might break a toe :)
It's thicker than a phone book and not for the timid, but rewarding to thumb through. But don't drop it on your foot or you might break a toe :)
A New Kind of Science
Amazon Price: $27.47 (as of 11/09/2009)
Management of the Absurd
by Richard Farson
One of the best books on management I have ever read. The author is clearly an experienced manager and makes the point that "one size fits all" management rules are ridiculous; that management is complex and situational. He makes his points with stories and examples. A great read for any manager.
Management of the Absurd
Amazon Price: $9.36 (as of 11/09/2009)
You are the Message
by Roger Ailes
One of my favorite books on how to present yourself, by Fox News president Roger Ailes. He was also a media consultant/speech coach for Ronald Reagan, Rudolph Giuliani and others. Great advice for any presenter -- and even more useful if you are in the public eye.
You Are the Message
Amazon Price: $11.53 (as of 11/09/2009)
Slide:ology
by Nancy Duarte
This wonderful book by Nancy Duarte -- the woman who does Al Gore's presentations -- will help you improve your presentations dramatically. A great read.
slide:ology: The Art and Science of Creating Great Presentations
Amazon Price: $23.09 (as of 11/09/2009)
The Back of the Napkin
by Dan Roam
Dan Roam has burst on the scene with this bestselling book on visual thinking. He does a great job of showing how you can use sketching and visual thinking to convey complex or potentially confusing ideas clearly and visually.
The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures
Amazon Price: $16.98 (as of 11/09/2009)
Presentation Zen
by Garr Reynolds
Garr Reynold's blog, Presentation Zen, is the most respected source on the internet for presentation advice, and his reputation is well-deserved. Now his advice is clearly and beautifully collated into an excellent book. This one is not to be missed.
Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery
Amazon Price: $23.09 (as of 11/09/2009)
Beyond Bullet Points
by Cliff Atkinson
Cliff Atkinson is one of the most sought-after consultants in the legal world -- he helps lawyers make PowerPoint presentations for high-profile legal cases, and his services are very expensive. But now you can get his advice in book form. An excellent book with many practical tips, tools and examples.
Beyond Bullet Points: Using Microsoft® Office PowerPoint® 2007 to Create Presentations That Inform, Motivate, and Inspire
Amazon Price: $19.79 (as of 11/09/2009)
Diario leather journal
My current favorite sketchbook
I carry a sketchbook with me everywhere and have done so for decades. My philosophy is that a sketchbook should be sexy. It should portable and comfortable to carry, but it should also seduce you. The outside should be a joy to hold in your hand, and the paper should be a delight to the touch. This is my current favorite.
DIARIO - Italian Leather Journal Medium (Blue)
Amazon Price: $24.00 (as of 11/09/2009)
The varsity pen
My current favorite pen
I love a good pen and I have always liked fountain pens for the luxurious feeling they give you as they lay down ink on a page. But they are so damn expensive! I tend to lose pens, or else my friends "borrow" them or they somehow walk away from my desk when I am away. A good pen seems to disappear so easily.
But now Pilot has come up with a disposable fountain pen, and I love it. It's my new favorite. Buy one and you won't have to steal mine :)
But now Pilot has come up with a disposable fountain pen, and I love it. It's my new favorite. Buy one and you won't have to steal mine :)
Pilot Varsity Disposable Fountain Pens, Black Ink Dozen Box, 90010
Amazon Price: $26.00 (as of 11/09/2009)
Proust was a Neuroscientist
By Jonah Lehrer
This is a must-read. Lehrer explores every sense perception from both an artistic and scientific perspective. Each chapter takes a different aspect of neurology and perception and shows how science and intuition go hand-in-hand -- and in his hands they complement each other beautifully.
Using great creative minds such as Walt Whitman (Feeling), Marcel Proust (Memory), Paul Cezanne (Sight), Gertrude Stein (Language) and others as examples, he demonstrates that many current neurological discoveries were anticipated by the artists of the past.
A wonderful, sweeping and harmonic work.
Using great creative minds such as Walt Whitman (Feeling), Marcel Proust (Memory), Paul Cezanne (Sight), Gertrude Stein (Language) and others as examples, he demonstrates that many current neurological discoveries were anticipated by the artists of the past.
A wonderful, sweeping and harmonic work.
Proust Was a Neuroscientist
Amazon Price: $10.17 (as of 11/09/2009)
Multimedia Learning
by Richard E. Mayer
This is a great book if you're looking for research that supports the use of visualization in learning or when presenting information. The research and principles in this book form the foundation for Cliff Atkinson's Beyond Bullet Points method for creating effective presentations.
Multimedia Learning
Amazon Price: $76.00 (as of 11/09/2009)
The User Illusion: Cutting Consciousness Down To Size
by Tor Norretranders
This mind-bending book by Danish science writer Tor Norretranders will change your thinking forever about the mind and how we think. There's a lot of research here and by about halfway through the book, you will realize how and why we actually make up most of what we experience.
The User Illusion: Cutting Consciousness Down to Size (Penguin Press Science)
Amazon Price: $12.24 (as of 11/09/2009)
by dgray
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