Graphesis: Visual Forms of Knowledge Production (metaLABprojects)

The are some Gems of information in this book, but you must work hard to extract it.It seems that the author has swallowed a Thesaurus and was determined to use every word in it. When I read a sentence like (Page196):“Blind narcissism and emergent collectivity collide, commingle, combine in a dazzling interplay of self-realization in representational forms and the potential of engagement with the other.”I have to ask myself is this a parody, or is she trying to tell me something? It feels authoritative but I have no Idea what to make of it..It has some errors of fact (Florance Nightingales Coxcomb Charts were used to illustrate Mortality in the British Army during the Crimean War - not the American Civil War).Finally for a book on Visual Forms - the book is too small to engage with the many illustrations in it.

Much of the work I encounter as a designer troubles me in that it reduces the people the people it addresses to very simple things. We're not. The tools we use, and the systems in which we live, despite how much easier it is to reason about them in simple terms, probably shouldn't be either. This is a brilliant, far-reaching examination of the human-ness baked in to all the things we try to define as separate from our error-prone selves. It provides an incredible survey of visualizations and graphic theories over history (lots of history) and lays out the bones of a system for critiquing interfaces in human terms. As a recent graduate, and now practicing designer, this has been an absolutely fabulous book to sink my teeth into. Graphesis is not a casual page-flipper, but if you're in to any of her topic material Ms. Drucker rewards the invested reader handsomely.

If I were stranded on a desert island and could only have one book on data visualization, this is my choice. While there are many excellent visualization "how to" books, this book is the "why." A patient, deep, and meaningful treatment that gets better with every read.

An important and well-written book urging readers to think carefully about the work images do. Small quibble: bibliographic information is not detailed nor readily accessible.

Provocative, insightful, and engaging

Excellent

I needed this book for a course at the university which was about network analysis. For someone who had completely no experience in that aspect, I found that book very informative and helpful.

Very interesting thoughts and historic insights on graphic presentation and interface, inspiring thesis arguing for a contemporary humanistic use of these means. The graphics reproduced could have been bigger, it would have facilitated the understanding of some parts of the book.

Great book.