Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 26-30 of 45
 Stop the jihad! The world will not end with PowerPoint! January 14, 2007
J. D. Jefferys (Chester Springs, PA USA)
26 out of 31 found this review helpful
I have long been a student of Tufte's, and the man has probably contributed more to the study of visual evidence than anyone.
Unfortunately, his continuing rant against a piece of software that was designed to help speakers less talented than he has become so overbearing as to overshadow his previous good works.
Dr. Tufte truly believes that one day, the wrong person will give the wrong PowerPoint presentation to the wrong audience, and the world will come to an end! He advocates having the World Police sieze all 300 million copies of PowerPoint around the globe and ban its use forever by internation treaty. If only the business world lived in the same fantasy universe as those blessed with a life in academia.
This book is mostly a collection of some very good material from his previous, stellar volumes, assembled as an excuse to get wider circulation for his diatribe on how PowerPoint is a totalitarian tool to make us all stupid. Tufte undoubtedly believes that inanimate objects such as guns and software can actually be evil themselves, without regard to the qualities of the users of such objects.
A great rebuttal to Tufte's ideas on where the evil lies can be found in the new book, 'And Your Point Is?' [available on Amazon], where one can find a great alternative rendering of the slide that Tufte claims killed the seven Columbia astronauts. At the end of the book, the author clearly demonstrates that using the same data, PowerPoint has the power to make overwhelmingly compelling arguments as long as the slide designer follows a few simple rules of visual design. As most of us in business will be stuck with PowerPoint for years to come, it's really better to learn how to use it effectively than to listen to another voice of unreason.
If you're considering this book, first check out his earlier three and take advantage of Tufte at his best.
 Great author, Bad book January 13, 2007
Lars C. Johnson (Plano, TX United States)
27 out of 33 found this review helpful
Buy his other three books. This book is a rehash of older material. There are not enough new examples. I'm surprised he let it go to print. This is a very big disappointment for me.
 Tufte strikes again January 10, 2007
Piaggio Juan Martin (Milano, Italy)
1 out of 5 found this review helpful
Up to Tufte's outstanding level. A motherlode of information, tips, guidelines, magnificently and very appropriately illustrated.
Hardly ever does one come across such perfectly designed books.
delightful for the eyes and for the mind January 4, 2007
Rene De Paula Jr. (Sao Paulo, Brazil)
2 out of 8 found this review helpful
this is definitely the best book I purchased last year, and I've been recommending it to co-workers and friends.
Useful perspectives January 3, 2007
Stephen P. Lloyd (Frederick, MD USA)
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
Of the three hardbound Tufte texts I've read this one goes down best. It's a beautiful volume, and despite the fact that I'd been introduced to sparklines in the other Tufte books, the concept sunk in with this book. Give this a try. From the way you design your spreadsheets to the fonts you might choose in a WORD document -- Tufte will influence how you express yourself. Whether your interests are technical or not, Tufte's disciplines and perspectives in how we express and perceive information will empower you to clearly and perhaps more importantly, gracefully express yourself. This is a delightful book -- a true "sleeper" in that it offers so much more than its commercial descriptions. If you really take your time and let this work sink in, people will notice -- whether those people are your boss or just friends.
Showing reviews 26-30 of 45
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