Subtitled "designing graphs and tables to enlighten" this is a practical and highly informative book on the mechanics of presenting data. Frankly, as a subject it doesn't sound too exciting, but the introductory chapter, showing how all too typical graphs are misused and fail in their purpose, comparing them with more effective presentations is a delight.

After that, though, things get a little less fun with some rather tedious definitions of quantitative values - all valuable stuff, and well presented, but more of a reference.

Before long, though, we're back to the good stuff with a comparison of tables and graphs and when to use each. I'd flip through this and get on to sections on visual perception. After this there's a lot of detail on table and graph design... here again the attention drifts.

Perhaps you're getting a message by now - rather sadly, given it's a book about getting information across well, the author hasn't managed to do that. There's lots of promise in some of the information sections that interlace the main text, but the rest verges on the tedious.

It would have worked much better if he had taken his own advice by asking what the book is supposed to do, and how you want to use it, then delivering to that formula. That way we could have had the fun, readable information up front, then the rest of the book a reference driven by the kind of output required. There's a hint of how this could be done in the appendices where there's a section labelled "table and graph design at a glance". We need a map that says "here's the type of thing I'm trying to put across" which then gives you instructions to jump to the part of the book which outlines sensible approaches, things to avoid and provides sample tables and graphs.

It's frustrating, because this is a superb subject for a book, the author clearly knows his stuff, and all the information you need is in there - it's just hard work to dig it out.