SocProf reviewed Art of Insight by Alberto Cairo
The end of the trilogy
5 stars
Alberto Cairo started his journey of lead educator in data visualization with The Functional Art, about 10 years ago, followed by The Truthful Art, and now, The Art of Insight (frankly, I would have used The Insightful Art). TIA is different than the previous two as it consists of a series of interviews with various practitioners that Cairo admires, grouped into broad categories such as pragmatists, eccentrics, ambassadors, and narrators. Each chapter is an interview with one such practitioner with some illustrations from their work, and retraces their journey through the field of dataviz. It is not coincidental that none of them had linear trajectories, and most have a background not just in the usual fields (computer science, statistics) but also in philosophy humanities, journalism. That is how this book distinguishes itself from the previous two: it is much more individual-based, much more philosophical and reflective, and, it seems, more …
Alberto Cairo started his journey of lead educator in data visualization with The Functional Art, about 10 years ago, followed by The Truthful Art, and now, The Art of Insight (frankly, I would have used The Insightful Art). TIA is different than the previous two as it consists of a series of interviews with various practitioners that Cairo admires, grouped into broad categories such as pragmatists, eccentrics, ambassadors, and narrators. Each chapter is an interview with one such practitioner with some illustrations from their work, and retraces their journey through the field of dataviz. It is not coincidental that none of them had linear trajectories, and most have a background not just in the usual fields (computer science, statistics) but also in philosophy humanities, journalism. That is how this book distinguishes itself from the previous two: it is much more individual-based, much more philosophical and reflective, and, it seems, more deeply personal for Cairo. So, it is far less a book for social scientists like me (I still use the Truthful Art in my intro to data science class), but more for my humanities colleagues with whom I'll be sharing it.