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September 2016 Vol. 54 No. 1

This book presents copious examples of “dataviz,” or data visualization, as both a form of communication and a science. Berinato (Harvard Business Review) details a system for presenting data visually through a process of such inputs as conversation, sketching, and testing (prototyping). The organizing concept of the book is that visual language is now used on a daily basis worldwide. Dataviz is driven by technology, and the author—not without justification—claims that this is the business world's new lingua franca.This is an elegant volume illustrated with appealing graphic images that, taken together with the text, provide a user's manual to “dataviz." Good Charts provides an antidote for “death by PowerPoint,” but it also makes a powerful argument for the systematic use, study, and application of these new, technology-driven, visual forms of communication. This volume is a comprehensive and attractive introduction to the subject. Berinato perhaps understates this accomplishment with the rather quaint title of the text. He’s accomplished much more than that!

--S. A. Schulman, CUNY Baruch College

Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through professionals.