Lying with Visualizations: Seeing Isn't Believing

Recommended, with the caveat that it is not a gentle introduction.

I had been on the fence about this one for a while, and I should have bought it sooner. Some of the material is available elsewhere, but rarely presented this clearly. I particularly liked the way the author builds up from simple cases before introducing the harder material. The balance between theory and practice is well judged; neither side dominates. Solid, and I would buy another book from this author without hesitation.

Strong content, uneven pacing. I would still recommend it.

I picked this up after getting stuck on a project and it turned out to be exactly the right book at the right time. I particularly liked the way the author builds up from simple cases before introducing the harder material. The examples are small enough to type out and experiment with, which is exactly what I want from a book like this. The code samples assume a particular environment, which took a bit of fiddling to get running properly. Good value for the price and worth the time it takes to work through properly.

Genuinely excellent — I finished it in a week and immediately started again.

There is a particular kind of technical book that is dense without being difficult, and this is one of them. I appreciated the honesty about what the book does not cover — it saved me from expecting things that were not there. Some of the diagrams are dense and I had to reread a few sections, though that may just be me. If you have the prerequisites, this is an easy recommendation. I will be keeping it on my desk rather than the shelf.