Sandra Rendgen

In the age of big data and digital distribution, when news travel ever further and faster and media outlets compete for a fleeting slice of online attention, information graphics have swept center stage. At once nuanced and neat, they distill abstract ideas, complex statistics, and cutting-edge discoveries into succinct, compelling, and masterful designs. Cartographers, programmers, statisticians, designers, scientists, and journalists have developed a new field of expertise in visualizing knowledge.

This XL-sized compendium explores the history of data graphics from the Middle Ages right through to the digital era. Curated by Sandra Rendgen, some 400 milestones span astronomy, cartography, zoology, technology, and beyond. Across medieval manuscripts and parchment rolls, elaborate maps, splendid popular atlasses, and early computer-based information design, we systematically break down each work’s historical context, including such highlights as Martin Waldseemüller’s famous world map, the meticulous nature studies of Ernst Haeckel, and many unknown treasures.

Hot on the heels of the best-selling Information Graphics and Understanding the World, this third volume fills the gap as an unprecedented reference book for data freaks, designers, historians, and anyone thirsty for knowledge. An enthralling exploration into the teachings, research, and lives of generations past.… (altro)

Author Sandra Rendgen has taken advantage of the current resurgence of interest in Minard’s work and produced this book, The Minard System, which is a well annotated/translated compendium of his work in statistical graphical analysis. The printed renditions of the graphs, most of which are in the form of maps, are excellent and, in many instances the author has provided enlargements of sections of the maps to make additional points concerning the statistical analysis. In light of the current infatuation with “Big Data” sets, Minard’s method of analysis is very pertinent in that it not only highlights statistical methods which may be of use when one needs to reduce Big Data to Big Information but they also serve as a reminder that big data is not a 21st Century phenomenon.

For Minard (1781-1870) the big data of the day came largely from the world of commerce. His method of statistical graphical analysis allowed the viewer to readily comprehend the information buried in this data and understand the ebb and flow of commercial product import/export, mass movements of people, growth and decline of transportation networks and much more.

In this day of computers and highly developed algorithms for data manipulation, the idea of graphical evaluation of large data sets may seem quaint. However, evolution has bequeathed homo sapiens with a highly developed visual sense – we are analog, not digital. As a result, when evaluating the torrents of numerical data that come at us from every direction, a well-constructed graphic will take advantage of this sense and allow us to more readily convert data into useful information.

In the 19th Century the Minard system of graphical analysis was well known. The current interest in his work is due to Edward Tufte’s highlighting Minard’s graph of Napoleon’s march on Moscow. After reading Ms. Rendgen’s book it is the opinion of this reviewer that a far more interesting set of his maps are those yearly maps illustrating the changes in worldwide trade in cotton between 1858 and 1865. Indeed, for anyone with an interest in the history of the U.S. Civil War this sequence of maps is a must see.

This review may leave the reader with a sense that this is a rather dry book. Nothing could be further from the truth. The graphs and their presentation are such that I think anyone with any kind of an interest in world history will find this book to their liking.… (altro)