The Truthful Art

"Alberto Cairo is widely acknowledged as journalism's preeminent data viz wiz. He is also journalism's preeminent data scholar. As newsrooms rush to embrace data journalism as a new tool-and toy-Cairo sets the standard for how data should be understood, analyzed, and presented. The Truthful Art is both a manifesto and a manual for how to use data to accurately, clearly, engagingly, imaginatively, beautifully, and reliably inform the public."

- Jeff Jarvis, professor at CUNY Graduate School of Journalism and author of Geeks Bearing Gifts: Imagining New Futures for News

"A feast for both the eyes and mind, Alberto Cairo's The Truthful Art deftly explores the science-and-art-of data visualization. The book is a must-read for scientists, educators, journalists, and just about anyone who cares about how to communicate effectively in the information age."

- Michael E. Mann, Distinguished Professor, Penn State University and author of The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars

"If I were smarter, had more patience with academia, and had more focus, I might turn out to be more like Alberto, closer to the brilliance that he applies to the nature of information architecture. His title explains a lot: truth represents a most fundamental of attitudes, in questions asked, answers given and journeys taken. This [book] is a must on your thoughtful shelf of understanding."

- Richard Saul Wurman, founder of the TED Conference

"Alberto Cairo is a great educator and an engaging storyteller. In The Truthful Art he takes us on a rich, informed, and well-visualized journey that depicts the process by which one scrutinizes data and represents information. The book synthesizes a lot of knowledge and carefully explains how to create effective visualizations with a focus on statistical principles. The Truthful Art will be incredibly useful to both practitioners and students, especially within the arts and humanities, such as those involved in data journalism and information design."

- Isabel Meirelles, professor at OCAD University (Canada) and author of Design for Information

"As soon as I started immersing myself in The Truthful Art, I was horrified (and somewhat ashamed) to realize how much I didn't know about data visualization. I've spent most of my career pursuing a more illustrative way to present data, but Alberto Cairo's clarifying prose superbly explained the finer points of data viz. Since Alberto warns us that "[data is] always noisy, dirty, and uncertain," everyone in this business had better read his book to find out how to properly construct visualizations that not only tell the truth, but also allow us to interact meaningfully with them."

- Nigel Holmes, founder of Explanation Graphics

"To communicate data clearly, you have to think about it clearly. The Truthful Art dives deep and provides an enlightened introduction to the 'power tools' of data experts: science, statistics, and visualization."

- Fe