17th
July
2006
Thoughts on reading Tufte’s Beautiful Evidence: Intro and Chapter 1
“I will have to take Tufte’s word that the drawings of counter-dancing on pages 32 and 33 helpfully depict how to engage in this activity. After a few drawings in, I’m lost as to which dancer is where, and what they are supposed to be doing. It actually ended up raising what for me became a significant question — yes, these drawings compel with their aesthetics and diagrammatics, but are they really the best way to communicate this information? Tufte, you see, presumes the printed page as the tool for explanation. My tendency to question assumptions leads me to wonder — shouldn’t people learn counter-dancing by counter-dancing?”