I have read the 2013 version.
Summary
The book starts with the basics of visualising data, and then introduces different types of data vizzes according to the author's visualisation wheel. Next, it moves on to cognition and perception, which comes as unexpected to me as I will have considered the study area to be more specialised. In the closing, the book finishes with interviews with some data viz experts that are worthy for anyone interested in data viz and data art to check out.
Things I like
1. Visualisation wheel. The visualisation wheel is an aid in creating vizzes. The wheel is a radar chart split into 2 halves with factors that are "more complex and deeper" and "more intelligible and shallower". In the first half, the axes are abstraction, functionality, density, multidimensionality, originality, and novelty. In the other half, the axes are figuration, decoration, lightness, unidimensionality, familiarity, and redundancy. Even though I will not be using the wheel in the most literal way, I think the axes are factors that are good to consider when readers create data vizzes. This idea of accepting a range of viz whether it is more towards function or form also validates both the engineers and designers of data viz. Nevertheless, the data itself needs to be minimally accurate in some sense.
Final Verdict: An introduction to data visualisation that took an unexpected turn into discussing cognition.