# Information design books > A reading list on information design: Tufte's trilogy, Mijksenaar, Colin Ware on visualisation, How to Lie With Statistics, atlases of the world. - Page: https://www.elasticspace.com/2003/09/information-design/ - Author: Timo Arnall (https://www.elasticspace.com/) - Section: Notes (https://www.elasticspace.com/notes/) - Published: 2003-09-02 - Updated: 2026-07-04 - Tags: Books, Graphic Design, Information Design - Site map for agents: https://www.elasticspace.com/llms.txt --- This is one of a series of reading lists I put together between 2002 and 2004 when I was starting out in interaction and experience design, building out a personal canon from books I was buying, borrowing from libraries, or lending to students. The lists are grouped by topic. This one is on information design: the discipline of making quantitative and complex information legible. Tufte’s three books (The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, Envisioning Information, Visual Explanations) are the canonical shelf. But Paul Mijksenaar’s Visual Function is the better first book: smaller, polemical, full of examples, and it prepares you to read Tufte critically rather than as scripture. Colin Ware’s Information Visualization is the scientific companion. Huff’s How to Lie With Statistics is the essential ethical counterpart, a reminder that information design can mislead as easily as it can clarify. The Amazon links below are what I had at the time, most will be dead now, but the ISBNs will find you a copy. ### Visual Function: An Introduction to Information Design Paul Mijksenaar. A small, beautiful and polemical book full of fine examples of good information design, read this before tackling Tufte. [amazon.co.uk](http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/156898118X/elasticspace-21) / [amazon.com](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/156898118X/elasticspace-20) ### The Visual Display of Quantitative Information Edward Tufte. [amazon.co.uk](http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0961392142/elasticspace-21) / [amazon.com](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0961392142/elasticspace-20) ### Envisioning Information Edward Tufte. [amazon.co.uk](http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0961392118/elasticspace-21) / [amazon.com](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0961392118/elasticspace-20) ### Visual Explanations Edward Tufte. [amazon.co.uk](http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0961392126/elasticspace-21) / [amazon.com](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0961392126/elasticspace-20) ### Double Fold: Libraries and the Assault on Paper Nicholson Baker. [amazon.co.uk](http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0099429039/elasticspace-21) / [amazon.com](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0375504443/elasticspace-20) ### Digital Diagrams Trevor Bounford, Alastair Campbell. [amazon.co.uk](http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0823015726/elasticspace-21) / [amazon.com](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0823015726/elasticspace-20) ### Open Here Paul Mijksenaar and Piet Westendorp. [amazon.co.uk](http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/050028170X/elasticspace-21) / [amazon.com](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1556709625/elasticspace-20) ### Information Graphics: A Comprehensive Illustrated Reference Robert L. Harris. [amazon.co.uk](http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0195135326/elasticspace-21) / [amazon.com](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0195135326/elasticspace-20) ### Information Design Robert E. Jacobsen. [amazon.co.uk](http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/026210069X/elasticspace-21) / [amazon.com](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/026210069X/elasticspace-20) ### How to Lie With Statistics Darrel Huff, Irving Geis. [amazon.co.uk](http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0140136290/elasticspace-21) / [amazon.com](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0393310728/elasticspace-20) ### Information Visualization Colin Ware. [amazon.co.uk](http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1558605118/elasticspace-21) / [amazon.com](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1558605118/elasticspace-20) ### Readings in Information Visualization Stuart Card, Jock Mackinlay, Ben Schneiderman. [amazon.co.uk](http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1558605339/elasticspace-21) / [amazon.com](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1558605339/elasticspace-20) ### The Global Media Atlas Mark Balnaves, James Donald, Donald Stephanie Hemelryk. [amazon.co.uk](http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0851708609/elasticspace-21) / [amazon.com](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0142000175/elasticspace-20) / [myriad editions](https://web.archive.org/web/20030810214811/http://www.myriadeditions.com:80/books.html) ### The Atlas of the Future Ian Pearson. [amazon.co.uk](http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0028620895/elasticspace-21) / [amazon.com](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0028620895/elasticspace-20) / [myriad editions](https://web.archive.org/web/20030810214811/http://www.myriadeditions.com:80/books.html) ### The State of the World Atlas Dan Smith. [amazon.co.uk](http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1844070298/elasticspace-21) / [amazon.com](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0140514465/elasticspace-20) / [myriad editions](https://web.archive.org/web/20030810214811/http://www.myriadeditions.com:80/books.html) ### How Maps Work: Representation, Visualization and Design Alan M. MacEachren. [amazon.co.uk](http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0898625890/elasticspace-21) / [amazon.com](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0898625890/elasticspace-20)