Reviews

Dear Data by Giorgia Lupi, Stefanie Posavec, Maria Popova

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lspargo's review against another edition

5.0

Very fun book. Two pen pals who are both designers track some personal data each week, then draw a beautiful postcard with detailed legend to indicate how the drawing represents their data. I really enjoyed the creativity apparent in their designs as well as the insights about their lives.

chloj_805's review against another edition

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3.0

Giorgia's visualizations were more beautiful art-objects, but Stefanie's we're more legible, compelling information designs. More of a coffee table book than something to sit down and seriously process, but still: fun!

bookherd's review against another edition

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4.0

This was a fun book to read on my lunch breaks at work, as it didn't require close reading, but I could look at each page for a while, notice things and meditate on them, and then move on. Giorgia and Stefanie sent postcards to each other with hand drawn visualizations of data that they collected about themselves over the previous week. Each week the data topic changed, and topics ranged from tracking each time they thanked someone, to the times they were alone, to apps on their phones, to all the times they said goodbye.

Over the course of reading the book, you become acquainted with the different styles of the two women. Giorgia's drawings are filled with tiny details, and she often makes her visualization resemble the type of data she's tracking. Stefanie's drawings are often more blunt and expansive. Both add humourous commentary along the sides of their postcards.

I read this to try to learn something about how to do data visualization. I've read some manual-type books, but looking at an art book of data visualization put into practice was a much more pleasant way to learn.

delightsofdecay's review against another edition

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5.0

Super fun to flip through. Beautifully drawn and interesting view into the lives of these two people. Would not recommend Kindle version.

rose_peterson's review against another edition

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4.0

While this is more of a coffee table book than an engrossing read, the data visualizations are compelling. I wish there was a little more variance or risk-taking in the drawings as they began to look the same over 52 weeks, but I'm intrigued by the artists' conclusion about collecting data on their daily lives: "By noticing our behaviour, we were influencing our behaviour."

I'm also interested in exploring possible uses of this book as a mentor text for my students...

maggieperrien's review against another edition

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5.0

I saw Giorgia speak live at a conference and speaking about how data can be found everywhere even in the mundane. She was fascinating! And has sparked my interest in data and specifically how to see data everywhere!