Apolitically Incorrect » Analytic Design

Working With Words, Numbers and Images: A Reading List

Rob Oakes — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 18:10:28 +0000

There are three tools that a professional, scientific or technical writer needs to make use of: words, numbers and images. In many cases, such as an effective illustration or chart, all three will be used.

The following books introduce principles and examples of how to use these tools to their fullest extent. Some of the titles are historical and others are academic. In every case, though, they highlight strategies that can be used to more effectively communicate ideas. Additionally, each one is also an interesting and fantastic read.

	Math and the Mona Lisa by Bulent Atalay. For more than 500 years, the name of Leonardo Da Vinci has been synonymous with brilliance. His careful observation of nature, collection and analysis of evidence, and use of mathematics to explain his observations represented a radical shift that foreshadowed the modern scientific method.In this book, Bulent Atalay explains why Leonardo was a remarkable artist, engineer and scientist. He looks at the hidden patterns, geometric concepts and impeccable perspective in order to probe the mind that dreamt of helicopters, unsinkable ships and underwater exploration.
	Leonardo’s Notebooks, edited by H. Anna Suh. To understand a man, you must read him in his own words. This volume provides an opportunity to sample Da Vinci’s writings on anatomy, botany, architecture, sculpture and the physical sciences. The key illustrations from his notebooks have also been reproduced.
	Galielo at Work: His Scientific Biography by Stillman Drake. Like Leonardo, Galileo was a scientific titan. As Stephen Hawking aptly summarized, “Galileo, perhaps more than any other single person, was responsible for the birth of modern science.”But why? What was it about his innovative combination of experiment and mathematics that was so important. How did he analyze data? How did he present it to others?This book attempts to answer those questions. It lays aside the philosophical implications of Galileo’s rift with the Catholic church and instead looks at how Galileo focused his mind on physical quantities and the mathematical relationships between them.
	The Visual Display of Quantitative Information by Edward Tufte. Communicating complex ideas is difficult. One of the most important tools in that struggle are charts, graphs and illustrations. Unfortunately, however, these important figures often receive less attention than other aspects of a manuscript.In this book, Tufte provides inspiring examples of graphics that are beautiful to behold and illuminating to ponder. He also includes shockingly bad examples and explains why they are so dangerous.
	Visual Explanations by Edward Tufte. In his earlier work, Tufte showed how important it is for numbers to be communicated clearly and without distracting ornamentation. In this volume, he turns his attention to a slightly different series of questions: What is the best way to show cause and effect? Or to demonstrate evolutionary change?But the most important question he asks is far more universal: How can an information display be be used to reveal the truth? To answer this, he analyzes a cholera epidemic in 19th century London and explains how poor communication contributed to the explosion of the Challenger space shuttle.
	Beautiful Evidence by Edward Tufte. Like in his previous books, Tufte again tackles the question of how to best reveal truth through the graphical display of information. But where earlier books focused on principles, Beautiful Evidence is about how seeing turns into showing. To explore that theme, this book is filled with hundreds of spectacular examples and thoughtful commentary on what makes them unique.
	Now You See It by Stephen Few. The human mind is amazingly adept at seeing and understanding patterns. An informed eye can distinguish between authentic and forgery and arrive at startlingly accurate calculations with minimal effort. But even though we are capable of recognizing the hidden influences in the world around us, we can also be mislead and exploited far too easily. We become awash in a sea of data of our own making.This book attempts to explain how the mind interprets and sees information. As the author explains in the introduction, “[This book] provides tools to dive into the ocean of information, net the best of it, bring it back to shore and sort it out.” In essence, it’s a book about seeing and distinguishing patterns on a conscious level.
	Visual Thinking by Rudolf Arnheim. It’s long been known that “seeing is believing.” This book explains why seeing is also synonymous with thinking.
	Maps and Civilization: Cartography in Culture and Society by Norman J.W. Thrower. The history of exploration and discovery is also the history of cartography. As mankind sailed out of sight of shore, he needed to learn techniques for representing his position and understanding the natural forces that he might encounter. This book tells the history of mapmaking and how advances in cartography impacted civilization.
	The Elements of Graphing Data by William S. Cleveland. In this book by William Cleveland, he presents the nuts and bolts (the how-to) of graphing data. Then he goes on to explore the science in which his principles are based..
	Visualizing Data by William S. Cleveland. Whereas The Elements of Graphing Data is primarily focused on the principles of quality display and exploration of many types of common statistical charts, Visualizing Data takes the next logical step. It introduces a number of new chart types and techniques for creating insightful and clear graphics.
	Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2003 to 2005 by Thomas E. Ricks. Serious endeavors require careful forethought and nuanced planning; and few enterprises are more serious than the business of war. This controversial book looks at the missteps and mistakes of the American military as it justified, planned and executed the 2003 Iraq War.It contains haunting examples of how information can be distorted and obfuscated by both well-meaning individuals and those with insidious hidden agendas. It also explains how the adoption of American corporate culture and leadership by PowerPoint lead to serious miscommunication and early failure.
	The Challenger Launch Decision: Risky Technology, Culture and Deviance at NASA by Diane Vaughan. The Challenger explosion on January 28, 1986 changed the course of manned space flight forever. But how did it happen? What factors lead to it? Might it have been prevented?In The Challenger Launch Decision, Diane Vaughan attempts to answer those questions. In the process, she reveals that the Challenger explosion wasn’t the result of intentional wrongdoing but rather a slow-creeping definition of “normal” and comfort with the status quo.

About This Book Thing

Rob Oakes — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 21:22:09 +0000

In the past few weeks, I’ve had several observant readers ask about one of my “secret” projects. They’ve wondered what I’m up to and why it’s detracting from other endeavors. After answering another query this morning, I decided that it’s probably time to speak openly about it. So, here’s my public confession: I’m writing a book.

It’s about scientific and professional writing and open source. Moreover, it will be interesting, intriguing and revolutionary. (Yes, I have an inflated sense of ego.)

Before really diving into the details, I’d like to give a bit of personal background. This might help you understand why I’m passionate about the subject.

Background

Ten years ago, had someone told me that I would end up a scientist and engineer, I would have laughed at them. At the time, I had just started at University and I was fully set on a career in either illustration, design or architecture. I was much too “visual” and “right-brained” to surround myself by geeks, freaks and nerds. It didn’t help that I spent a huge amount of time grooming myself to be an “artist”.

During high school, I had been cursed with moderate talent and highly indulgent instructors. They praised my artwork. They called it interesting and innovative. They encouraged me to refine my technique and to major in visual arts. So, I did.

But as time went on, I realized that I wasn’t very happy. I realized that I had other interests. I enjoyed art, I did well in it; but art classes weren’t my favorites. That honor, as it turned out, was reserved for mathematics and science.

There was also another problem, I found that I lacked the discipline required to systematically create an individual style and build a portfolio. I wanted create art for myself, not for other people; and that is a fatal flaw in an illustrator (the type of work that most interested me). Illustration, by definition, is work that has been requested for a particular use. I was more interested in my own whims than those of potential clients. Thus, not long after recognizing my problem, I decided to go a different direction and changed my major to engineering.

Analytic Design

But even though I condemned myself to a life of investigation and exploration, I remained very interested in art, photography, layout and design. This interest (and some substantial urging by the doctor I worked for at the time) resulted in a fascination with where science and art seemed to intersect.

And this is when I noticed, like many others, a strange trend. If you look at the work of those considered the greatest minds in history – Leonardo Da Vinci, Isaac Newton, Galileo Gallilei, Thomas Jefferson, Marie Curie, Albert Einstein, etc. – you find something intriguing. In nearly every case, those recognized as brilliant weren’t judged solely on the quality of their thinking, but also by how they presented and explained their insights. Indeed, the thing identified as “brilliance” was not merely exceptional thinking, but clear communication. After, all, clever thoughts and ingenious solutions mean nothing if they can’t be captured, understood and disseminated.

What is often overlooked, however, is just how much work is required to explain ideas which aren’t inherently simple, and that raises an important problem. Communication in general, and writing in particular, is very hard. To distill random and chaotic thought into a coherent and logical narrative requires energy, time and effort. This is especially true of scientific, technical or professional subjects.

Such documents contain an enormous amount of baggage: figures, theorems, mathematical equations, algorithms, cross references and indexes. And while such things simplify the life of a reader, they can positively drown a writer.

Tools and Technology

Luckily, however, there are tools and technologies that can simplify the organizational side of communication and allow for a writer to focus on the important parts: words, pictures and evidence. But finding these tools and making them work together can be a very daunting task. And that’s why I’m writing a book.

In its pages, I want to introduce principles and ideas that are characteristic of good communication. For example, why was Albert Einstein able to convince both scientists and the general public that E=MC^2? Why do we still read the scientific treatises of Isaac Newton or Charles Darwin – centuries after their ideas have been edited, amended, extended and restated? Why does scientific communication often fail and what can be done to prevent breakdowns or misunderstanding?

Then, I want to show how those principles can be applied. I’ll look at open source tools and how they work. What programs are available for capturing information and references, organizing thoughts, and eventually creating a cohesive manuscript? How can open source tools be used to create beautiful charts, maps, graphs and tables? How can the process of collaboration be simplified?

Finally, I want to show why open source is awesome. I want to demonstrate why it is functionally superior to proprietary alternatives; and I want to do this in a way that shows it to be accessible. (Far too often, I find that people are afraid of open source because they view at as “complicated”, which is very unfortunate.)

Conclusion

When I first switched from art to science, I found myself confused, lost and overwhelmed. Not only did I need to adjust to a completely new discipline and culture, but I also found that no one used the same computer programs! And while it took some time to understand why, once I did, I realized that I would never go back to the “old” way of doing things.

Thus, I’m writing the book I wish someone had given me as a new science student; a book that explained the functional bits of scientific and professional writing with lots of examples, code, and pretty pictures. This is what I’ve tried to put together, something that is part theoretical treatise but mostly instructional manual.

So, for those of you who have wondered where I’ve been and where I’ve wandered; that’s the answer. I’m writing book. The good news, however, is that it’s nearly finished. And it’s in a state where I can start to share thoughts and examples from its chapters. In the next few months, expect to see some of that information here.

But because I’m passionate about the subject, I would love to hear others have to say. What makes for a good piece of informative writing? What are examples of clear communication? What lessons might we in the sciences learn from others? And what tricks do you have for being more efficient?