Because there is so much data today, it is often hard to understand and make decisions based on it. The key element is to get the best visualization of this data and to make adjustments.

This book addresses people who need to make decisions using data in an expert mode. It is also good for designers of user interfaces and data processing software. The book is also a hands-on manual for Tableau software.

The book consists of two intermingled parts: understanding the types of data visualization and using the Tableau features. It starts with instructions to download and start Tableau, followed by some hands-on examples to understand its basic functions. The level of the description of user actions is very good.

A third of the book shows visualization types, from simple to complex, and presents cases where they are the most useful. A chapter deals with how to organize data: sort, filter, totals, adding custom calculation, and finding trends. Data also needs to be cleaned in order to be meaningful, therefore a chapter shows how to manage data items: type (such as a number or a category or a geographical location), properties, and hierarchies.

The book has many pictures of visualizations in Tableau. A drawback is that it is not printed in color, which reduces considerably the clarity of the images. There are some unexpected printing errors of upside-down images on pages 188 and 191.

Overall, this is a great book for learning about the visualization of data in depth. It is also a very good presentation of the Tableau software, which allows users to do graphical data analysis.