Graphs and Laughs with Edward Tufte

A funny piece by Bob Mankoff in "The New Yorker": The New Yorker thinks Edward Tufte is just wrong about information design! (Link to the original article: Graphs and Laughs) However, as one of the commenters, KENCHICAGO, pointed out, the trend in infographics and data display has led to a proliferation of visually-striking but information-thin "data" displays, often lacking in actual data content. True, reading Tufte is like trying to understand 19th century German philosophy, but his ideas are a tremendous launching point for creative and smart visualization that involves layers of data usually within broader context rather than isolated out of the many real world variables that influence them.