"In the age of big data and digital distribution, when news travel ever further and faster and media outlets compete for a fleeting slice of online attention, information graphics have swept center stage. At once nuanced and neat, they distill abstract ideas, complex statistics, and cutting-edge discoveries into succinct, compelling, and masterful designs. Cartographers, programmers, statisticians, designers, scientists, and journalists have developed a new field of expertise in visualizing knowledge. This XL-sized compendium explores the history of data graphics from the Middle Ages right through to the digital era. Curated by Sandra Rendgen, some 400 milestones span astronomy, cartography, zoology, technology, and beyond. Across medieval manuscripts and parchment rolls, elaborate maps, splendid popular atlasses, and early computer-based information design, we systematically break down each work's historical context, including such highlights as Martin Waldseem??ller's famous world map, the meticulous nature studies of Ernst Haeckel, and many unknown treasures." -- Provided by publisher

• Sandra Rendgen
• David Rumsey
• Michael Friendly
• Michael Stoll
• Scott Klein Line, color, area, symbol
• 1,200 years of visually transferring knowledge / Middle Ages
• Seeing data through maps / Early Modern Age
• Mining gems from the history of data visualization / 19th Century
• Understanding humans and machines / 20th Century
• The forgotten origins of news infographics /