Review: Indexed

4 Star, Decision-Making & Decision-Support

IndexedOver-Priced, Under-Whelming BUT Entirely Acceptable, September 27, 2008

Jessica Hagy

This is a niche book for people with time, money, and curiosity about unconventional visualization simplified. Although it is overpriced (probably cost $1 to actually produce), there are no page numbers, and half the diagrams are quasi annoying (e.g ground chuck chart with cannibals on one axis and clumsy butchers on the other), there is just enough here to leave me okay with having paid for this to be sent to me.

A handful of the charts are clever and another handful are inspiring. That is what took this tiny little book from three to four stars.

The booklet is completely lacking in structure, another reason it almost dropped to a three. This was a fast print job with zero editorial brilliance. A brilliant editor would have divided the book into a matrix, sorted the sketches in relation to human, technical, global, local, whatever, and then presented them with a table of contents and pagination.

The author's website is provided on the back cover of the book (and I provide it in the comment), it may be that this was the sole intent of the book, to draw people there, in which case the book succeeds and with my comment below you don't have to buy it to achieve the book's purpose.

See these other books:
The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures
The Design of Dissent: Socially and Politically Driven Graphics