New approaches to graphics are needed to visualize the information in large datasets and most of the innovations described in this book are developments of standard graphics. There are considerable advantages in extending displays which are well-known and well-tried, both in understanding how best to make use of them in your work and in presenting results to others. It should also make the book readily accessible for readers who already have a little experience of drawing statistical graphics. All ideas are illustrated with displays from analyses of real datasets and the authors emphasize the importance of interpreting displays effectively. Graphics should be drawn to convey information and the book includes many insightful examples.

From the reviews:

"Anyone interested in modern techniques for visualizing data will be well rewarded by reading this book. There is a wealth of important plotting types and techniques." Paul Murrell for the Journal of Statistical Software, December 2006

"This fascinating book looks at the question of visualizing large datasets from many different perspectives. Different authors are responsible for different chapters and this approach works well in giving the reader alternative viewpoints of the same problem. Interestingly the authors havecleverly chosen a definition of 'large dataset'. Essentially they focus on datasets with the order of a million cases. As the authors point out there are now many examples of much larger datasets but by limiting to ones that can be loaded in their entirety in standard statistical software they end up with a book that has great utility to the practitioner rather than just the theorist. Another very attractive feature of the book is the many colour plates, showing clearly what can now routinely be seen on the computer screen. The interactive nature of data analysis with large datasets is hard to reproduce in a book but the authors make an excellent attempt to do just this." P. Marriott for the Short Book Reviews of the ISI