Infographic History of the World Hardcover – January 1, 2013

I gave this book to our 15 year old grand-daughter. First, her 16 year old brother grabbed it and perused it. His 11 year old brother then did the same, both avidly. I then said, "Maybe your sister might like to see it, as it's hers." So they gave it back, sheepishly. But then her dad (our son) took it over and wouldn't let go. Eventually, I shamed him into giving it to her (BTW, both my wife and I had read it cover to cover before we gave it to her; we are both professional historians, and rated it A+). Apparently, she has now been able to read it. Get it, if you have any curiosity about graphics and/or history.

The book was everything I hoped for and more. The use of different types of infographs made what in many instances would have been rather dull information come alive in an easily understood manner. It's a "page turner" and hard to put down. I believe I learned a lot and had fun in the process. I'm confident some of my friends and family will also enjoy it and just ordered four more for Christmas presents. Note: Standard shipping from UK took a bit longer than I expected 22 days, order to delivery, but it was well worth the wait.

I love history and I love data presented well, so I had great hopes for this. Unfortunately, the book showcases *clever* ways of displaying data, not *clear* ways of displaying it.It's graphically dense and sometimes (such as "Age of Empires" on pages 78-79) it does a good job of presenting a new and illuminating view of history. But mostly the graphics simply provide a really complicated -- but very glitzy -- way of using much space to present a small amount of information. (See "A question of Faith", pp 120-121, or "Changing Nation" pp 208-209, or -- sadly, most of them.) Far too often I had to pore over the graphic to figure out that it was trying to say.If this was a term paper, Edward Tufte would grade it "F" and send the student back to rewrite it.

This is a beautifully illustrated book, by Valentina D'Efilippo, that pushes the infographic discipline to its next step. Valentina is a graduate of the London College of Communication (Postgraduate Diploma Design for Visual Communication) where the design of infographics is becoming a speciality. It is refreshing to see this subject area developing a much needed sense of humour. This is also largely due to the excellent accompanying writing and editorial by James Ball. Together James and Valentina present a vast array of complex information in a contemporary and accessible manner. This book can be appreciated by specialist and generalist alike.

Interesting, but not as rnearly evelatory as I had hoped. Perhaps I've just seen enough infographics in other books with an historical slant to be underwhelmed by this targetted effort.

I was so looking forward to this book but it got lost in the post. Gutted and as i now live in spain brexit has scuppered me getting it without stupid charges.Hoping to try and get another copy when I'm back next in the UK.

I bought this as a gift for my husband who likes infographics as well as interesting facts, ideas and information. So, this proved to be a hit! It's also nicely presented and designed, a hardcover (although soft would be ok too) and it's one of those books you can dip in and out of. But, it's not superficial at all covering religion, literature, art, space, science, you name it! The texts are intelligent and well written, and covers such a huge area that it would appeal to almost anyone. However, it was the infographics that caught my eye first and this is a well designed book.

This is a beautifully illustrated book, by Valentina D'Efilippo, that pushes the infographic discipline to its next step. Valentina is a graduate of the London College of Communication (Postgraduate Diploma Design for Visual Communication) where the design of infographics is becoming a speciality. It is refreshing to see this subject area developing a much needed sense of humour. This is also largely due to the excellent accompanying writing and editorial by James Ball. Together James and Valentina present a vast array of complex information in a contemporary and accessible manner. This book can be appreciated by specialist and generalist alike.

Judging by my initial flick through it seems great. But the page sizes are too small to be jam packed with this much info, which means the typeface is extremely small, I'd estimate 8-9 pitch. I can normally read without reading glasses, which I keep for tiny fonts, but I can't read a word of this book without them. If your eyes are young that's not an issue, but if you hate struggling with text, you may want to factor this into your purchase.

Good drawing but the small print means the reading may make you blind 10 years earlier.