Scott Berinato

If you are interested in data visualization, you will be well served with this book. Contrary to the title it is not just about 'charts' but more about visualization itself.

It provides an overview of reading and building charts as well as deeper insights in making them better. It certainly is a good starting point for newbies as well as a good refresher for more experienced dataviz wizards.

I think this book is useful, and brings up a lot of issues that I frequently see in graphs (although I will point out that this book is not about making scientific graphs), but my biggest issue with it is that it contains a lot of graphs that it doesn't explain at all, especially in the beginning.

Excellent book, lots of examples, with lots of focus on thinking and designing and testing visuals before sitting down with a charting package. Highly recommended for any skill level.