Visualization has great potential in the social sciences and the humanities, but it is sometimes hampered by a lack of technical and design skills. The aim of this book is to provide an introduction to enable undergraduates in the humanities to engage in interactive visualization (of historical data, primarily). This is a commendable effort, and I see no reason to doubt the effectiveness of the book as a learning resource in that specific educational context, but from an interaction design point of view it is somewhat challenged by trying to cover a little bit of everything: design process, editorial/communicative thinking, visual perception, visualization technology, human-computer interaction, interactive visualization concepts, and so on. Superficial and fragmented coverage of all these topics makes it hard to see the book as a standalone, self-contained resource for introductory learning.