I'm still bummed that I had to cancel the Tufte course last week. Of those
who made it, anyone want to share their impressions? Worthwhile?

Regards,
Bryce

I thought it was a good course.  Having read one of his books in the  
past and following the forum on his site, I had some preconceived  
notions regarding his personality going in (extremely opinionated,  
gruff, academic, but brilliant).  He was definitely these things, but  
I found him to be a much more eloquent speaker than I had anticipated.

Personally, I was hoping for more on the nuts and bolts of data  
visualization design (use of color, contrast, small multiples,  
reducing 'chartjunk', etc.), but the course was designed more for  
teaching how to give (and listen to) presentations - "serious"  
presentations as he put it.  All of his advice was very good, but not  
completely applicable to me.

There was definitely much to be entertained by: his insight into his  
role as a NASA consultant during the Columbia investigations, his 400
+ year old books by Galileo (still can't believe he travels with  
those), his insistence that "serious" computer work requires huge and/
or multiple high-res displays (agreed! - still trying to convince  
wife though), his eccentric millionaire-grade "yard art" (that is,  
massive steel sculptures all over his apparently enormous wooded  
lot), and much more.

All in all, I thought it was very enjoyable.  Everyone got all four  
of his books (~$200 worth), so the price of the course was very  
reasonable.

Jason

On Oct 9, 2006, at 11:44 PM, Bryce Glass wrote: