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Newspaper front-page statistical information design in relation to the current Middle East conflict.

On serial numbers, WWII, german tanks and simplicity in calculations and statistics

Kottke has some nice words for Beautiful Evidence, the newest book from Edward Tufte.

My copy arrived about three weeks ago, and I've had just a few sparse moments between getting Poppas finished to peek at it. One thing that that struck me immediately, however, (besides being impeccably produced, bound and printed) is the care that's gone into merging the editing and images and typography. Almost every paragraph is set to be contained on the page or spread it starts on. That is to say there's nary a paragraph running between spreads or onto the reverse sides of pages. In fact, it's so well crafted, looking for pages that aren't "perfect" becomes a sort of treasure hunt. And even when you track one down (spread 130-131), they're obviously unavoidable.

You can tell Tufte loves making these objects. Even if you have no interest in statistics, buying his books as specimens of typographical and editorial elegance is worth the price alone.