THE DEBATE UNION

IMPROVE VISUAL DISPLAYS OF QUANTITATIVE INFORMATION

Edward Tufte, The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint: Pitching Out Corrupts Within
(2nd Edition, 32-page pamphlet, $7, paperback, Amazon.com)

Edward Tufte, Visual and Statistical Thinking: Displays of Evidence for Making Decisions
(32-page pamphlet, $7, paperback, Amazon.com)

Additional review and information on Tufte

Edward Tufte is an expert in the field of information design. A professor emeritus of political science, statistics, computer science, and art at Yale University, his texts offer a pointed criticism of popular methods of graphic illustrations (e.g., PowerPoint), as well as establish techniques for the effective use of statistical and related design. These texts will introduce readers to sophisticated approaches to data illustrations and design thinking.

Laurian Vega, ‘Tufte is Dead; Long Live Tufte’
https://medium.com/the-ux-book-club/tufte-is-dead-long-live-tufte-21f830a0cfa8

Ann Jennings, ‘Jennings on Tufte, Visual Explanations: Images and Quantities, Evidence and Narrative’
https://networks.h-net.org/node/13784/reviews/13991/jennings-tufte-visual-explanations-images-and-quantities-evidence-and

DEVELOP CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS AND PREPARE FOR IMPROMPTU ARGUMENTATION

Roland Barthes, Mythologies
(New edition, $10, paperback, Amazon.com)

Additional review and information on Barthes and Mythologies

Roland Barthes, French social and literary critic, influenced the development of semiotics, structuralism, literary theory, communication, and post-structuralism. He taught philosophy and social/cultural criticism at a number of French universities. Barthes emphasized the active role of the reader in the ‘production’ of a text – as he noted in Image–Music–Text in 1977, “the death of the author is the birth of the reader.”

Andrew Robinson, ‘An A to Z of Theory Roland Barthes’s Mythologies: A Critical Theory of Myths’
https://ceasefiremagazine.co.uk/in-theory-barthes-2/

Marco Roth, ‘Roland Barthes: Myths We Don’t Outgrow’
https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/roland-barthes-myths-we-dont-outgrow?source=search_google_dsa_paid&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI7e_E3NzA6gIV1RitBh2n5gn7EAMYASAAEgLADfD_BwE

Michael Robbins, ‘Revisiting Roland Barthes’ Mythologies’
https://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/books/ct-prj-0310-mythologies-roland-barthes-20130308-story.html

LEARN TO ANALYZE AND IMPROVE NON-FICTION WRITING

John McPhee, Draft No. 4 – On the Writing Process
($10, paperback, Amazon.com)

Additional review and information on McPhee

John McPhee, professor of journalism at Princeton University, is an author of more than 25 books and scores of essays (he has been a staff writer for The New Yorker for more than five decades), as well as a pioneer of creative non-fiction. A 4-time nominee and 1999 winner for the Pulitzer Prize in General Non-fiction, his books include a wide range of subjects, from travel and biography to the environment, aeronautics, and sports. Draft No. 4 features McPhee’s analysis of the writing process.

Sam Anderson, ‘The Mind of John McPhee’
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/28/magazine/the-mind-of-john-mcphee.html

Tyler Malone, ‘John McPhee: Seven Ways of Looking at a Writer’
https://lithub.com/john-mcphee-seven-ways-of-looking-at-a-writer/