Win a Copy of The Visual Display of Quantitative Information By Edward Tufte

Posted Mar 20, 2008 to Announcements by Nathan  /  59 responses

Win a Copy of The Visual Display of Quantitative Information By Edward Tufte

FlowingData reached a long awaited milestone yesterday - 1,000+ subscribers. Thank you to everyone who has subscribed, commented on, and linked to FlowingData. To extend my thanks, I'm running a (very easy) contest to win Edward Tufte's milestone book - The Visual Display of Quantitative Information.

Reaching 1,000 Subscribers

I started FlowingData ten months ago not really knowing what to do with it. My new hosting plan came with a free domain, so I thought, hey, FlowingData. One month in, I started this blog to convince people that statistics was more than their least favorite class in college.

Since then, it has been my goal to reach 1,000 subscribers. It has been my goal to find 1,000 people interested in data or get them interested in it. This happened yesterday. FlowingData now has 1,025 subscribers - thanks to all of you!

How to Win Visual Display

So now I'm going to make it really easy for you to win a copy of Edward Tufte's Visual Display. All you have to do is leave a comment on any new post (this one included) during the next 10 days. On March 31, I'll randomly select a winner. The more comments you leave, the higher the chances are of winning.

The comment should add to the conversation, and trackbacks and pingbacks don't count. That's it. If you have a valid mailing address that Amazon can deliver to, you can win. Oh, and make sure you leave a valid email address so that I can contact you when you win. Good luck and again, thank you, everyone.

Next Step: 5,000 Subscribers

Let's get more people talking about data and visualization and find those who already are. I know that there are hundreds of thousands of people we haven't reached yet. If you could take a few seconds to email one friend about FlowingData, I will super appreciate it.

Replies

59 responses to "Win a Copy of The Visual Display of Quantitative Information By Edward Tufte"
  • Simon
    Mar 20, 2008, 7:12 am

    Hi That’s Fantastic, Would like to get my hands on this book.


  • Sérgio
    Mar 20, 2008, 7:46 am

    Do you consider comments on any post or just this one?
    PS: Is this already counting? :)


  • Nathan
    Mar 20, 2008, 7:49 am
    Author

    Comments on any new post from today to March 30 will count, and yes, the comment you just left counts! And I will be nice, and not randomly select myself as the winner.


  • escargot
    Mar 20, 2008, 8:37 am

    Longtime lurker, but never commented. You’ve brought me out of the woodwork!


  • Tony
    Mar 20, 2008, 8:41 am

    Nathan, I’m going to give you a bump in my blog shortly to help you reach the next milestone. If I had to choose one book that is the most influential in Data Visualization, it would be this one, hands down.

    Everyone should own it!


  • Todd McKinney
    Mar 20, 2008, 8:46 am

    All I can say is congratulations. If you’ve hit 1k subscribers, your reaching a large audience, and have to be doing something very, very right. Perhaps a long tail graph would be in order? Plot the position of flowing data vs. the vast hordes of bloggers, vs. the a-list?

    Love it so far, and I’ve only been here a few days.


  • D Sparks
    Mar 20, 2008, 8:51 am

    Count me in. Thanks for the contest.


  • Ehren Cheung
    Mar 20, 2008, 9:07 am

    Congratulations on your achievement Nathan. You definitely provide some excellent content here for all of us. Cheers :)


  • Suresh
    Mar 20, 2008, 9:52 am

    Count me in. Btw, a good blog indeed.


  • Mike
    Mar 20, 2008, 10:04 am

    I never win these contests, but a great way to get comments nonetheless.


  • cody
    Mar 20, 2008, 10:24 am

    I’ve really enjoyed your posts so far and look forward to many more. Congratulations on 1k.


  • DSA Insights » Blog Archive » Free Edward Tufte Book on Data Visualization!
    Mar 20, 2008, 11:20 am

    […] that I have your attention, I would like to let you know that Nathan at FlowingData is running a contest. He is going to randomly choose one person on March 31st from comments left on his blog over the […]


  • Erich
    Mar 20, 2008, 11:22 am

    I don’t need to win a copy of the book - it’s already a prized possession!

    But you certainly deserve the kudos and attention you’re getting. Thanks for doing it!


  • Lee
    Mar 20, 2008, 12:14 pm

    I have enjoyed this site for a while now. Thanks!

    Curious how you account for “subscribers”. Since I do not write a blog myself, I am not in on the business model. Does feedburner give you stats on subscribers to the RSS feed? If so, do they distinguish between readers used? I consider myself subscribed because I added your feed to my iGoogle page…


  • litcauldron
    Mar 20, 2008, 12:23 pm

    i love this site! thanks for the inspiration. :)


  • Anthony
    Mar 20, 2008, 12:37 pm

    I never win but love the site and would definitely enjoy the book IF I won!!!


  • David
    Mar 20, 2008, 1:13 pm

    In this information age, with so much data being generated and collected, the work you are doing to analyze and visualize this data is important and too-often overlooked.
    I would love to read this book. If I don’t win it, I’ll probably check it out from the library.


  • Betty
    Mar 20, 2008, 2:23 pm

    I’ve never commented before, but that’s my favourite picture book ever, and I’m a comics collector, so that says something.


  • Nathan
    Mar 20, 2008, 2:52 pm
    Author

    Thank you for the kind words, everyone!


  • todd.
    Mar 20, 2008, 4:39 pm

    Huh. I just subscribed yesterday, that’s kind of cool. Can’t really say if I love the site or not yet, as I just subscribed. But giving away a book that I’ve been meaning to buy is a good start.


  • mahmut
    Mar 20, 2008, 4:50 pm

    Thanks for the contest!


  • First Annual Applied Statistics Center Art Contest | FlowingData
    Mar 20, 2008, 7:12 pm

    […] of contests, the Applied Statistics Center at Columbia University is holding their first annual art […]


  • Richard D. Morey
    Mar 20, 2008, 8:53 pm

    Book contest? I’m in!


  • Jean Jeudy
    Mar 20, 2008, 10:16 pm

    You’ve helped to change the way I look at data!


  • Scott
    Mar 21, 2008, 12:24 am

    impressive method for converting visitors into more than lurkers. What would a viz of the people using this forum for entry into the competition will be newcomers?


  • David
    Mar 21, 2008, 2:02 am

    Chances are, i won’t win.


  • Ethan
    Mar 21, 2008, 2:32 am

    This is fun. I am in for the lottery!


  • Ben H
    Mar 21, 2008, 6:16 am

    Came here via this post:

    http://www.stat.columbia.edu/~.....s_con.html

    and have subscribed.


  • Trey
    Mar 21, 2008, 8:36 am

    I would love a copy of any Tufte book.


  • TimThompson
    Mar 21, 2008, 10:13 am

    Hi, Already have it, but some bastard I lent it to put a giant scrape on the cover.


  • Stephen
    Mar 21, 2008, 11:13 am

    Nice way to get readers to your blog. I saw a reference to your give away on another site and came over here. Now I have added your site to my RSS feed list.


  • michaelgalloy.com » Links for 21 March 2008
    Mar 21, 2008, 2:12 pm

    […] FlowingData is giving away a copy of Tufte’s The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. To enter, post a comment on any new post on FlowingData in the next ten days. […]


  • infosthetics
    Mar 21, 2008, 9:40 pm

    Nathan, congratulations with your 1,000 subscribers! I am impressed with the speed you got this size of audience, and the quality of your blog (I guess these 2 are somehow strongly correlated).


  • andrea
    Mar 22, 2008, 5:07 am

    Congratulations, Nathan!!

    I can’t imagine the time you spend writing posts for this blog. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, but am too lazy to do it. =P

    So, what will be the prize for a comment once you reach 5000, then…? *ponders*.


  • steffen fiedler
    Mar 22, 2008, 2:50 pm

    What a book – What a blog! Thank you for all your effort.


  • blejkrajli
    Mar 22, 2008, 7:07 pm

    Wow! I came for the post on your self-experiment to stop procrastinating, but this is some definite incentive to start being a more active reader!


  • Antonis
    Mar 23, 2008, 12:10 pm

    Happy Easter everyone!


  • Michael
    Mar 23, 2008, 1:55 pm

    Well, I never was a lurker. Actually I came here by searching for the book. Guess I will have to wait with buying it until I know if I won. =)

    Oh, Happy Easter,

    /M


  • Abby
    Mar 24, 2008, 5:41 am

    It’s great to see you’ve reached so many subscribers! With data all around us, I’m fascinated by the different ways people are working on visual displays, so your blog was a great find for me.


  • Ryan
    Mar 25, 2008, 2:57 am

    Congratulations! It’s awesome you grew the site so fast. This age of web 2.0 and 3.0 is an exciting time to be a statistician!!!

    My guess is you will use the “sample” function in R to draw the lucky winner LOL.

    BTW, if you draw me, draw someone else…I already have this book :-) haha.


  • Mike
    Mar 25, 2008, 9:34 am

    Great new site; Thanks for the wonderful contest; and what a great book; I read most of it a long time ago, but would love to have it; I’ll burn some incense and hang chicken feet in anticipation of your congratulatory email…..


  • Jon Peltier
    Mar 25, 2008, 5:52 pm

    Tufte’s books are good, no question. But if you want a more practical treatment, check out the offerings by Stephen Few. Of particular interest is Show Me the Numbers - Designing Tables and Graphs to Enlighten.


  • Nathan
    Mar 25, 2008, 8:30 pm
    Author

    @Jon: I haven’t read Stephen’s book, but yeah, I’ve only heard good things about it.


  • Jon Peltier
    Mar 26, 2008, 12:17 am

    I have three of Tufte’s books (not the latest one yet), an I enjoy them greatly, but their concepts are not always easy to directly put into practice. I consider these books of greater cultural value than technical value.

    I have two of Few’s books, Show Me the Numbers and Information Dashboard Design. Both are informative, and they present concepts in a practical way that makes them easy to implement.

    Both authors are equally valuable, but for different reasons.


  • Nils
    Mar 26, 2008, 8:11 am

    Thanks for a great blog.

    (I don´t mind winning that book)


  • Last Chance to Win Tufte’s Visual Display of Quantitative Information | FlowingData
    Mar 27, 2008, 2:29 pm

    […] the original contest announcement for those who missed […]


  • Fred Schechter
    Mar 27, 2008, 3:14 pm

    Been loving the reading (google reader makes it easy to follow you guys). Plus I’m a fool not to try and win the Tufte book!


  • Tony
    Mar 27, 2008, 4:05 pm

    @ Jon - I’ll second that about Few’s books. I also agree that Tufte is more theory, with Few having more practical application.

    I can say that, The Visual Display of Quantitative Information by Tufte and Few’s Information Dashboard Design are must-haves, but it really depends on your personal/professional interest or need.

    With such a positive response here, maybe I’ll take a page out of Nathan’s book and offer a Few book contest.


  • Joe
    Mar 27, 2008, 6:20 pm

    I’m in, thanks for running this contest!


  • Chris
    Mar 27, 2008, 11:05 pm

    Looks cool. Count me in.


  • Maz
    Mar 28, 2008, 5:44 am

    Hey!! Thanks for your contest, I’m in!


  • Kenny
    Mar 28, 2008, 2:51 pm

    Congratulations on getting 1K subscribers! Here’s to getting thousands more!


  • Bill Towne
    Mar 28, 2008, 9:35 pm

    Great website. After loaning the book to another and not getting it back, I need it back on my bookshelf.


  • Matt
    Mar 28, 2008, 11:27 pm

    As of right now my chances are 1/54.


  • Randy MacDonald
    Mar 29, 2008, 9:04 am

    This is a comment. I trust it is enough to cover the contest requirements.


  • Scott Sanders
    Mar 30, 2008, 5:13 pm

    I’ve read some snippets from Tufte but never reviewed the prize, which you note as a “milestone” book. So, as a newbie to this site, thanks for pointing me to it.


  • Nicolás
    Mar 30, 2008, 5:22 pm

    Congratulations.


  • J Medina
    Mar 30, 2008, 5:40 pm

    I’m in have wanted this for years hopefully luck is on my side


  • Stephen Baiter
    Mar 31, 2008, 2:37 am

    Way cool


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