If memory serves (I don't have my copy to hand) it focuses particularly on analysis and visualisation, and a lot of the examples are scientific in nature.
If you found this interesting and you do any data visualization work in your life, I can highly recommend Information Dashboard Design by Stephen Few and The Visual Display of Quantitative Information by Edward Tufte. While some of the examples certainly appear dated these days, the concepts, best practices, and approaches to data visualization outlined in these books, such as the concept of data-ink and non data-ink, are timeless in my opinion. I actually can't remember how many times I've bought these books as I now work as an engineering manager and have the habit of giving away my copies to new developers.
There are so many books on data visualization it's hard to judge just from the reviews which are the canonical textbooks. So far I was just recommended this book: http://book.flowingdata.com/
I totally agree. I'd also recommend anyone interested in awesome visualizations on a computer (not paper) to read Ben Fry's Dissertation: http://www.benfry.com/phd/ it has some very specific things to say about size, color and animation regarding visualization of data.
A great reference for further reading about data visualization is "The Visual Display of Quantitative Information" by Edward Tufte, a classic book originally published in 1983 with enduring relevance today.
Data visualization. I had many years of experience with data analytics, but only when I read "Now you see it" by Stephen Few I started understanding how data visualization is linked to the way the human eye and brain work.
The Tufte books are brilliant. For dynamic charts, his first book (The Visual Display of Quantitative Information) is the most relevant, it covers the theory - how to tell a good representation from a bad one - and the basics.
Apart from that, it's mostly a matter of picking up interesting ideas wherever you find them. flowingdata.com is nice, same with http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/
This is a great list. David McCandless' recent book The Visual Miscellaneum does not quite fit in with these books - it's not instructional and has no "theory". But it's a beautiful book full of great examples of data visualization, enough to get any designer's creative juices flowing. I highly recommend it.
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