Information Visualization: Beyond the Horizon (2004. 2nd Printing 2006)

Information visualization is not only about creating graphical displays of complex and latent information structures; it contributes to a broader range of cognitive, social, and collaborative activities. This is the first book to examine information visualization from this perspective.

This 2nd edition continues the unique and ambitious quest for setting information visualization and virtual environments in a unifying framework. Information Visualization: Beyond the Horizon pays special attention to the advances made over the last 5 years and potentially fruitful directions to pursue. It is particularly updated to meet the need for practitioners. The book is a valuable source for researchers and graduate students. This new edition is forwarded by Ben Shneiderman, University of Maryland.

From the reviews of the second edition:

"Information visualization is a young academic specialty, having been practiced now for about a decade. ... This book ... is a survey of the state of the art. ... the reader gets a broad overview of many aspects of this field. ... can get a good sense of this developing field. In each chapter, Chen provides ... . He is clearly excited by his field, and conveys it well in this book."(G. R. Mayforth, Computing Reviews, May, 2005)

In summary Information Visualization is a comprehensive text, providing a comprehensive level of information on what is essentially a limitless topic. Although not an easy read, and certainly not for the layman, the text is nevertheless an excellent tool for the researcher to have to hand. Offering a concise overview of the fundamental concepts, where this text really excels is in its focus on application, and extensive referral to ‘real-world’ examples of Information Visualization, and particularly its use in cross discipline research, If you are a novice in the field, looking for a gentle introduction, look elsewhere. If, however, you know the fundamentals and are looking for a comprehensive survey of the state-of-the-art, essential details on empirical grounding of techniques, and in particular a wealth of application specific information, then this is likely to be the text for you. (Terence Clifton, Informer 17, pp7-8)