Presentation – Scott J. Pearson’s Book Review

Power Cues: The Subtle Science of Leading Groups, Persuading Others & Maximizing Your Personal Impact

By Scott J. Pearson | October 4, 2025October 4, 2025 by Scott J. Pearson

We’d like to think that our social lives and businesses are meritocracies, but they clearly aren’t. The best ideas don’t always win, and much depends on how one presents themselves. In a world where people make quick judgments about leaders, quickly conveying trust matters more than ever before. Communications expert Nick Morgan teaches us how to master those soft skills of leadership. Generally, this book is filled with solid advice about public speaking in settings…

Indie Presentation Visualization

Seeing with Fresh Eyes: Meaning, Space, Data, Truth

By Scott J. Pearson | May 6, 2025May 6, 2025 by Scott J. Pearson

I read anything that Edward Tufte writes. This “father of data visualization” has taught classes at Yale on the subject for decades. His books have also taught the reading public how to present data more effectively in the digital age. This work represents his fifth book. While his other books focus on getting the data right, this one’s subject meanders around transforming presentations into a form of art that provokes an audience response. I enjoyed…

Indie Presentation Visualization

Visual Explanations: Images & Quantities, Evidence & Narrative

By Scott J. Pearson | January 19, 2025May 6, 2025 by Scott J. Pearson

“A picture is worth a thousand words,” so the saying goes. Thus, an effective visualization, enriched by information, must count for so much more. But a misconstrued visualization, unfortunately, can lead to horrific outcomes from misinterpretations. How can we refine our visual thinking so that we can infer correct deductions while ignoring misplaced sketches? Visualization guru Edward Tufte teaches us how to reason about our world through informative displays in this helpful guide, replete with…

Indie Presentation Visualization

Envisioning Information by Edward Tufte

By Scott J. Pearson | January 12, 2025May 6, 2025 by Scott J. Pearson

All the way back to Galileo sharing about Jupiter’s moons, science has relied upon visualizations to communicate its findings. Some things are just better depicted visually instead of through words. In contemporary society, information graphics have played an increasingly larger role as computers quickly translate data into a more accessible format. Newspapers and Internet websites have made them commonplace. Even though this book was written in 1990, before ubiquitous computing, it identifies the philosophical and…

Indie Presentation Visualization

Beautiful Evidence by Edward Tufte

By Scott J. Pearson | December 30, 2024May 6, 2025 by Scott J. Pearson

Edward Tufte’s books on data visualization are nothing short of legend among us information geeks. A political scientist by training, he demonstrates how well-conceived visualizations can effectively communicate insights and how shortcomings can create catastrophes. He continues his famous series on visual imagination with this book on the intersection of data and art. He shows how displays of evidence can move readers much like art and how poorly constructed displays can inhibit good judgment. Tufte’s…

Presentation

Just My Type: A Book About Fonts

By Scott J. Pearson | December 22, 2024December 22, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

Most of us became aware of fonts first through using the computer. Open up any word processing program, and you have dozens of options available for self-expression. Before personal computing, Microsoft Windows, and Apple computers, most of us had little clue about the world of fonts. We knew text presents itself differently in, say, movies, newspapers, and magazines. Recently, ubiquitous computing – and especially the Internet – have made different type faces a pervasive part…

Presentation Software-Technology

Creating Software with Modern Diagramming Techniques: Build Better Software with Mermaid

By Scott J. Pearson | July 28, 2024July 28, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

As a computer science major in college, I learned about Unified Modeling Language (UML) as a way to visually document software. However, I soon found designing and maintaining those images to be more of a pain than they’re worth. I had to reshuffle images on graphics programs for every minor change, so keeping documentation up to date proved to be impossible. Recently, however, I discovered that someone invented a language, called Mermaid, to convert a…

Presentation Software-Technology

Now You See It: An Introduction to Visual Data Sensemaking

By Scott J. Pearson | April 28, 2024April 28, 2024 by Scott J. Pearson

We live in an era, the so-called Information Age, where data collection has become incredibly easy. The term “Big Data” gets thrown around casually as computers collect more information on us than we know how to process. Yet wise interpretation of those data is often elusive. We’re overwhelmed with it. Effective visualizations and charts can help us interpret it better, whether to present and persuade or to monitor and manage. Stephen Few, an eloquent minister-turned-data…

Presentation Writing-Communication

Virtual Presentation Mastery: Tips from the Coach to Some of the World’s Best Speakers – And Me

By Scott J. Pearson | November 15, 2023November 15, 2023 by Scott J. Pearson

The global COVID pandemic changed global business culture. People began to work from home, and suddenly, most meetings and presentations happened virtually instead of in person. The technology began to outpace theory as few of us knew how to present virtually well. Obviously, a good starting approach builds off of existing practice, so many began the journey of adapting our presentations to tools like Zoom and Microsoft Teams. A few years later, the pandemic has…

Presentation Science Writing-Communication

The Craft of Scientific Presentations: Critical Steps to Succeed & Critical Errors to Avoid

By Scott J. Pearson | September 3, 2023October 20, 2023 by Scott J. Pearson

Many scientists and engineers first learn to present by watching others present and mimicking these teachers. This technique helps to convey the basics, but how do collective bad habits get rooted out? Indeed, many weaknesses get passed on from mentor to mentee and from lab to lab. Instead of just floating aimlessly with the masses, those who aspire to greatness can benefit from reading critical commentary from scientific communicators like Michael Alley. This book, first…