12 Gifts for Data Freaks















More Slideshows
1 of 16
By Cliff Kuang on December 9, 2009
There's a slew of gifts out there for the data freak in your life--ranging from books to posters to jewelry. Here's a dozen, for each of the 12 days of Christmas.
Here: Prints of "Nonsensical Infographics" by Chad Hagen, available at 20x200. (From $20)
A brooch by Nervous System. The form was generated by genetic algorithm, and rendered using rapid prototyping. (From $25)
The infographics blog Flowing Data has also produced a series of limited edition posters on the theme of education. Each one is $20, but the whole series of 3 is $40.
History Shots is one of the best sources around for data-driven posters.This one by Chris Harrison, shows all of the cross references in the Bible. The bar graph at the bottom shows how many verses there are in each chapter. ($35)
Another one from History Shots, depicting how the size of the Union Army ebbed and flowed during the Civil War, after battles and recruiting waves. ($30)
Data Flow is one of the best surveys of the contemporary experiments in data visualization and includes hundreds of projects. The text and graphs are sometimes hard to read, but the eye candy is delicious. ($48 at Amazon.)
A spread from Data Flow, with a graph depicting common references in the holy books of the world's biggest religions.
A necklace by Plot, depicting the price of gold after the financial meltdown. Different (cheaper) versions track the prices of silver, oil, and lead. (About $325)
A wall-sized poster of various gauges and readouts ($63)
For the lawyer in your life, "A Visual History of the Supreme Court." ($45)
Detail.
Edward Tufte's books are immortal in the world infographics. Recently, he released an expanded edition of his classic, The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. ($40)
Infojocks produces several sports themed infographic posters, including this "Taxonomy of Team Names" ($20). Here, a detail of the poster.
Another detail.
A customized fruit bowl by Fluid Forms. You can pick any location you'd like, and have a bowl rendered from the topology. ($340)
ADVERTISEMENT























