How to Lie with Charts

The numbers donÂ’t lie...or do they? Our society relies more on visual presentation of information than ever before. By exposing the tricks of the trade, How to Lie with Charts shows you how to create effective, truthful presentations and how to spot deceptive ones.

With easy-to-understand lessons and case studies that use popular software like Microsoft PowerPoint®, you’ll learn to present information more clearly and how to avoid the pitfalls associated with automatic chart-generation tools. Discover how chart format, data placement, and even your label and color choices can influence your audience. Throughout the book, special icons point out helpful hints as well as time-consuming liars’ tricks.

An engaging book, full of real-world examples, How to Lie with Charts shows you:

• When to use pie charts and which slice of the pie is most important
• How to lay out a chart that satisfies those starving number-crunchers
• Why “liars” prefer tables to charts and some other common “liarÂ’s tips”
• The psychology of color and why blue means “reliable” to some people, but “cold” to others
• Why and where liars use the prettiest pictures

It’s not necessarily about lying—it’s about clear, persuasive communication. How to Lie with Charts teaches you to create a slide show worth watching and how to spot one worth watching out for.