Playfair

My review

I found this biography sometimes interesting, sometimes boring and sometimes really boring.

The inventor of the ubiquitous bar chart lived tumultuous times which makes the book interesting. However, the author writes about so many people and in so much detail that it was occasionally difficult to follow. As the author admits, Playfair was “the most famous man you have never heard of. He appears everywhere; he knows everyone”. The author was careful not to forget anyone, indeed.

The most interesting part for me is about how Playfair found inspiration to come up with innovative ways to visualize information. Line and bar charts are so obvious today that it’s difficult to think that they were unthinkable when he invented them.