- Email: [email protected]
Envisioning information
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Envisioning Information
for researchers to create their own figures. Unfortunately, many by Edward R. Tufte, Graphics Press, of these submitted to TINS have 1990. $48.00/£30.00 (126 pages) to be redrawn before they can be ISBN 0 961 3921 1 8. Available from Graphics Press, Box 430, Cheshire, used in the journal - lines are CT 06410, USA or PO Box 8, given the wrong weights for emphasis, typefaces are used Godalming, Surrey GU7 3HB, UK seemingly at random, tints and Railway timetables, planetary shadings are scattered around, motions and the changing distri- layout is uneasy and difficult to bution of the birthplaces of Tang, follow. Usually adding 'more' Sing, Ming and Ching poets in ends up detracting from the China between 618 and 1911 whole and creating a mess. I AD: why should these subjects be recommend that authors read this of interest to TIN5 readers? The book before preparing any ilanswer in this case is that they lustrative material for publication. have all been chosen (along with Envisioning Information seems many more) by Edward Tufte to tantalizingly brief, with a ratio of illustrate important general principles of presenting information graphically in an intelligible and clear way. I emphasize the importance of this skill because for an Noradrenergic Neurons illustration or table of data to be effective we must be able to by Marianne Fi//enz, Cambridge dissect the salient points we re- University Press, 1990. £10.95 pbk, £30.00 hbk (x + 238 pages) ISBN quire from it quickly, easily and 0 521 28780 4 pbk, 0 521 24546 X unambiguously. From any one hbk illustration, different readers might need to extract different At a time when a new neuroinformation and so the whole transmitter candidate is dismust work for all possible read- covered almost every month, ings. This book demonstrates in a Marianne Fillenz from Oxford has superb way examples of good undertaken a summary of the and bad illustrations and tabu- development of our knowledge lations. The subjective classifi- of noradrenaline, which has cation of 'good' or 'bad' is clear- evolved over several decades. cut; there seemed to me to be no This historical perspective is, 'almost good' or 'not wholly bad' indeed, an instructive one with examples. the lesson that biological research Different chapters discuss the is clearly a long-term undertakdifferent needs for informative ing: as Dr Fillenz so eloquently presentation and the ways of points out, many fundamental achieving this. It is a challenge to questions about the function of work within the constraint of a noradrenergic neurons still remain two-dimensional sheet to show to be settled. data abstracted from three or four The book provides excellent (or more) dimensions. The layout reading for graduate students and and use of colour and space presents current knowledge of are demonstrated to very good the anatomy, biochemistry, physieffect. Deceptively subtle changes ology and pharmacology of this can strengthen the message important set of neurons in the carried, as well as making it more body. A unique feature of the quickly and easily understood. book is that it describes both There is a need for all scientists peripheral and central noradrento understand these principles ergic neurons in an attempt to and effects, especially as com- synthesize our knowledge about puter generation of figures the function of noradrenaline in becomes more widespread. In the the whole behaving organism. old days we might take an idea Each chapter contains a short and the raw data for an illus- summary towards its end, thus tration to a graphics artist, who enhancing readability. would translate them into an The main content of the effective diagram. Without any volume is focused on various specific training it is now possible experimental designs and actual TINS, Vol. 14, No. 6, 1991
text : pictures of around 40 : 60. But the clich~ of every picture being worth a thousand words certainly holds true here- and the book forces the reader to think. The eye is continually drawn from the text to the illustrations, so the book needs to be read several times to absorb the message. However, this is not a chore because it is a delight to read, since it uses full colour throughout and is printed with generous use of space and margins on heavy matt paper in a type that is easily read. It carries so much information in a small space that it exemplifies its message.
experiments aimed at studying and clarifying various aspects of the biology of noradrenergic neurons, rather than, for example, discussing their pathophysiological and clinical significance. Thus, the perspective would probably be of more interest to the PhD student than the medic. Clearly, a short section on, for example, the role of noradrenaline in cardiovascular disease might have served to increase general interest in the volume. It appears that animal research rather than human disease is closer to the heart of the author. At the same time, such inclusions might have expanded the book beyond a practical format. Major functions of the peripheral sympathetic nervous system are discussed in relation to Cannon's old hypothesis of 1915, i.e. this system serves to cope with emergencies, a general view that is emphasized towards the end of the volume. The central noradrenaline neurons are also described in a comprehensive way, with a multitude of research findings included. The immense complexity of the brain and the fact that this part of the book covers a more recent area of research, means that more questions remain unanswered in this section. The best-studied central noradrenergic neurons originate in the pontine nucleus locus coeruleus. Our current knowledge suggests that these neurons are important for vigilance, memory retrieval and,
GavinJ. Swanson
Editor,Trendsin Neurosciences
Torgny H. Svens$on
Deptof Pharmacology, KarolinskaInstitute, Box60400, StockholmS-10401, Sweden.
263
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
books
.
Envisioning Information
for researchers to create their own figures. Unfortunately, many by Edward R. Tufte, Graphics Press, of these submitted to TINS have 1990. $48.00/£30.00 (126 pages) to be redrawn before they can be ISBN 0 961 3921 1 8. Available from Graphics Press, Box 430, Cheshire, used in the journal - lines are CT 06410, USA or PO Box 8, given the wrong weights for emphasis, typefaces are used Godalming, Surrey GU7 3HB, UK seemingly at random, tints and Railway timetables, planetary shadings are scattered around, motions and the changing distri- layout is uneasy and difficult to bution of the birthplaces of Tang, follow. Usually adding 'more' Sing, Ming and Ching poets in ends up detracting from the China between 618 and 1911 whole and creating a mess. I AD: why should these subjects be recommend that authors read this of interest to TIN5 readers? The book before preparing any ilanswer in this case is that they lustrative material for publication. have all been chosen (along with Envisioning Information seems many more) by Edward Tufte to tantalizingly brief, with a ratio of illustrate important general principles of presenting information graphically in an intelligible and clear way. I emphasize the importance of this skill because for an Noradrenergic Neurons illustration or table of data to be effective we must be able to by Marianne Fi//enz, Cambridge dissect the salient points we re- University Press, 1990. £10.95 pbk, £30.00 hbk (x + 238 pages) ISBN quire from it quickly, easily and 0 521 28780 4 pbk, 0 521 24546 X unambiguously. From any one hbk illustration, different readers might need to extract different At a time when a new neuroinformation and so the whole transmitter candidate is dismust work for all possible read- covered almost every month, ings. This book demonstrates in a Marianne Fillenz from Oxford has superb way examples of good undertaken a summary of the and bad illustrations and tabu- development of our knowledge lations. The subjective classifi- of noradrenaline, which has cation of 'good' or 'bad' is clear- evolved over several decades. cut; there seemed to me to be no This historical perspective is, 'almost good' or 'not wholly bad' indeed, an instructive one with examples. the lesson that biological research Different chapters discuss the is clearly a long-term undertakdifferent needs for informative ing: as Dr Fillenz so eloquently presentation and the ways of points out, many fundamental achieving this. It is a challenge to questions about the function of work within the constraint of a noradrenergic neurons still remain two-dimensional sheet to show to be settled. data abstracted from three or four The book provides excellent (or more) dimensions. The layout reading for graduate students and and use of colour and space presents current knowledge of are demonstrated to very good the anatomy, biochemistry, physieffect. Deceptively subtle changes ology and pharmacology of this can strengthen the message important set of neurons in the carried, as well as making it more body. A unique feature of the quickly and easily understood. book is that it describes both There is a need for all scientists peripheral and central noradrento understand these principles ergic neurons in an attempt to and effects, especially as com- synthesize our knowledge about puter generation of figures the function of noradrenaline in becomes more widespread. In the the whole behaving organism. old days we might take an idea Each chapter contains a short and the raw data for an illus- summary towards its end, thus tration to a graphics artist, who enhancing readability. would translate them into an The main content of the effective diagram. Without any volume is focused on various specific training it is now possible experimental designs and actual TINS, Vol. 14, No. 6, 1991
text : pictures of around 40 : 60. But the clich~ of every picture being worth a thousand words certainly holds true here- and the book forces the reader to think. The eye is continually drawn from the text to the illustrations, so the book needs to be read several times to absorb the message. However, this is not a chore because it is a delight to read, since it uses full colour throughout and is printed with generous use of space and margins on heavy matt paper in a type that is easily read. It carries so much information in a small space that it exemplifies its message.
experiments aimed at studying and clarifying various aspects of the biology of noradrenergic neurons, rather than, for example, discussing their pathophysiological and clinical significance. Thus, the perspective would probably be of more interest to the PhD student than the medic. Clearly, a short section on, for example, the role of noradrenaline in cardiovascular disease might have served to increase general interest in the volume. It appears that animal research rather than human disease is closer to the heart of the author. At the same time, such inclusions might have expanded the book beyond a practical format. Major functions of the peripheral sympathetic nervous system are discussed in relation to Cannon's old hypothesis of 1915, i.e. this system serves to cope with emergencies, a general view that is emphasized towards the end of the volume. The central noradrenaline neurons are also described in a comprehensive way, with a multitude of research findings included. The immense complexity of the brain and the fact that this part of the book covers a more recent area of research, means that more questions remain unanswered in this section. The best-studied central noradrenergic neurons originate in the pontine nucleus locus coeruleus. Our current knowledge suggests that these neurons are important for vigilance, memory retrieval and,
GavinJ. Swanson
Editor,Trendsin Neurosciences
Torgny H. Svens$on
Deptof Pharmacology, KarolinskaInstitute, Box60400, StockholmS-10401, Sweden.
263