On this page, I catalog and recommend books about data visualization and Power BI. I write only about books from my bookshelf and post only honest, non-sponsored reviews.
A few of these books are specifically tailored to the needs of Power BI developers, covering topics such as Power Query and M language, dimensional data modeling, and DAX. However, most of these books are tool-agnostic, meaning they do not focus on Power BI or any specific data visualization tool. If you’re seeking books with tool-specific step-by-step instructions, like “click File then click Open,” this may not be the right place for you.
The selection here primarily features books that enhance your understanding, shift your perspective, and assist in creating and presenting better charts, dashboards, and reports, although some offer extremely practical recommendations on how to start making better charts right away.
P.S. There is a long list of books I’ve read but have not yet written a review for. However, I’ll try to update this page with more reviews soon.
Book Sets I Recommend
My Book Reviews
Other Books on my Bookshelf (incomplete list)
Star Schema The Complete Reference
by Christopher Adamson
DAX Patterns: Second Edition
by Marco Russo, Alberto Ferrari
Storytelling with Data: Let’s Practice!
by Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic
The Visual Display of Quantitative Information
by Edward R. Tufte
Functional Art, The: An introduction to information graphics and visualization
by Alberto Cairo
Truthful Art, The: Data, Charts, and Maps for Communication
by Alberto Cairo
How Charts Lie: Getting Smarter about Visual Information
by Alberto Cairo
Show Me the Numbers: Designing Tables and Graphs to Enlighten
by Stephen Few
Now You See It: Simple Visualization Techniques for Quantitative Analysis
by Stephen Few
Signal: Understanding What Matters in a World of Noise
by Stephen Few
Information Visualization: Perception for Design
by Colin Ware
Data Visualisation: A Handbook for Data Driven Design
by Andy Kirk
#MakeoverMonday: Improving How We Visualize and Analyze Data, One Chart at a Time
by Eva Murray, Andy Kriebel
The elements of graphing data
by William S. Cleveland
Visualizing Data
by William S. Cleveland
Semiology of Graphics: Diagrams, Networks, Maps
by Jacques Bertin
Playfair’s Commercial and Political Atlas and Statistical Breviary
by William Playfair
Solid, outlined, hatched: How visual consistency helps better understand reports, presentations and dashboards
Authors: Rolf Hichert, Jürgen Faisst
Questions in Dataviz: A Design-Driven Process for Data Visualisation
Author: Neil Richards
100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People
Author: Susan M. Weinschenk
Don’t Make Me Think, Revisited: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability (Voices That Matter)
Author: Krug Steve