College and Research Libraries 286 College & Research Libraries meaning of the word, autobiographical.- W. L. Wzlliamson, Library School, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Cleveland, William S. The Elements of Graphing Data. Monterey, Calif.: Wadsworth Advanced Books and Soft- ware, 1985. 323p. $18.95 LC 85-10603. ISBN 0-5340-3730-5. The only negative thing that might be said in connection with this book is that it probably won't be read by even a fraction of the scholars who could benefit signifi- cantly from exposure to its content. Cleve- land's insights and principles go far be- yond the relativity simple problem of creating legible graphics; as he writes in the preface: "This book ... contains graphical methods and principles that are powerful tools for showing the structure of data'' (p .1, my italics). Like maps (with which I am most famil- iar), graphs are made for two quite differ- ent reasons. The first is data analysis, for which t};le scholar uses the graph to tease out or make explicit relationships among observations for his own benefit. The sec- ond is data communication, for which the scholar-analyst has determined what the structure of the data is and wants to com- municate it effectively to others. Thus a graph can be both an intermediate work- ing tool and a final product, uniquely effi- cient for both, superior in many instances to words, numbers, or (even) maps. But in the formal educational curriculum at all levels (including college and graduate school) there is an almost overwhelming bias in favor of acquiring and conveying meaningful relationships among data in verbal or numerical form. Cleveland's book forces one to realize what a serious loss this is for scholarship, even for our culture as a whole. The Elements of Graphing Data is to graphs what Strunk and White's The Ele- ments of Style is to text; high praise is implied and intended in this parallel. Cleveland's writing style-dear, concise, orderly, authoritative, and commonsensi- cal-suggests that he has more than a passing aquaintance with Strunk and White's classic volume. The publisher has also done well by Cleveland, with attrac- May 1986 tive, legible type, and a generally well thought out book design. As to content, the book contains four major sections. The first is a brief introduc- tory discussion about graphs, with an em- phasis not so much on their form per se (although he integrates knowledgeably . the subject of visual perception with all as- pect of graphs) as on the meaning that data can take on in graphed form. Cleve- land, a scientist at AT&T Bell Laborato- . ries, has been studying (and inventing) ' graphical methods for data analysis and presentation for more than ten years. The second section is a how-to gem, : "Principles of Graph Construction." It should be required reading for all edu- cated human beings. The third section deals with graphical methods and moves at times quite deeply into the domain of statistics. The nonspe- . cialist can easily browse through this sec- tion, taking as much as seems useful. Throughout the book Cleveland uses real data sets to illustrate copiously his dis- cussion. This has the effect of making the book a fascinating read because he delves into actual scientific questions, e.g., do hamsters. who hibernate more live longer? In one case study, Cleveland reviews the complete 1980 volume of Science; the ma- jority of articles (67 percent) contained graphs, almost four hundred in number. Nearly one-half of these graphs were flawed, one-third seriously so (something on the graph was not explained, for exam- ple). Cleveland's own illustrations (com- puter generated) are numerous and clear. The book closes with an admirable expo- sition of the principles of graphic percep- tion and cognition that bear on the con- struction and comprehension of graphs. In some respects it might have been logical and useful for the book to begin with this material, but it probably does take on ad- ditional meaning after one has thought in- tently about graphs for more than two hundred pages. This book is a gem. Buy it, read it, and urge everyone you know whose job it is to convert raw data to meaningful informa- tion to do the same.-Barbara Bartz Pet- chenik, Cartographic Services, R. R. Donnel- ley & Sons, Chicago, Illinois. Introducing a unique collection of never-before-published historical records. UNPUBLISHED US. SENATE COM I INGS Despite their value, transcripts of many U.S. congressional hearings have never been printed and made available to the public. Until now. CIS has uncovered thousands of long-buried Senate hearings transcripts, and is preparing a major microfiche collection of these materials. A detailed, easy-to-use index will make the collection fully accessible. Spanning the mid-1800s through 1964, CIS Un- published U.S . 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