From the reviews of the second edition:

„Information visualization is a young academic specialty, having been practiced now for about a decade. … This book … is a survey of the state of the art. … the reader gets a broad overview of many aspects of this field. … can get a good sense of this developing field. In each chapter, Chen provides … . He is clearly excited by his field, and conveys it well in this book.“(G. R. Mayforth, Computing Reviews, May, 2005)

In summary Information Visualization is a comprehensive text, providing a comprehensive level of information on what is essentially a limitless topic. Although not an easy read, and certainly not for the layman, the text is nevertheless an excellent tool for the researcher to have to hand. Offering a concise overview of the fundamental concepts, where this text really excels is in its focus on application, and extensive referral to ‘real-world’ examples of Information Visualization, and particularly its use in cross discipline research, If you are a novice in the field, looking for a gentle introduction, look elsewhere. If, however, you know the fundamentals and are looking for a comprehensive survey of the state-of-the-art, essential details on empirical grounding of techniques, and in particular a wealth of application specific information, then this is likely to be the text for you. (Terence Clifton, Informer 17, pp7-8)