I was introduced to the techniques of displaying information at my first job creating real-time process control software and man-machine interfaces. At that time, there were very few easily accessible resources, to make my job easier and to provide me with good rules on how to present lots of rapidly changing data.
At some point I came across a map that described Napoleon's March in the Russian Campaign of 1812. This map was drawn by a Charles Joseph Minard and re-published by Edward Tufte.
This lead me to Edward Tufte's books "The Visual Display of Quantitative Information" and then on to "Envisioning Information". He has also published "The Cognitive Style of Powerpoint" that rants against the use of slideware (Powerpoint) for presenting data, which has received both acclaim and criticism. More information on Tufte and his works can be found at Edward Tufte's website.
