Samuel D. Barton

The Art of Information: A Beautiful, Empirical Journey of Perception and Understanding

This collection is centered around displaying information clearly, concisely, and beautifully. Some books are explicitly about how to visualize information, others feature stunning graphics as companions to the text; others are detailed, visual explanations of our interconnected world; still more are compendiums of information graphics. Overall, my collection is an attempt to visually come to terms with the increasing complexity of our world.

--Samuel Barton, second-year winner


View his full essay

View his full bibliography

Selections from the collection

Samuel with books from his collection

Photo by Alan Klehr, Churchill+Klehr
Installation view

Photo by Alan Klehr, Churchill+Klehr
The Way Things Work

Photo by Alan Klehr, Churchill+Klehr

This book fascinated me for hours on end and continues to do so. It offers a visual explanation of how all the different services and elements of infrastructure in a modern city fit together, visually and spatially.
The Book of Circles: Visualizing Spheres of Knowledge

Photo by Alan Klehr, Churchill+Klehr

I have always loved information graphics that are based around circles; this volume is a survey of such infographics. There are many beautiful examples that inspire me to make my own ‘spheres of knowledge.’