This post is from November 2004. Facts and links may have changed since. See more from that month

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Edward Tufte

Belated praise to Edward Tufte who skewered Colin Powell’s UN presentation on Iraq at the time, noting:

The cognitive style of Powell’s PP presentation resembles that of JFK assassination theorists: small highly selected bits of information that, along with some heavy breathing, are then alleged to provide a conclusive insight.

His essay on the subject, The Cognitive Style of Powerpoint, is essential reading.

Note: “A few days ago, I ventured out to one of ET’s seminars. Well worth the $300-odd bucks.

Oh, yeah, and here is my first Tufte-esque 11” x 17” handout. One graph is a little rough as a .pdf. Adobe Illustrator will solve that.

Jeffrey Lewis

Writing on ACW 2004–2026

Dr. Jeffrey Lewis is the founding publisher of Arms Control Wonk.com. He is the Director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. His also a non-resident affiliate at Stanford's Center for Security and International Cooperation and a Contributing Editor to Survival.

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