Brent Dykes: Data Storytelling

Brent Dykes: Data Storytelling

Brent Dykes is considered the “king” of data storytelling. With his book “Effective Data-Storytelling, published in English by Wiley in 2020, he confirms the reputation. Data storytelling only works if the ingredients: Data, narrative and visualization work neatly together.

What doesn’t sound like rocket science isn’t. What Dykes does succeed in doing, however, is conveying a good understanding of the mechanisms that can also be implemented immediately and at any time, e.g. developing the suspense of a story with the right “aha moment” or using the “seven principles for better visual storytelling”. The book reads smoothly and entertainingly, not least because in it the vaunted methods are applied. Why was Ignaz Semmelweis unable to effectively combat puerperal fever in Vienna in the 1940s, but John Snow used successful data storytelling to combat cholera in London at the same time, lights a light. The book is highly recommended not only for the professional data storyteller, but for anyone who needs to present and persuade – and who doesn’t?