---

title: Chapter 1

output: distill::distill_article

---

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```{r setup, echo=FALSE, warning=FALSE, message=FALSE}

knitr::opts_chunk$set(R.options = list(width = 150))

library(knitr)

source("R/chapter_figs.R")

```

# In the Beginning... <img src="images/cartoons/ogilby.png" align="right" height="100px" />

> *If you would understand anything, observe its beginning and its development.* __Aristotle, *Metaphysics*__

<div class="chapterintro"><div class="chapterprelude">

#### Synopsis {-}

This chapter is an overview of the larger questions and themes that

provide a context for the book. We consider the relations among numerical data, evidence for an argument and graphs,

and then describe some of the pre-history of the visual representation of numbers and the early rise of

visualization itself. The story continues to the rise of empirical thinking in philosophy and

science around the 16th Century and the concomitant

remarkable development of the visual representation of numbers to communicate quantitative phenomena.

</div><div class="chaptercontents">

#### Chapter contents

* Introduction

The Evolution of Pictures

Connecting Data with Pictures

* Seeing the Unexpected

* The Rise of the Graphic Method and Visual Thinking

* A Golden Age

</div></div>

## Selected Figures

```{r results="asis", echo=FALSE, message=FALSE, warning=FALSE}

do_chapter(1)

```