I bought one of his books (The Visual Display of Quantitative Information) and now deeply regret it. If you are familiar with principles of design and with the aesthetic of minimalism, reading Tufte will gain you little knowledge and will feel like watching some self-proclaimed Don Quixote battle windmills.<p>My favorite part was where he tries to poo-poo modernist/contemporary architecture (why would one insert such an irrelevant/inflammatory opinion in the first place?). According to Tufte, it is better to superficially decorate a conventionally laid out building than to architect a radically new, untraditional form -- which only illustrates how out-of-touch the author is with contemporary trends. What a boring, self-aggrandising old prick.