Day One of the Beyond Bootcamp information graphics workshop taught by Alberto Cairo and Xaquin G.V. has been much less scary than I’d first thought.

Cairo’s lecture has been a model of organized thought and progressive structure, which should come as no surprise to anyone, given the nature of his work.

Update: Since the bootcamp, he has published “Infografía 2.0,” an updated Spanish edition of his book on information graphics, which you can buy on his website.

What’s also obvious is that the man reads a heck of a lot. For every concept and example, he’s tossed off a different book title.

Here’s what he’s recommended to us so far, in no particular order:

• “How the Mind Works,” Steven Pinker (Amazon | BN | Powell’s)
• “The Ghost Map,” Steven Johnson (Amazon | BN | Powell’s)
• “Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge,” Edward O. Wilson (Amazon | BN | Powell’s)
• “Wordless Diagrams,” Nigel Holmes (Amazon | BN | Powell’s | website | “Why Humor Helps Communication“)
• “Leonardo’s Notebooks” (Amazon | BN | Powell’s)
• “Mr. Beck’s Underground Map” (Amazon | BN | Powell’s)
• “Information Visualization: Perception for Design,” Colin Ware (Amazon | BN | Powell’s)
• “Visual Thinking: for Design,” Colin Ware (Amazon | BN | Powell’s)
• “Image and Mind,” Stephen Kosslyn (Amazon | BN | Powell’s)
• “Otto Neurath: The Language of Global Polis,” Nader Vossoughian (Amazon | BN | Powell’s | book review)

Photo: themacdiva/Flickr