Reddit reviews Thematic Cartography and Geographic Visualization (2nd Edition) (Prentice Hall Series in Geographic Information Science)
We found 2 Reddit comments about Thematic Cartography and Geographic Visualization (2nd Edition) (Prentice Hall Series in Geographic Information Science). Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Some good suggestions so far.
I've actually taught with both the [Slocum et al.] (http://www.amazon.com/Thematic-Cartography-Geographic-Visualization-Information/dp/0130351237) and [Tyner] (http://www.amazon.com/Principles-Map-Design-Judith-Tyner/dp/1606235443/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1367588286&sr=1-1-fkmr1&keywords=tyner+principles+of+math+design) books. I would say the Slocum book is both dryer and more in depth while Tyner is easier to read, but that comes with it being a bit more cursory.
Honestly, it depends on where you are and what you want to get out of it. With a strong enough GIS background and some core principles already understood (generalization, for example), you might only need something like [Designing Better Maps] (http://www.amazon.com/Designing-Better-Maps-Guide-Users/dp/1589480899/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1367588425&sr=1-1&keywords=designing+better+maps). If you truly want to understand things like how color works, why and when to choose various projections, etc., you probably want the Slocum text.
For what it's worth, much of Cindy Brewer's course material from her Intro Cartography class can be found online [here] (http://www.personal.psu.edu/cab38/GEOG321/321_syllabus.html). It's worth a look.
Just finished taking a cartography course actually and our book was "Thematic Cartography and Geographic Visualization". It's pretty good, just dry. This is the 2nd edition and it's very cheap on Amazon, though there is a 3rd addition as well.
Another extremely useful book all about GIS, geodatabases, etc. is "Modeling Our World: The ESRI Guide to Geodatabase Concepts". This was the textbook for another GIS course I just completed. It's fantastically easy to read and has tons of visuals in it. It's way more interesting/dynamic than traditional textbooks.