the illustration on the cover of introducing data science is taken from the edition of sylvain marechal' four-volume compendium of regional dress customs this book was first published in paris in one year before the french revolution each illustration is colored by hand the caption for this illustration reads "homme salamanque,which means man from salamancaa province in western spainon the border with portugal the region is known for its wild beautylush forestsancient oak treesrugged mountainsand historic old towns and villages the homme salamanque is just one of many figures in marechal' colorful collection their diversity speaks vividly of the uniqueness and individuality of the world' towns and regions just years ago this was time when the dress codes of two regions separated by few dozen miles identified people uniquely as belonging to one or the other the collection brings to life sense of the isolation and distance of that period and of every other historic period--except our own hyperkinetic present dress codes have changed since then and the diversity by regionso rich at the timehas faded away it is now often hard to tell the inhabitant of one continent from another perhaps we have traded cultural diversity for more varied personal life-certainly for more varied and fast-paced technological life we at manning celebrate the inventivenessthe initiativeand the fun of the computer business with book covers based on the rich diversity of regional life two centuries agobrought back to life by marechal' pictures xx