Why Visualize Data?

Good piece by Stephen Few.    " .... We visualize quantitative data to perform three fundamental tasks in an effort to achieve three essential goals ... 
These three tasks are so fundamental to data visualization, I’ve long used them to define the term, as follows:  Data visualization is the use of visual representations to explore, make sense of, and communicate data. ... " .  Well worth reading the whole thing.  My view is that you should always use visualization as a first step for understanding data.  These days it is very easy to do.