Influential Visual Math Thinkers: Penrose, Mendelbrot, Arnold, Atiyah

[whyevengothere]

Do you know any influential mathematicians that are visual thinkers? especially those who wrote books.
For example mathematicians that think and write like Roger Penrose,Benoit Mendelbrot,Vladimir Arnold,Sir M.Atiyah who are very keen on using diagrams and drawings in their writings.

 

[homeomorphic]

The question is to what degree are they visual thinkers, rather than whether they are or are not. Do you really care if they are influential or just if they can teach you something? Personally, I could care less if they are influential. I only care if they can teach me something.

As far as influential...Milnor has said he is very visual, although I find some (not all) of his writing to be a bit on the formal side. Bill Thurston. Hilbert, to some degree. Felix Klein. Cornelius Lanczos. John Baez, to some extent.

Tristan Needham, although he seems to be mainly influential as the author of Visual Complex Analysis, which is a must read for any visually inclined math student.