An Answer for Everything: 200 Infographics to Explain the World

How many chickens are there? What’s the best country in the world? How long have we got? The answers to these questions (plus many more) are found in An Answer for Everything, delivered by the creators of Delayed Gratification magazine. Emphasizing the power and utility of data visualization, this highly informative and engaging collection of infographics tell compelling stories about our fascinating and, at times, unsettling world.

Data runs the world and the decisions that affect all aspects of our lives: from personal purchasing choices to information with a global impact. Editors Rob Orchard and Marcus Webb focus on the long-term implications of stories and events by focusing on facts, stripped of bias. Through beautiful illustrations, art director Christian Tate covers a wide berth of topics: from space travel to the formula for writing a hit Christmas song to the gun crisis in the US. The elegant graphics bring together research and design to explain complex and multi-layered data sets.

More than an entertaining assemblage of fun trivia, the book also highlights sobering stats and charts about worrisome trends, such as the state of the climate and economic inequities. Seeing the concentration of immense wealth among a handful of white American billionaires and understanding human impact on Earth’s biodiversity may motivate readers to make different choices and take resolute action.