Designing information

Associated media

The book for those who may have everything but don’t know everything

Understanding the World: The Atlas of Infographics by Sandra Rendgen and Julius Wiedemann

This would make a wonderful Christmas present for the person in your life who loves facts and figures. These are displayed clearly and attractively as infographics: 280 of them. A visual atlas for the 21st century, it also includes historical graphics to put our current situation into perspective.

The contents are divided into five chapters, covering Nature and  Environment,  Science and Technology, Economy and Development, Society and People, Culture, and  Media,  and reveal the earth’s greatest intricacies in accessible visual form.I cannot recommend it too highly.

If you just dip into this book the contents can seem rather random, but the unifying theme is that these facts are of interest to any member of the human race. So, there are topics as varied as  Dynamics of a Hurricane, Understanding the World International Arms Race,  How to take Control of a Falling Jet, The Ten Most Common Forms of Cancer. I could just go on listing pages that are fascinating, but I recommend you to buy, beg or borrow this book.

When one looks at these infographics there is a sense of wonder, possibly comparable to looking at early encyclopaedias. This cornucopia of facts are displayed in such an understandable form, familiar especially today when so many work from screens and diagrams. This is data design at its best.

The book comes in a multilingual edition in English, French and German, a good-value well-produced Taschen publication.My only gripe is that it is coffee-table sized; I would have liked to be able to carry it around and show it to friends and family…  ‘Have you seen this, I never knew this, etc’

Buy it, give it, keep it; highly recommended.

Understanding the World: The Atlas of Infographics by Sandra Rendgen and Julius Wiedemann is published by Taschen, 2014.456 pp.Fully illustrated. ISBN 978-3-8365-4883-0