David McCandless - Beautiful News: Positive Trends, Uplifting Stats, Creative Solutions

Unbelievably brilliant Vogue

(A) terrific compendium of visual information Shortlist

In this intriguing book, David McCandless presents a cavalcade of compelling and colourful graphics, each one innovative in its attempt to offer a new perspective on some of our most pervasive twenty-first century obsessions Time Out

Stunning The Sunday Times

Thought-provoking, lovingly-crafted and informative; a handsome book that anyone would be grateful to receive Independent on Sunday

What David McCandless has done is genius dry data is transformed into small pieces of pop art that engage so much you end up learning more, without realising it. The ideal encyclopaedia for the information age Red Handed

William Collins
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First published in Great Britain by William Collins in 2021
First published in the United States by HarperDesign, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers in 2021
Copyright David McCandless 2021
www.davidmccandless.com
David McCandless asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.
Source ISBN: 9780007448371
eBook Edition 2021 ISBN: 9780007448340
Version: 2021-09-17

dedicated to all those uncelebrated millions who work quietly and steadily to make the world a better place

This is Beautiful News. Some of the amazing, beautiful, positive things happening in the world that we cant see because were fixated on the negativity of the news.

If the news is your main window on the world as it is for me its difficult not to see it as an infernal hel scape of conflict, murder, disagreement, tragedy and violence.

At best thats an unfair depiction of the world. At worse its false, distorting and mentaly harmful.

A function of charts and graphics has always been to show us what we cant naturaly see. In this case, the slow developments, quiet trends that go unseen, uncelebrated. Decadal increases. Generational shifts. Historic reductions. Incremental change. Subtle upticks. The slow and steady symphony of progress.

Without these views, its easy to succumb to doom, pessimism, powerlessness. The scale and complexity of the worlds problems feels overwhelming. But often *understanding* can be the antidote.

Thats why this book is not just beautiful trends, but also full of infographic primers visual explainers of complex but important topics so you can better understand them as they pop up in the news.

Working closely with these topics and al the surrounding data and information over the months, Ive noticed a shift in myself and my outlook. I feel less heavy. A bit brighter. Maybe even a little hopeful?

The world is not perfect. It never wil be. But nor is it as bad as it looks. Thats clear.

I get this feeling that optimism is a muscle. One that can be supported by regular exercise and a diet of healthy information. So if the news is fast food tasty and moreish but unhealthy then take this book as a beautiful salad. Ful of fresh ideas and nutritious perspectives to revitalise your mind, strengthen your heart and give you something delicious to chew on...

David McCandless, June 2021