Around the World in 80 Ways offers a (sometimes opinionated) discussion of 80 data-driven maps of our planet. Taken together, the maps tell a story about the physical world; about the impact our species is having on the world; and about how people live in the world or at least how we lived immediately before the emergence of Covid-19. The maps lie. All maps lie. But the origins of the deceptions are explained, the data sources are signposted and referenced, and the readers are shown how to create their own maps using freely available software. The reader is thus armed with the tools needed to explore local, national or world data on topics ranging from science to society; environment to entertainment; wealth to wellbeing a valuable skill in an age when certain politicians are happy to refer to alternative facts and media outlets deliver data visualizations that sometimes mislead as much as inform.
Table of Contents:
Introduction: Mapping the world
Chapter 1: The world itself
- Earth's poles
- Meteorites
- Waterworld
- Getting away from it all
- The longest straight line over water
- The longest you can walk without having to swim
- Volcanic eruptions over the past 12,000 years
- Earth's forests
- Earth's chemical elements
- Earth's phosphorus
Chapter 2: The world of countries
- Countries named after people
- Monarchies and republics
- Female leaders
- National flags that contain the colour red
- Passport colours
- Driving - left or right?
- Capital punishment
- Press freedom
- Dominance of a capital city
- Population density
Chapter 3: The world perturbed by people
- Carbon dioxide emissions
- My short-haul carbon footprint
- Busiest airline routes
- Renewable electricity output
- Nuclear power generation
- Trash
- Plastic waste
- Pesticide use
- Mammal species under threat
- Night sky brightness
Chapter 4: The world of the built environment
- Homes at risk of rising sea levels
- Lighthouses
- World heritage sites
- Roman amphitheatres
- Skyscrapers
- Spaceports
- The 500 most powerful supercomputers
- Mains frequency
- Sharing a McDonald's
- Soccer stadia
Chapter 5: The world of thoughts, ideas, and beliefs
- The most complex machine ever built
- Scientific productivity
- Intellectual property
- Views on the safety of vaccines
- Good at maths?
- Literacy
- How the world writes
- UFO sightings
- How the world believes
- The happiness of nations
Chapter 6: The world of wellbeing
- Homicide
- Suicide
- Obesity in adults
- Alcohol consumption
- Road traffic deaths
- Incidence of malaria
- Experience of pain yesterday
- How the world dies
- The life expectancy gender gap
- Life expectancy at birth
Chapter 7: The world of sport and leisure
- Football World Cup
- Foreign players in the Premier League
- Summer Olympics
- Chess playing strength
- Shakespeare's world
- Nobel prize for literature
- Going to the movies
- Computer games
- What the world searches for
- Active on social media
Chapter 8: The world of economics
- Accessing cash
- Units of currency
- Gold reserves
- The indebtedness of nations
- Standard of living
- Big Apple
- International tourism
- Military expenditure
- Access to electricity
- Catching fish
Afterword
Index