Speak Data : Artists, Scientists, Thinkers, and Dreamers on How We Live Our Lives in Numbers

This is no ordinary data science book. Speak Data is the first pop nonfiction book to explore the definition of data and its impacts on our daily lives. Insightful ideas and colorful data illustrations by award-winning information designer Giorgia Lupi guide you from one observation and revelation to the next.

This is no ordinary data science book. Speak Data is the first pop nonfiction book to explore the definition of data and its impacts on our daily lives. Insightful ideas and colorful data illustrations by award-winning information designer Giorgia Lupi guide you from one observation and revelation to the next.

"Data is almost anything, because almost anything can get recorded. But it’s kind of a magical thing—potentially one of the most powerful things humans have ever done." —James Clear, author of Atomic Habits

Today we are told that data is everywhere, from the smartphones in our pockets to the satellites in space. But what is data, really? What role does it play in our lives? And why should anyone care?

Through inspiring illustrations and a fresh, accessible approach, Speak Data invites us to see data differently—not just as numbers on a screen or tick marks in a chart, but as a language to help us better understand each other and the world around us. Seventeen thought-provoking conversations with leaders in business, tech, medicine, psychology, health, art, and more explore the human side of data, unpacking its powerful ability to divulge patterns, tell stories, stir emotion, and illuminate complexity. While often stereotyped as abstract or intimidating, here data is revealed as something far different: personal, nuanced, and above all, human made.

Featuring:

• Tech pioneer John Maeda on the value of data visualization during global emergencies.
• Marketing legend Seth Godin on how to use data to get people to really care about climate change.
• Museum curator Paola Antonelli on whether data is art.
• Atomic Habits author James Clear on the ways data can (and can’t) describe human identity.
• AI data artist Refik Anadol on how big datasets can dream.
• And many more.

In this uniquely interdisciplinary study, authors Giorgia Lupi and Phillip Cox present data as a vocabulary that anyone can use and that anyone can understand. If we learn to truly “speak data,” we can open up new worlds of meaning for ourselves and everything around us.