Atlas of Finance:
Mapping the Global Story of Money
This book for map lovers uses 80 original data visualizations to demystify the financial world.
Coming September 2024
“Atlas of Finance is a stunning visual experience, every page a revelation.”
My most intricate cover design to date
From the emergence of money in the ancient world to today’s interconnected landscape of high-frequency trading and cryptocurrency, the story of finance has always taken place on an international stage. This atlas uses graphics and maps to bring the complex and abstract world of finance down to earth, showing how geography is fundamental for understanding finance, and vice versa. It illuminates the ways that history, laws, and regulations have influenced finance; shows how finance relates to innovation, globalization, and environmental change; and details how finance plays a key part in drawing the landscape of uneven development, inequality, and instability. Atlas of Finance, with word and image, will change the way you view both your money and your world.
I designed this book and its 80 data visualizations in collaboration with an international team of coauthors* led by Dariusz Wójcik, professor of financial geography at the National University of Singapore. The maps and graphics were my latest booklength collaboration with James Cheshire, professor of geographic information and cartography at University College London.
*Dariusz Wójcik, Panagiotis Iliopoulos, Stefanos Ioannou, Liam Keenan, Julien Migozzi, Timothy Monteath, Vladimír Pazitka, Morag Torrance, and Michael Urban
“Erudite, spectacular, and revealing . . . a tremendous accomplishment!”
“Each page bursts with stunning and illuminating illustrations.”
excerpts
When I was hired on this project, I gave myself a challenge: what if every page—its fonts, layout, colors, illustrations, and page numbers—evoked the beauty of international banknotes?
On this map, we show the distribution of the top 100 Islamic banks, colored by the value of their Sharia-compliant assets. While many are located in the Middle East, Malaysia has the most banks and highest asset value.