Why do Swedes overpay their taxes? How is it child marriage is still allowed in America? And what is the link between avocados and crime? The deputy editor at The Economist, Tom Standage here collects some of the most fascinating tidbits of data from the magazine's online blogs "The Economist Explains" and the "Daily Chart." For anyone interested in the world around them, the book offers verbal and visual answers to questions quirky and serious, from why exorcisms are on the rise in France to how porn consumption changed during a false alarm missile strike warning in Hawaii.