What is the true human cost of the war in Afghanistan? What are the real effects of the austerity measure? And how did the London riots spread so quickly?

Facts are Sacred, the Guardian's award-winning datablog, publishes and analyses seemingly benign data - released under the auspices of transparency - to bring its readers astonishing revelations about the way we live now. It reveals how data has changed our world and what we can learn from it. Now, the most telling findings from the blog are brought together to give us the facts and figures behind the headlines. Ground-breaking and fascinating, it celebrates a resource that has pushed the boundaries of modern journalism and is a manifesto for a new way of seeing things.