This book would not have been possible without the help from numerous data visualizers and data scientists around the globe who bring into existence new and innovative ways to transform data into beautiful stories. I would like to sincerely thank the developers of R and R packages who have contributed so generously to the growing R open source community.

I would like to thank Jer Thorpe and Hans Rosling for their inspiring Ted videos on data visualization.

I would also like to thank all the economists and statisticians who have so often inspired me.

I would like to thank my publisher, Packt Publishing, for giving me the opportunity to work on this book. I would also like to thank all the technical reviewers and content development editors at Packt Publishing for their informative comments and suggestions.

Finally, I would like to thank my amazing family and magnificent friends for always encouraging and supporting me.