Featured in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Time, CNN, BBC, and many other outlets, and a long-running Amazon bestseller in photography and travel essays, Atlas of Beauty tells of women’s dreams, hopes, and challenges through 500 portraits. The author says, “Although we are so different, I realized there is something deeper that connects all of us as human beings. In the end, we are all part of the same beautiful family.” Through her camera she calls for a better world built through

As its title suggests, Atlas of Beauty is a world map of beauty. The striking woman on the cover is enjoying Holi, a Hindu festival of colors, in Kathmandu, Nepal. Holi is a time of forgiving and being forgiven, celebrating spring’s arrival and good’s victory over evil. I looked it up and learned that during the festival people mingle regardless of status under the caste system, which is legally abolished but remains a deep-rooted social custom. It creates a place for celebration and harmony,

There are so many people on Earth, and just as many beautiful people, though everyone’s standard of beauty differs. Countless wonderful and attractive people around the world have remained unknown to me because of distance and time. I’m glad a photo book bringing together varied beauty has appeared. Atlas of Beauty catches the eye with vivid colors and a striking gaze on the cover. The photograph was taken during Holi, the Hindu festival of colors, in Kathmandu, Nepal; the intense colors left a

I read something different from my usual choices: Atlas of Beauty, a photo and travel essay featuring portraits of 500 women from over 50 countries. It is photographer Mihaela Noroc’s first photo book. I wondered whether I had ever read an author’s introduction so attentively; I was absorbed from the start. She studied photography, worked an office job for practical reasons, then returned to her camera. Her passion seemed pure, and her smile looked beautiful. They say people are more beautiful

The woman with the striking gaze on the cover of Atlas of Beauty made me curious. This photo book is by Romanian photographer Mihaela Noroc, who has traveled since 2013 with only a backpack and camera, recording 500 women she met. Her project shows the diversity and beauty around us by photographing women in daily life, and a Korean book-funding campaign helped bring it to readers here. Because they show people as they are, the women look natural despite not being professional models. One page

I can’t remember when it began, but except in very early childhood I have always had some concern and fixation about my appearance. Even when I was not actively focused on how I looked, comments from people around me, whether praise or criticism, created that fixation. Without realizing it, I became accustomed to the way people and media judge appearances. In Korea especially, people are considered beautiful if they meet a uniform standard and unattractive if they do not. At some point I also