Title: Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World
When asked simple questions about global trends ― what percentage of the world’s population lives in poverty; why the world population is increasing; how many girls finish school ―we always get the answers wrong. So wrong that a chimpanzee picking random answers will consistently guess teachers, journalists, Nobel laureates, and investment bankers.
Reality offers a radical new explanation for why this is happening. It reveals the ten instincts that distort our perspective – from our tendency to divide the world into two camps (usually a version of us and them) to how we consume media (where fear reigns) to how we perceive the progress (believing that most things get worse).
Our problem is that we don’t know what we don’t know, and even our guesses are informed by unconscious and predictable biases.
It turns out that the world, for all its imperfections, is in a much better shape than we think. That’s not to say there aren’t real concerns. But when we worry about everything all the time instead of adopting a fact-based view of the world, we can lose our ability to focus on the things that threaten us most.
Inspiring and revealing, filled with vivid anecdotes and moving stories, Factfulness is a new habit of thought that will change the way you see the world and enable you to respond to the challenges and opportunities of the future.
“This book is my last battle in my lifelong mission to fight devastating ignorance… Previously, I armed myself with huge datasets, revealing software, a learning style energetic and a Swedish bayonet to swallow the sword. It wasn’t enough. But I hope this book will be. – Hans Rosling, February 2017
“One of the most important books I have ever read, an indispensable guide to thinking clearly about the world. –Bill Gates
“A real antidote to negativity and despair…” – Nature
“[A] hopeful book about the potential for human progress when we work on facts rather than our inherent biases.” – Barack Obama, Summer Reading List
“Hans Rosling tells the story of the ‘secret and silent miracle of human progress’ as only he can. But Factfulness does much more than that. It also explains why progress is so often secret and silent and teaches readers how to see clearly.” ― Melinda Gates
“Authors who describe the remarkable decline of poverty, hunger and disease in the developing world anticipate such disbelief that they often display the word ‘awesome’ in their titles, such as the prize-winning The Great Escape Nobel Angus Deaton and Steven Radelet’s The Great Surge. More modestly, Charles Kenny tells us how the world is getting better. As does Factfulness by the late TED star Hans Rosling, who loved to quiz his audience on wellness trends and show they were doing worse than chimpanzees. –Steven Pinker in The Guardian
“It’s honestly one of the most eye-opening and life-altering books I’ve ever read. Especially in today’s political climate, everything feels like a worst-case scenario and it can be hard to know what to do without giving up hope. Reality gives real, data-driven insights into how we use information and how to do it better. It’s candid and it’s real and I’ve never felt so empowered in my life. tips and explanations here are so helpful, so easy to understand, and so simple that I can start using them right now and feel like I’ll need to use them forever. to a must-read book.” – Christine, Goodreads
Be the first to review “Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World”