Short Review | Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World - And Things Are Better Than You Think

Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World — And Why Things Are Better Than You Think by Hans Rosling

Things were not better when we were kids. Not by a long shot. As one of my heroes once said: “There never was a greater time in the history of the world to live upon the earth than this. How grateful every one of us ought to feel for being alive in this wonderful time with all the marvelous blessings we have.” This is true.

We read Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World — And Why Things Are Better Than You Think for the Manly Book Club last month. I cannot recommend it more. It’s one of those books that, like law school, teaches you more about how to think than what to think (though there is a lot of data and “what to think” that Hans Rosling mixes in, as well). Full of interesting ideas, anecdotes, and optimism, as well as lots and lots of charts and infographics, I found Factfulness a fascinating, thought-provoking, and humbling book to read. I didn’t agree with everything in it, but it taught me much and made me feel more humble.

Read it. I’ll buy you lunch if you don’t get something from the experience.

(See below for a couple Ted talks by author Hans Rosling.)

Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World -- And Things Are Better Than You Think Book Cover

Title: Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World -- And Things Are Better Than You Think
Author: Hans Rosling
Genre: Nonfiction
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Release Date: April 3, 2018
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 352

When asked simple questions about global trends―what percentage of the world’s population live in poverty; why the world’s population is increasing; how many girls finish school―we systematically get the answers wrong. So wrong that a chimpanzee choosing answers at random will consistently outguess teachers, journalists, Nobel laureates, and investment bankers.

In Factfulness, Professor of International Health and global TED phenomenon Hans Rosling, together with his two long-time collaborators, Anna and Ola, offers a radical new explanation of why this happens. They reveal the ten instincts that distort our perspective―from our tendency to divide the world into two camps (usually some version of us and them) to the way we consume media (where fear rules) to how we perceive progress (believing that most things are getting 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 state than we might think.That doesn’t mean there aren’t real concerns. But when we worry about everything all the time instead of embracing a worldview based on facts, we can lose our ability to focus on the things that threaten us most.

Inspiring and revelatory, filled with lively anecdotes and moving stories, Factfulness is an urgent and essential book that will change the way you see the world and empower you to respond to the crises and opportunities of the future.