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4.33 AVERAGE
4.33 AVERAGE
A good look at critical thinking. Well presented facts to make us rethink what we know. Only part I'm somewhat skeptical is though he states a few disclaimers, it's only through progress we've achieved the good things he proposes and my pessimistic self wonders if we pat ourselves on the back too much do we become apathetic and loose the desire to better things. Reinforces a need to continually educate oneself and explore beyond what you know.
The core concept of this book is a universal lesson that applies to anyone in any country, in any income level, in any phase of life: You should have a solid understanding of the world in which you live. According to the book's findings, most of us do not see the world as it truly is, which is in a much better state than we may think when it comes to worldwide well-being.
Though dealing with high-level concepts, Factfulness is a way to see through the facade of the overall fear and dread we perceive. Learn to analyze statistics, find the right data for the situation and don't assume your worldview is the actual worldview. For example, people are overall more educated and wealthy than UNICEF commercials depict, the population is not exponentially rising to dangerous numbers and the average life expectancy in every country has skyrocketed in the past century. That's not to say we don't have problems - we most certainly do.
In a broad sense, Factfulness is a wonderful method to apply to thought processes, especially for world leaders and those with impactful decisions. But when you get into the details, I have some concerns based on my jaded worldview, hence the four stars.
Who Pulls the Strings
If Rosling has one weakness, it is perhaps that his is too positive and trusting of others' intentions. He mentions that major sources of information such as the media and the government only deceive us because they are humans susceptible to the same misguided worldviews as their audience. But he adds that they don't mean to deceive us.
While they may be flawed in their perceptions, I have read [b:1984|40961427|1984|George Orwell|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1532714506s/40961427.jpg|153313]. I've seen stories about governments (allegedly) popping off journalists because they know too much. I've seen news channels dedicated to a specific ideal and forego giving viewers the full picture. There are cults that are known to control information flow as well. To a certain extent, powerful people can dictate what information we receive, therefore, I cannot help but question their intent as well as what the real facts are. This lack of trust on my part is also dangerous because I do not know on which movements to act. I will not fall for anything, but I stand for nothing.
What Does "Better" Mean?
The core of this book is that the world is "better" than we think. This is defined in many ways, but relies heavily on mortality rates and healthcare, the decline of extreme poverty and social progress. In those terms, yes, the world is much better than when we were harvesting crops for 12 hours a day and having babies on the dirt floor of clay huts.
This is good for one's overall outlook, but I question how this is supposed to give me long-term comfort. Am I to ignore that the Doomsday Clock is just two minutes to midnight? Am I to ignore the lessons learned from [b:The Great Leveler: Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century|31951505|The Great Leveler Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century|Walter Scheidel|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1479240582s/31951505.jpg|52612161], whose issues were coincidentally addressed in this book's final chapters? I'm not trying to be negative, but there are many forces at play here that make world progress seem less like a steady incline and more like a ticking time bomb. No amount of financial security or constitutional amendments can stop them.
I admit the world is "better," but at what cost? Really, there is no way to know this answer until Armageddon comes, so I guess I should just be happy while I'm here. I'll give Rosling the point here.
The Idea of Progress
Rosling traveled the world, created better lives for countless people and dedicated his life to spreading positive viewpoints. I have accomplished a fraction of what he has. He took the countless facts he had available to him and his experiences around the globe and crafted this triumph of a book - his last legacy before cancer took his life last year. Because of his hopeful outlook on the direction we are heading, he called himself a possibilist - that the numbers point to the world getting better. Incrementally, with bad things peppered in, but better nonetheless.
The above quote from Orthodoxy came to mind when reading this book. When you analyze numbers and trends, they are limited to events that have already taken place and extend to their logical conclusion. Numbers are effective, but they do not tell us about the innovations of what could be. Did numbers predict the Internet or electricity would some day come to be? This is why I do not think that 90 percent of the world population having access to electricity is true progress. It's only considered progress because it took a while to get there.
I have a dreamer's belief that, if the poor and underprivileged are given the same resources as the rich and powerful, humans could accomplish exponentially more. There are more Steve Jobs' and Elon Musks out there, they just haven't been given the opportunity to shine. Take a book like [b:Hidden Figures|30840370|Hidden Figures The Untold True Story of Four African-American Women Who Helped Launch Our Nation into Space|Margot Lee Shetterly|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1474752658s/30840370.jpg|55627110], where exceptional minds were stifled because of something as petty as race and gender. The costs of giving everyone free healthcare and education would be worth the progress and discoveries.
This is not based on any facts, it's just that I think we've impeded our own progress. We have a lot and things are as good as they have ever been (fidget spinners, woo!). But untapped potential has assuredly been suppressed all throughout history. We should be halfway across the galaxy by now, making friends with Martians. That would be true progress! Instead, we can't even preserve a self-sufficient planet. Where Rosling looked at the numbers and saw possibility, I look to the stars and see impossibility.
Though dealing with high-level concepts, Factfulness is a way to see through the facade of the overall fear and dread we perceive. Learn to analyze statistics, find the right data for the situation and don't assume your worldview is the actual worldview. For example, people are overall more educated and wealthy than UNICEF commercials depict, the population is not exponentially rising to dangerous numbers and the average life expectancy in every country has skyrocketed in the past century. That's not to say we don't have problems - we most certainly do.
In a broad sense, Factfulness is a wonderful method to apply to thought processes, especially for world leaders and those with impactful decisions. But when you get into the details, I have some concerns based on my jaded worldview, hence the four stars.
Who Pulls the Strings
If Rosling has one weakness, it is perhaps that his is too positive and trusting of others' intentions. He mentions that major sources of information such as the media and the government only deceive us because they are humans susceptible to the same misguided worldviews as their audience. But he adds that they don't mean to deceive us.
While they may be flawed in their perceptions, I have read [b:1984|40961427|1984|George Orwell|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1532714506s/40961427.jpg|153313]. I've seen stories about governments (allegedly) popping off journalists because they know too much. I've seen news channels dedicated to a specific ideal and forego giving viewers the full picture. There are cults that are known to control information flow as well. To a certain extent, powerful people can dictate what information we receive, therefore, I cannot help but question their intent as well as what the real facts are. This lack of trust on my part is also dangerous because I do not know on which movements to act. I will not fall for anything, but I stand for nothing.
What Does "Better" Mean?
The core of this book is that the world is "better" than we think. This is defined in many ways, but relies heavily on mortality rates and healthcare, the decline of extreme poverty and social progress. In those terms, yes, the world is much better than when we were harvesting crops for 12 hours a day and having babies on the dirt floor of clay huts.
This is good for one's overall outlook, but I question how this is supposed to give me long-term comfort. Am I to ignore that the Doomsday Clock is just two minutes to midnight? Am I to ignore the lessons learned from [b:The Great Leveler: Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century|31951505|The Great Leveler Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century|Walter Scheidel|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1479240582s/31951505.jpg|52612161], whose issues were coincidentally addressed in this book's final chapters? I'm not trying to be negative, but there are many forces at play here that make world progress seem less like a steady incline and more like a ticking time bomb. No amount of financial security or constitutional amendments can stop them.
I admit the world is "better," but at what cost? Really, there is no way to know this answer until Armageddon comes, so I guess I should just be happy while I'm here. I'll give Rosling the point here.
The Idea of Progress
“Progress should mean that we are always changing the world to fit the vision, instead we are always changing the vision.”
G.K. Chesterton, [b:Orthodoxy|87665|Orthodoxy|G.K. Chesterton|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348323220s/87665.jpg|1807543]
Rosling traveled the world, created better lives for countless people and dedicated his life to spreading positive viewpoints. I have accomplished a fraction of what he has. He took the countless facts he had available to him and his experiences around the globe and crafted this triumph of a book - his last legacy before cancer took his life last year. Because of his hopeful outlook on the direction we are heading, he called himself a possibilist - that the numbers point to the world getting better. Incrementally, with bad things peppered in, but better nonetheless.
The above quote from Orthodoxy came to mind when reading this book. When you analyze numbers and trends, they are limited to events that have already taken place and extend to their logical conclusion. Numbers are effective, but they do not tell us about the innovations of what could be. Did numbers predict the Internet or electricity would some day come to be? This is why I do not think that 90 percent of the world population having access to electricity is true progress. It's only considered progress because it took a while to get there.
I have a dreamer's belief that, if the poor and underprivileged are given the same resources as the rich and powerful, humans could accomplish exponentially more. There are more Steve Jobs' and Elon Musks out there, they just haven't been given the opportunity to shine. Take a book like [b:Hidden Figures|30840370|Hidden Figures The Untold True Story of Four African-American Women Who Helped Launch Our Nation into Space|Margot Lee Shetterly|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1474752658s/30840370.jpg|55627110], where exceptional minds were stifled because of something as petty as race and gender. The costs of giving everyone free healthcare and education would be worth the progress and discoveries.
This is not based on any facts, it's just that I think we've impeded our own progress. We have a lot and things are as good as they have ever been (fidget spinners, woo!). But untapped potential has assuredly been suppressed all throughout history. We should be halfway across the galaxy by now, making friends with Martians. That would be true progress! Instead, we can't even preserve a self-sufficient planet. Where Rosling looked at the numbers and saw possibility, I look to the stars and see impossibility.
informative
inspiring
reflective
Very interesting and eye-opening to read. It has 'new' perspectives on public health and was a good addition to the book 'everything is TB' for me. This book focussed more on why we (rich western people, or should i say 'level 4') have such a distorted worldview, mainly on public health. It was really nice to read!
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
As a man who loves facts and thinks the world isn’t as bad as people seem to think, this was right up my alley. Of course not everything in the world is perfect, but it sure is getting better and it has been for a long time.
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Really interesting, though couldn't tell if it's kind of outdated by now... But still, a useful book to read to discover new perspectives on everyday life. I really like, that he enforced epidemiological thinking spiced with examples from the actual practice of medicine in his life.
Though his opinion, that people should review free information resources such as UN reports. It is not realistic that people from all walks of life can read those things and look at them objectively. Especially in the time of fake news and people bending information by their own will and bravely spreading it. Though leading people to these resources is a great move :).
Though his opinion, that people should review free information resources such as UN reports. It is not realistic that people from all walks of life can read those things and look at them objectively. Especially in the time of fake news and people bending information by their own will and bravely spreading it. Though leading people to these resources is a great move :).