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4.33 AVERAGE
4.33 AVERAGE
Full of accessible stats & international interpretation advice. Would recommend to everyone.
hopeful
informative
medium-paced
A great book with lots of examples of good (and bad) mental models. Pairs nicely with Shane Parrish articles and books.
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
This book is really really special. I was worried when I started it that it was overly optimistic and it was going to be telling me that everything was fine and we didn't need to do anything or change anything. It did not say that all. It is exactly as Barak Obama says "A hopeful book about the potential for human progress when we work off facts rather than our inherent biases". In fairness I can't actually describe anything better than Barak Obama so maybe I should give up here. But I won't... The author is completely AMAZING. The book was written in 2017 and he actually died while he was writing it - he did know he was dying. So he collborates with his son and daughter in law and together they founded Gapminder which is like an online platform where they demonstrate loads of statistics about the world. He writes in such an engaging and accessable way. He also did loads of work in Mozambique as a medical officer and did loads of work on konzo which is a disease that can cause really severe paralysis and you get from not cooking cassava correctly - he was able to like links high incidents of konzo with like episodes of really low amounts of food because people were having to eat undercooked cassava. Anyway. He also describes himself as a "possiblist" which isn't a word but means he believes in the hope to make the world better which is sort of how I feel too. Honestly the book is wonderful and gives you all these strategies for thinking about the world and gives you these accurate facts - not so you can give up and think that everything's done but so you can look at what we need to do and confront your own biases ESPECIALLY when thinking automatically about "us and them". Like he talks about the world on 4 levels and actually people like me on level 4 automatically assuming that people in Africa or parts of Asia are ALL on level 1 isn't actually helpful. It is much more helpful and beneficial to understand that most of the world is on level 2 and 3 (and actually companies should be investigating in markets in levels 2 and 3). Like when you know that. Then you can actually do meaningful things to help people on level 1 and most importantly like confront your own biases that the way we do things is the best. I would literally recommend this book to anyone and everyone. I am lending it to my brother first.
informative
reflective
medium-paced
This book is not well written… the first 10% says the same idea over and over and over again, I got the gist at 5%, why is the intro this long? Dont have the patience to get through the rest of this book
I love this book. It isn’t often I give 5* but this book is thoroughly deserving. Everyone should read this. Hans starts off with a quiz about the general state of the world with a focus on health and wealth. I won’t give too much away but suffice to say you’ll probably get more than a few questions wrong. I did the quiz with my husband and scored much better than him on most questions because I’d seen the TED talk. So if you don’t have time to read the book, watch the TED talk. But read the book.
Hans then talks about how everyone gets the questions wrong, even experts. Why? Because we have a skewed, outdated world view. He then seeks to address this, starting with redefining our definition of the world from 2 categories of developed/developing countries to 4 income levels.
Next he talks about 10 tendencies, or instincts, that we employ when judging/thinking about the world, and creating and consuming news and media. He talks about how these instincts help us and are necessary in some situations but are detrimental to learning about the world. And then he gives us tips on how to bypass these and make correct judgements. All of this is peppered with the most fascinating and engaging stories of his life as a trainee doctor in Sweden, a doctor in Africa with Médicin Sans Frontières and a Professor of health. Hans is a great story teller and you get the impression his whole life’s work has led to this moment, the creation of this book, a heap of knowledge and wisdom built up over decades and condensed into an extremely digestible, and highly readable, vital lesson on how to view the world and make good decisions.
If you’re not familiar with Hans’ work I fully recommend checking out some of his videos on TED, YouTube or his own site gapminder.org. The book is so much more enjoyable if you can hear his voice in your head.
Sadly Hans died last year. This book is an honourable legacy.
Hans then talks about how everyone gets the questions wrong, even experts. Why? Because we have a skewed, outdated world view. He then seeks to address this, starting with redefining our definition of the world from 2 categories of developed/developing countries to 4 income levels.
Next he talks about 10 tendencies, or instincts, that we employ when judging/thinking about the world, and creating and consuming news and media. He talks about how these instincts help us and are necessary in some situations but are detrimental to learning about the world. And then he gives us tips on how to bypass these and make correct judgements. All of this is peppered with the most fascinating and engaging stories of his life as a trainee doctor in Sweden, a doctor in Africa with Médicin Sans Frontières and a Professor of health. Hans is a great story teller and you get the impression his whole life’s work has led to this moment, the creation of this book, a heap of knowledge and wisdom built up over decades and condensed into an extremely digestible, and highly readable, vital lesson on how to view the world and make good decisions.
If you’re not familiar with Hans’ work I fully recommend checking out some of his videos on TED, YouTube or his own site gapminder.org. The book is so much more enjoyable if you can hear his voice in your head.
Sadly Hans died last year. This book is an honourable legacy.
First of all RIP Hans Rosling.
Secondly, my review: I feel like this was meant to be read by those who live in countries on the higher side of the “4th level” category. Because most of the things said here weren’t new to me. Even though things are statistically better, that doesn’t mean things aren’t hard... Reading this made me feel just like when people would tell me I had no right to be depressed when I had so much more than a lot of people and suffered so much less hardships.
But hopefully this book can help or be enlightening to some people!
Secondly, my review: I feel like this was meant to be read by those who live in countries on the higher side of the “4th level” category. Because most of the things said here weren’t new to me. Even though things are statistically better, that doesn’t mean things aren’t hard... Reading this made me feel just like when people would tell me I had no right to be depressed when I had so much more than a lot of people and suffered so much less hardships.
But hopefully this book can help or be enlightening to some people!
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
Thank you Hans Rosling if more people were like you the world would be a better place