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joaquingilleal's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
I really enjoyed reading this book. The way Hans teaches and informs in a practical direct way exposing facts and reminding us to question things.
Every little story he tells, every example he uses helps portray a message that’s slowly sinks in.
Like he says in the book, this should be a revision book to go back to to confirm and review things.
It helps remember to always review things we already know and not take for granted things when we know similar facts. To not generalise and to be ready for change.
Every little story he tells, every example he uses helps portray a message that’s slowly sinks in.
Like he says in the book, this should be a revision book to go back to to confirm and review things.
It helps remember to always review things we already know and not take for granted things when we know similar facts. To not generalise and to be ready for change.
khornstein1's review against another edition
5.0
Younger people probably won't like this book and the way it points out that the world is getting better in many ways. I could spend hours on the Dollar Street website he mentions: https://www.gapminder.org/dollar-street (photos as data to kill country stereotypes.) Progress is often slow and boring, but it's happening on many international development fronts. I've been aware of this for years and I'm surprised by how many highly educated people are unaware of the reduction in infant mortality and violent conflict and the increases in girls' education. Note: written pre-COVID and he mentions "the flu" and its variants as one of the biggest threats to humankind.
lnt's review against another edition
3.0
Maybe one of the most popular non fiction books lately, it is meant to prove that humans have a tendency of looking at the empty half of the glass. We, as a species, are able to do good. And we're able to even save the Planet from different tragedies: famine, diseases, viruses, and even climate change. But we have to work together. And we have to believe that we can.
Eye opening for anyone reading it. Especially when it comes to inequality. The ones who were able to read it are in a different category than so many other people, that might even go to sleep without eating that day. It makes you feel grateful for what you have and maybe willing to work towards lowering the social inequality.
Eye opening for anyone reading it. Especially when it comes to inequality. The ones who were able to read it are in a different category than so many other people, that might even go to sleep without eating that day. It makes you feel grateful for what you have and maybe willing to work towards lowering the social inequality.
co_sima's review against another edition
challenging
informative
3.0
I have so many thoughts on this book and unfortunately for the most part I didn't love it.
What I did enjoy and find helpful was the explanation of why people tend to perceive the world and its future in a more pessimistic way than necessary together with some actual advice how you could challenge these behaviors in yourself.
However, overall the book did feel incredibly surface-level on many of the topics it discussed often introducing new issues and aspects only to discard and never mention them again after about one or two paragraphs.
I also felt like at times the book didn't take its own advice on how to evaluate numbers and facts. For example, it was explained that just going by averages is oftentimes misleading while the author then tried to convince you that it's unreasonable to be afraid of getting murdered because the average possibility of that happening is low completely disregard how wildly these numbers vary regarding a multitude of factors.
Especially the discussion of climate change in this book felt lackluster. The book gives you a little multiple choice question at the beginning of each chapter and later reveals that most people tend to pick the worst of the options which usually is incorrect, proving that people base their opinions on lackluster or incorrect information. However, when the majority once again picked the worst option for the climate change question, the author interprets this as people being aware and concerned about the climate crisis completely disregarding his previous reasoning for the very pessimistic replies. I think even if people know the planet is heating up that does not offer us any information on how serious they take the climate crisis and Concluding that while the climate crisis is real we don't need to worry that much because people know it's happening feels not possibilist but incredibly optimistic and naive.
Similarly, like many other reviews have pointed out, his question about endangered species does not paint an accurate picture as these three species might no longer be endangered but many others are and countless more will be in the coming years if nothing changes. The loss of species is very real and this question paired with a lack of further exploration of the topic paints a glorified and misleading picture.
I also think that as this book isn't necessarily written for an audience that spends a lot of time reading up about the addressed topics, it is dangerously close of conveying a message of "everything is fine" when, even though many things have been and still are improving, this only happens because people work hard on those improvements. The takeaway from this book shouldn't be "don't worry be happy" and instead like the author himself says "the world isn't as bad as it seems [...] and we can see what we have to do to make it better." I think this message of action falls significantly short throughout the book.
Overall, the premise is great and there is some sound advice in this book but it contains many inconsistencies and I am not certain that it conveys the very valuable lesson the author wanted to convey instead of a misplaced feeling of optimism.
What I did enjoy and find helpful was the explanation of why people tend to perceive the world and its future in a more pessimistic way than necessary together with some actual advice how you could challenge these behaviors in yourself.
However, overall the book did feel incredibly surface-level on many of the topics it discussed often introducing new issues and aspects only to discard and never mention them again after about one or two paragraphs.
I also felt like at times the book didn't take its own advice on how to evaluate numbers and facts. For example, it was explained that just going by averages is oftentimes misleading while the author then tried to convince you that it's unreasonable to be afraid of getting murdered because the average possibility of that happening is low completely disregard how wildly these numbers vary regarding a multitude of factors.
Especially the discussion of climate change in this book felt lackluster. The book gives you a little multiple choice question at the beginning of each chapter and later reveals that most people tend to pick the worst of the options which usually is incorrect, proving that people base their opinions on lackluster or incorrect information. However, when the majority once again picked the worst option for the climate change question, the author interprets this as people being aware and concerned about the climate crisis completely disregarding his previous reasoning for the very pessimistic replies. I think even if people know the planet is heating up that does not offer us any information on how serious they take the climate crisis and Concluding that while the climate crisis is real we don't need to worry that much because people know it's happening feels not possibilist but incredibly optimistic and naive.
Similarly, like many other reviews have pointed out, his question about endangered species does not paint an accurate picture as these three species might no longer be endangered but many others are and countless more will be in the coming years if nothing changes. The loss of species is very real and this question paired with a lack of further exploration of the topic paints a glorified and misleading picture.
I also think that as this book isn't necessarily written for an audience that spends a lot of time reading up about the addressed topics, it is dangerously close of conveying a message of "everything is fine" when, even though many things have been and still are improving, this only happens because people work hard on those improvements. The takeaway from this book shouldn't be "don't worry be happy" and instead like the author himself says "the world isn't as bad as it seems [...] and we can see what we have to do to make it better." I think this message of action falls significantly short throughout the book.
Overall, the premise is great and there is some sound advice in this book but it contains many inconsistencies and I am not certain that it conveys the very valuable lesson the author wanted to convey instead of a misplaced feeling of optimism.
teatonic's review against another edition
5.0
It was an enjoyable and refreshing read, as you only get to hear bad and hopeless news in the media. I did not agree with his reasoning 100% of the time, but I found his advice on how to navigate misinformation and exaggerations sound. Snippets from his life experience were fun to read, and I liked how he added his own biases and mistakes along with all those people getting facts wrong in his polls.
Would recommend to anyone who needs a break from the doom and gloom of the reports about the current state of the world, especially since it's not just wishful thinking, but facts that show that at least up until now a lot of things are actually improving when it comes to global human life quality.
Would recommend to anyone who needs a break from the doom and gloom of the reports about the current state of the world, especially since it's not just wishful thinking, but facts that show that at least up until now a lot of things are actually improving when it comes to global human life quality.