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A review by sebby_reads
Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World – and Why Things Are Better Than You Think by Hans Rosling
4.0
I had been meaning to read this since around April when I heard about this book in a podcast. But I only managed to get this in my hands in July and finished it last month. This is the second non-fiction book of 2019 but it is as remarkable as the first in I read which was 21 Lessons by Yuval. In Factfullness, Hans Rosling, with the collaboration of his son and daughter-in-law, gave us ten staggering reasons we’re wrong about the world and why things are better than we think. This book has been recommended by both Obama and Bill Gates (I dropped enough names, I guess) as well as many of the renowned researchers.
In the introduction chapter, Rosling asked the reader to test with his/her own knowledge about the world through 13 fact questions which many of the readers answered or guessed wrongly. He informed us the dramatic instincts and the overdramatic worldview we human have such as things are bad and feel like the world is getting worse—war, violence, natural disasters, man-made disasters, corruption.
In each chapter, Rosling shared about how to control the instincts with what to do, what not to do, and challenge yourself with new and updated data. A very insightful read indeed and I’d rate 4 out of 5.
Rosling patiently explained the reader with the resourceful facts about the world through easy-to-understand charts with very little jargons. His ten reasons spread out to be the ten instincts we need to comprehend: the Gap Instinct, the Negativity Instinct, the Straight Line Instinct, the Fear Instinct, the Size Instinct, the Generalization Instinct, the Destiny Instinct, the Single Perspective Instinct, the Blame Instinct, and the Urgency Instinct.
Let me list down a few of these.
In the Gap Instinct, he informed us the way we compared things/facts differently and told us to beware acomparisons of averages, comparisons of extremes and the view from up here.
In the Negativity Instinct, he taught about our instinct to notice the bad more than the good which led us to three things: the misremembering of the past; selective reporting by journalists and activists; and the feeling that as long as things are bad it’s heartless to say they are getting better.
In the Fear Instinct, he said it is a terrible guide for understanding the world. It makes us give our attention to the unlikely dangers that we are most afraid of, and neglect what is actually most risky. Because “frightening” and “dangerous” are two different things. Something frightening poses a perceived risk whereas something dangerous poses a real risk.
In the Size Instinct, he taught that factfulness is recognizing when a lonely number seems impressive (small or large), and remembering that you could get the opposite impression if it were compared with or divided by some other relevant number.
In the Destiny Instinct, he reminded us to keep track of gradual improvements, to update our knowledge, to talk to elders how the values have changed, and to collect examples of cultural change.
Rosling mentioned that, ‘Factfulness, like a healthy diet and regular exercise, can and should become part of your daily life. Start to practise it, and you will be able to replace your overdramatic worldview with a worldview based on facts.”
In the introduction chapter, Rosling asked the reader to test with his/her own knowledge about the world through 13 fact questions which many of the readers answered or guessed wrongly. He informed us the dramatic instincts and the overdramatic worldview we human have such as things are bad and feel like the world is getting worse—war, violence, natural disasters, man-made disasters, corruption.
In each chapter, Rosling shared about how to control the instincts with what to do, what not to do, and challenge yourself with new and updated data. A very insightful read indeed and I’d rate 4 out of 5.
Rosling patiently explained the reader with the resourceful facts about the world through easy-to-understand charts with very little jargons. His ten reasons spread out to be the ten instincts we need to comprehend: the Gap Instinct, the Negativity Instinct, the Straight Line Instinct, the Fear Instinct, the Size Instinct, the Generalization Instinct, the Destiny Instinct, the Single Perspective Instinct, the Blame Instinct, and the Urgency Instinct.
Let me list down a few of these.
In the Gap Instinct, he informed us the way we compared things/facts differently and told us to beware acomparisons of averages, comparisons of extremes and the view from up here.
In the Negativity Instinct, he taught about our instinct to notice the bad more than the good which led us to three things: the misremembering of the past; selective reporting by journalists and activists; and the feeling that as long as things are bad it’s heartless to say they are getting better.
In the Fear Instinct, he said it is a terrible guide for understanding the world. It makes us give our attention to the unlikely dangers that we are most afraid of, and neglect what is actually most risky. Because “frightening” and “dangerous” are two different things. Something frightening poses a perceived risk whereas something dangerous poses a real risk.
In the Size Instinct, he taught that factfulness is recognizing when a lonely number seems impressive (small or large), and remembering that you could get the opposite impression if it were compared with or divided by some other relevant number.
In the Destiny Instinct, he reminded us to keep track of gradual improvements, to update our knowledge, to talk to elders how the values have changed, and to collect examples of cultural change.
Rosling mentioned that, ‘Factfulness, like a healthy diet and regular exercise, can and should become part of your daily life. Start to practise it, and you will be able to replace your overdramatic worldview with a worldview based on facts.”