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A review by roohanin
Numbers Don't Lie: 71 Stories to Help Us Understand the Modern World by Vaclav Smil
informative
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
4.0
A book with a collection of short essays. Very informative with lots of statistics but the essay topics rarely follow a pattern. If you are not looking for a flow, go for it. Its relaxing and quite fast paced. I read 6-7 essays easily in one sitting and its only 71 small essays.
The book scored itself an extra point when author points out how we find it easy to estimate the length and distance but have difficulty in mass and weight. We prefer to talk about money in relative earnings or savings and not in terms of inflation or fluctuations in purchasing power and exchange rates. For most of us conversation ends when talks turn to comparisons in order of magnitude or qualitative differences which can not be captured in numbers.
This makes me think how much of the world would be a different place if most people could grasp these and have quality conversations on them. I can imagine the kind of conversations floating around. And the author himself pointed out that it is easier to learn than people think, it just needs dedicated effort
The book scored itself an extra point when author points out how we find it easy to estimate the length and distance but have difficulty in mass and weight. We prefer to talk about money in relative earnings or savings and not in terms of inflation or fluctuations in purchasing power and exchange rates. For most of us conversation ends when talks turn to comparisons in order of magnitude or qualitative differences which can not be captured in numbers.
This makes me think how much of the world would be a different place if most people could grasp these and have quality conversations on them. I can imagine the kind of conversations floating around. And the author himself pointed out that it is easier to learn than people think, it just needs dedicated effort
With the introduction the author had written, I expected myself to struggle a bit to keep up. But it was easy. I am having mixed feelings about it. It could be that I have the knowledge level enough to keep up or it could be that the author preferred to write stories in a way everyone can understand.