This was a truly insightful non-fiction read for me. The full title is 'Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About The World - and Why Things are Better Than You Think' and Hans Rosling truly hits the nail on the head by helping the reader see that the world is better than what we think. The lessons in this book have left a lasting impact on me to see true facts and real trends of the world. It has truly improved my view of the world and reduced misconceptions I have about events, people and situations, along with encouraging me to seek out new information to improve myself and understanding of the world around me.
Factfulness offers ten thoughts and challenges to assumptions and overdramatizations we take as the norm in our worldview. I loved how the book was structured and the inclusion of Roslings' son and daughter-in-law in the presentation of the information in conveying the effectiveness of the message.
Read by the likes of Barack Obama, Bill and Melinda Gates, this book is informative. It is eye opening. It's truthful and it is real. Rosling doesn't make attempts for us to see the world with rosy glasses by turning a blind eye to the problems of ill-health, poverty and war – but rather reminds us that we have gotten better from where we came from and continue to get better as time goes on.
This book starts off by presenting the reader with thirteen questions about the world and testing one’s knowledge on the condition of the world. Rosling provides comfort to the reader that even though we may have got the answers wrong (because our worldview may be overshadowed by negatives) he will equip us with thinking tools to help understand the big picture and get the facts right.
Rosling is truthful in his storytelling, acknowledging the times when he made errors in his own judgement due to different instincts. As he explains the Fear Instinct, Rosling speaks of a time when he thought that a “bleeding Russian fighter pilot had been shot down over Sweden and that World War III was starting” when the truth of the matter was that ‘the Russian was Swedish, the war was peace, the epileptic seizure was cooling, and the blood was a color ampule from inside the life jacket’. Rosling goes on to explain how in times of fear, we do not have clarity, we cannot think critically or even process facts when we are in a mindset of fear.
Another instinct we may always act on is the urgency instinct. We hear it all the time: ‘Sale ends tomorrow’, ‘last one in stock’ or ‘it’s me or the Xbox’. We are forced to decide without considering all the details, facts or options and the example given here actually got me quite down. Rosling gives an example where he made a rash decision to close a village off to the city to urgently prevent the spread of disease, however in turn caused mass death when the villagers took the waters to make their commute instead of the normal bus route. This story stuck with me as I often make decisions on a rash or urgent basis and don’t stop to see the full picture or carefully analyse the situation. I will say after reading this chapter and whilst trying to control my book buying habits, I put myself on a book buying ban – that’s how convinced I was.
The trouble is that we are always presented data in a bias and worst-case manner. We don’t hear about all the planes that landed safely in one day, but we hear about the only one which had a freak accident and crashed. Rosling presents his supporting data in a large variety of ways and in varying contexts so that the reader can understand and comprehend the facts. It challenged my worldview and taught me skills which I can apply in all forms of life.
This non-fiction book was recommended to me and a book which took some time for me to get into given its heavy focus on data and statistics. But if I were to break it down, the ten instincts supported by true and unbiased facts helped widen and improve my worldview.
We live in a world where dramatized misinformation is easily accessible but I think we need to train ourselves to see the facts behind it all. I would recommend Factfulness to anyone who is open to adapting their world view and understanding that this is a beautiful world we live in filled with beautiful people and we are doing better than ever! The Late Hans Rosling created a vital book needed by society to see that we live in a world which is doing a lot better than we think.
A parting note: I would like to challenge you to take some time and complete the Gapminder test and see how your worldview measures up against the facts:
https://factfulnessquiz.com/
Completed on: 15 October 2021
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