Great book, helps to look at the world from a different perspective. Really provokes us to go beyond our biases and apply contexts to different facts and figures.

Eye-opening book with a simple premise: let the data speak (and wait for data before forming too many opinions). The book could probably be a TED talk, but it's the hands-on examples and research that bring the points home. The world is likely very different than we imagine, and we should bring a level of humility to get our facts straight before weighing in too heavily on matters or dividing people into incorrect stereotypes. I appreciate the reality that things are better than they seem, while there's still a lot we can (and should) change to improve people's lives.

On my Books Every Human Should Read list. Fascinating, written with expertise, experience and humility. I don’t understand all the reviews using the word “condescending” - I didn’t see that (with the exception of one rather shocking anecdote from when he was a new graduate). He frequently shares polling data that shows ignorance on the part of highly educated people, but that’s the data he’s using to reveal the problem. He also freely shared his own mistakes. Reading at the end of 2022, I was struck by the fact that his number one practical concern (in 2017) was a global pandemic (not that he was the only one - this has long been known to be inevitable). As much as the world could have benefitted from his wisdom in 2020, maybe it’s better he didn’t see how badly it was handled… What I enjoyed most was how infinitely practical this was. Lots of charts, the fallacies are presented clearly, and each chapter ends with a bullet point list to solidify the concepts he’s described with personal stories. This book is neither boring or clinical, and it’s an excellent antidote for the insidious, Western/Euro-centrist thinking that’s both prevalent and rarely remarked upon. If you liked this book and have kids, I’d also recommend Raising Critical Thinkers by Julie Bogart. For more positivity on the world, Humankind by Rutger Bregman, although that one’s still in my tsundoku pile.

This book encourages you to look at ‘the rest of the world’ in a fact-based manner, and to depart from such knee jerk falsities as ‘Africa is bad, has always been and will always be’ when in fact a lot of progress is being made. It is also no longer true that there is such a thing as ‘the west’ and ‘the rest’, instead the countries of the world are now on a scale. We need to acknowledge that things can be bad and getting better at the same time. The book is structured around ten factfulness rules of thumb: 1. Gap: look at where the majority is. 2. Negativity: expect bad news. 3. Straight line: trend lines might bend. 4. Fear: make decisions on actual risk instead of fear-based gut. 5. Size: place facts (especially large numbers) in proportion. 6. Generalization: question the categories in which you place things. Does it even make sense to place all of ‘Asia’ in one bucket? (No) 7. Destiny: just because you don’t notice incremental 3% change doesn’t mean things will always be the same 8. Single: get multiple perspectives on things to get a more accurate understanding 9. Blame: resist pointing a finger at a single thing as the cause of something 10. Urgency: resist making urgency-based decisions. Things are often not as urgent as they may seem

Very interesting read In our day today life, journalists, politicians and field experts impact our views about the world. Hans provides other side of the coin by looking at the fact based data instead of trusting people blindly. World is improving...slow change is a change ultimately..!! Hoping for a better world...