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Economics

Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About The World — And Why Things Are Better Than You Think by Hans Rosling
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Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About The World — And Why Things Are Better Than You Think

by Hans Rosling

Recommendations from our site

“Factfulness is a book that very much embodies what Hans Rosling tried to do in his lifetime. He was a Swedish doctor and academic, who became quite famous because of his TED Talks where he presented, in a very entertaining and insightful way, the state of the world. In particular, he became famous for telling people that they kept getting everything wrong. He used to test Swedish students, politicians, and journalists, and he consistently found that people had a very warped and biased view of the world. In general, what he found is that people did not have an accurate sense of how much progress had been achieved. People, on average, tended to be extremely pessimistic about the state of the world, whether it was about deaths from natural disasters, child mortality, or how many girls in the world go to school now.” Read more...

The best books on Using Data to Understand the World

Edouard Mathieu

“It’s an interesting book, it’s very challenging. It may be over-optimistic. But it does have this startling effect on the readers of challenging widely held assumptions. It’s a plea to look at the empirical data, and not just assume that you know how things are now.” Read more...

The best books on Critical Thinking

Nigel Warburton, Philosopher

“I think it’s a fantastic book. Rosling died last year while completing the book. I think it’s really almost a summation of his life’s work. He was a health expert in Sweden and spent a lot of time in Africa. He became convinced that we were too pessimistic about the world and that it was actually in better shape than we imagine.” Read more...

The best books on GDP

David Pilling, Journalist

Commentary

This roundup features two of my nerdiest activities: reading and understanding data. Great to see “Factfulness” included on this list — it’s one of the most educational and optimistic books I’ve ever read.

Billl Gates on LinkedIn, commenting on "Using Data to Understand the World"

Our most recommended books

  • A Monetary History of the United States, 1867-1960
    by Anna Schwartz & Milton Friedman

  • The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine
    by Michael Lewis

  • The Wealth and Poverty of Nations
    by David S Landes

  • The Worldly Philosophers
    by Robert L Heilbroner

  • The Passions and the Interests
    by Albert Hirschman

  • wealth of nations

    The Wealth of Nations
    by Adam Smith

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