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"When asked simple questions about global trends--what percentage of the world's population live in poverty; why the world's population is increasing; how many girls finish school -- we systematically get the answers wrong. So wrong that a chimpanzee choosing answers at random will consistently outguess teachers, journalists, Nobel laureates, and investment bankers. Professor and TED presenter Hans Rosling, together with his two long-time collaborators, Anna and Ola, offers a radical explanation of why this happens. They reveal the ten instincts that distort our perspective, from our tendency to divide the world into two camps (usually some version of us and them) to the way we consume media (where fear rules) to how we perceive progress (believing that most things are getting worse). Our problem is that we don't know what we don't know, and even our guesses are informed by unconscious and predictable biases. It turns out that the world, for all its imperfections, is in a much better state than we might think. That doesn't mean there aren't real concerns. But when we worry about everything all the time instead of embracing a worldview based on facts, we can lose our ability to focus on the things that threaten us most."--… (more)
Great book - hopefully you’ll read it and discover that the glasses you wear today when looking at the world, is outdated. This book will give you the tools for understanding it better - but you also need to practice to keep your new tools sharpened ( )
Großartig! Hans Rösling gibt uns Werkzeuge an die Hand, um die Wahrheiten zu erkennen und Täuschungen zu entlarven... Immer schön misstrauisch bleiben, vor allem bei vermeintlich "einfachen" Sachlagen und Lösungen... ( )
As a non-fiction read, this was interesting and informative. I especially liked the suggestions of how I can think more critically about the information that is fed to me about the state of the world. The illustrating examples the authors used were entertaining and got me thinking. ( )
This is a must read for just about everybody. If you're depressed about the state of the world, this book will help you see how much progress HAS been made (yes, there's still more to be made). If you want to take action to make the world better, this book has some steps you can take to do that. If you want to learn to think critically, this book will give you some tips and pointers on how to do that.
Just a very well written book peppered with personal anecdotes from Dr. Rosling as well as plenty of facts and figures. ( )
Information from the French Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language.
À la courageuse femme aux pieds nus dont je ne connais pas le nom, mais dont les arguments rationnels m’ont protégé d’une foule d’hommes en colère et armés de machettes.
First words
I love the circus. (Introduction, Why I Love the Circus)
Where it all started
It was October 1995 and little did I know that after my class that evening, I was going to start my lifelong fight against global misconceptions.
Quotations
Last words
When we have a fact-based worldview, we can see that the world is not as bad as it seems -- and we can see what we have to do to keep making it better.
"When asked simple questions about global trends--what percentage of the world's population live in poverty; why the world's population is increasing; how many girls finish school -- we systematically get the answers wrong. So wrong that a chimpanzee choosing answers at random will consistently outguess teachers, journalists, Nobel laureates, and investment bankers. Professor and TED presenter Hans Rosling, together with his two long-time collaborators, Anna and Ola, offers a radical explanation of why this happens. They reveal the ten instincts that distort our perspective, from our tendency to divide the world into two camps (usually some version of us and them) to the way we consume media (where fear rules) to how we perceive progress (believing that most things are getting worse). Our problem is that we don't know what we don't know, and even our guesses are informed by unconscious and predictable biases. It turns out that the world, for all its imperfections, is in a much better state than we might think. That doesn't mean there aren't real concerns. But when we worry about everything all the time instead of embracing a worldview based on facts, we can lose our ability to focus on the things that threaten us most."--
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Book description
Contents:
Introduction -- 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 -- The urgency instinct -- Factfulness in practice -- Acknowledgements -- Appendix 1: How did your country do? -- Notes
- Eddie Widerberg
- Nashe Nzabonimpa - 28.05.2024