Hans Rosling Summary

1. Medical doctor, professor of international health, and renowned public educator.
2. An adviser to the World Health Organization and UNICEF
3. Cofounded of Médecins Sans Frontières in Sweden and the Gapminder Foundation.
4. His TED talks have been viewed more than thirty-five million times
5. Listed as one of Time magazine’s one hundred most influential people in the world.
6. Died in 2017, devoted the last years of his life to writing this book.

Factfulness Book Review

1. One of the most important book you will ever read
2. A mind opener
3. Learn that the world is becoming better not worse
4. Full of facts and statistics

Hans Rosling Ted Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVimVzgtD6w

Factfulness Facts

1. Most people’s incomes grow much slower than bacteria, unfortunately.
2. The media cannot resist tapping into our fear instinct. It is such an easy way to grab our attention.
3. The image of a dangerous world has never been broadcast more effectively than it is now, while the world has never been less violent and more safe.
4. Cultures, nations, religions, and people are not rocks. They are in constant transformation.
5. Forming your worldview by relying on the media would be like forming your view about me by looking only at a picture of my foot.
6. Give a child a hammer and everything looks like a nail.
7. The United States: The Sickest of the Rich
8. History is full of visionaries who used simple utopian visions to justify terrible actions.
9. Big pharmaceutical companies do hardly any research on malaria and nothing at all on sleeping sickness or other illnesses that affect only the poorest
10. Blaming an airplane crash on a sleepy pilot will not help to stop future crashes.

Factfulness 10 Reasons

Everybody thinks that the world is more frightening, more violent, and more hopeless than it really is.

We are interested in gossip and dramatic stories, which used to be the only source of news and useful information.

We crave sugar and fat, which used to be life-saving sources of energy when food was scarce.

This is a book about the world and how it really is. It is also a book about you, and why you do not see the world as it really is.

CHAPTER ONE: The Gap Instinct

Poor developing countries no longer exist as a distinct group low-income countries are much more developed than most people think.

The idea of a divided world with a majority stuck in misery and deprivation is an illusion.

The majority of people live neither in low-income countries nor in high income countries, but in middle-income countries.

CHAPTER TWO: The Negativity Instinct

We have the tendency to notice the bad more than the good.

It is easy to be aware of all the bad things happening in the world. It’s harder to
know about the good things: billions of improvements that are never reported

Crimes and crisis were reported more than good news which distorts our perspectives

The media and activists rely on drama to grab your attention

CHAPTER THREE: The Straight Line Instinct

Many trends do not follow straight lines but are S-bends, slides, humps, or doubling lines. No child ever kept up the rate of growth it achieved in its first six months, and no parents would expect it to.

CHAPTER FOUR: The Fear Instinct

The media can’t waste time on stories that won’t pass our attention filters.

The world seems scarier than it is because what you hear about it has been selected—by your own attention filter or by the media—precisely because it is scary.

When you are afraid, you see the world differently. Make as few decisions as possible until the panic has subsided.

CHAPTER FIVE: The Size Instinct

Big numbers always look big. Single numbers on their own are misleading and should make you suspicious. Always look for comparisons.

80/20. Have you been given a long list? Look for the few largest items and deal with those first.

CHAPTER SIX: The Generalization Instinct

Beware of “the majority.” The majority just means more than half. Ask whether it means 51 percent, 99 percent, or something in between.

Beware of vivid examples. Vivid images are easier to recall but they might be the exception rather than the rule

CHAPTER SEVEN: The Destiny Instinct

Societies and cultures are not like rocks, unchanging and unchangeable. They move.

Swedes are known for being quite liberal and open about sex and contraception, aren’t they? Yet this hasn’t always been their culture. These haven’t always been their values.

A small change every year can translate to a huge change over decades.

CHAPTER EIGHT: The Single Perspective Instinct

Great knowledge can interfere with an expert’s ability to see what actually
works.

If the pharmaceutical companies were better at adjusting their prices for different countries and different customers, they could make their next fortune with what they already have.

Single perspective can limit your imagination

Beware of simple ideas and simple solutions.

CHAPTER NINE: The Blame Instinct

It seems that it comes very naturally for us to decide that when things go wrong, it must be because of some bad individual with bad intentions.

We tend to look for bad guys who confirm our existing beliefs. Evil businessmen, lying journalists, and foreigner

Look for systems, not heroes. When someone claims to have caused something good, ask whether the outcome might have happened anyway, even if that individual had done nothing

CHAPTER TEN: The Urgency Instinct

When people tell you we must act now, In most cases, they are just trying to stop you from thinking clearly

Ask for more time and more information, it rarely is now or never

Step-by-step practical improvements, and evaluation of their impact, are less dramatic but usually more effective.

CHAPTER ELEVEN: Factfulness in Practice

A fact-based worldview is more useful for navigating life, just like an accurate GPS is more useful for finding your way in the city.

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