Book Review: Factfulness

Factfulness is another book under the “things aren’t that bad” theme. It’s one I’d recommend along with Enlightenment Now and The Rational Optimist. The book is good. So good that Bill Gates gave away millions copies.

In Factfulness Hans Rosling asks questions about the world and seeks out data to find the answer. His Factfulness Quiz asks general questions about population, environment and education. Surprisingly professors, politicians and other educated people score worse than random. Their preconceived beliefs cloud their understanding.

In Factfulness, Rolsing attempts to provide instincts to help people find the facts. This includes scrutinizing articles articles if they are attempting to provoke fear or putting forth large numbers (often they are small or irrelevant within context). I also found his commentary on the 4 income groups as a useful lens to view at the rest of the world.