"Factfulness"

(Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World - and Why Things are Better than You Think)

-by hans rosling, 2018

Hans was a doctor, professor of international health, and public educator. His biggest achievement was getting the World Bank to retire the racist and inaccurate terms "developed" and "developing" world, replacing those with a four-level wealth/poverty index. He spent a lifetime studying why the overwhelming majority of people score lower on a test of global knowledge then chimpanzees (or in other words, why all people would do better just randomly guessing, rather than THINK they know, as our guesses are overwhelmingly wrong, because of evolutionary cognitive biases).

The book begins with a multiple-choice quiz regarding global health, poverty, and education. The average person (including the highly-educated) scores a 2 out of 13. The average chimp, a 3. I scored a 9...but that was AFTER seeing the subtitle of the book.

Hans explores the biological instincts that prevent us from seeing the world as it is. The gap instinct, which makes us see only extremes, not the middle where the majority usually lies. The negativity instinct, which is why the news only serves up BAD stories. The fear instinct, a holdover from a time in evolution when danger was ever-present and to not be vigilant meant quick death. Plus seven other instincts that ill-serve us in achieving a global perspective. Don't fret, things are not "getting worse". In the big picture, living conditions for the majority of humyns are much better than they've ever been. And continue to improve at a startling rate. Within a few generations, poverty might be gone forever.

Even without the subtitle, i'd have scored better than a chimp...but i still had my blind spots, particularly regarding overpopulation.

Hans spares no one. On global warming, he recalls how al gore urged him to portray worst-case scenarios as the baseline. Perhaps in the big picture, gore was right to do so...but hans held fast to the truth, rather than succumb to the alarmist instincts that are present in us all.

Hans teaches us tools to overcome our ancient, faulty instincts.

So if i may make a recommendation (without falling prey to alarmist tactics myself), get this book for yourself. As quick as you can!