Well worth reading, Factfulness sits in the same canon as Thinking, Fast and Slow. Its take on things is as simple as it's effective, namely that if we consider fact-based evidence appropriately and in an adequate context, then the world is a very different place to how it may first appear. Rosling (a doctor by training) takes a perspective very similar to Pinker: because positive change (e.g. declining deaths in childhood or improving literacy rates) tends to be incremental and not headline-grabbing, it tends to be ignored. Rather, it is easier to focus on that which is getting worse, however misleading it may be. Rosling does a great job in highlighting general ignorance while making the assertion we should all be more “factful” (i.e. mindful/considered). To an extent, I found Rosling preaching to the converted—I am inherently skeptical about most facts and figures (and scored much higher than the average in his quiz)—but the work remains highly relevant and is very readable. N/R.
By Hans Rosling