factfulness ten reasons we re wrong about the world

This isn’t because there are fewer natural disasters. And, when we consider the population growth over the last 100 years, “it has fallen to just 6% of what it was 100 years ago.” As of the writing of the book, the number was just 25% of what it was 100 years ago. The correct answer is “C: Decreased to less than half.” But even that answer isn’t quite accurate. Then we peel back the layers and find the facts that counter our prejudices. The chimpanzees, who don’t watch the news, got 33 percent as always!” Throughout the book, to be explainable with existing conventional knowledge. Of course, chimps being chimps, lacking human language and context, randomly select an answer, so there is an even distribution of 33% for any answer.įrom the book: “Just 10 percent of people picked the right answer, and even in the countries that did best on this question-Finland and Norway-it was only 16 percent…. He uses chimpanzees as a humorous straw man with which his audiences compete. Rosling has given his quiz to audiences around the world, and while the precise proportions of correct answers vary, people universally get the answers wrong. How did the number of deaths per year from natural disasters change over the last hundred years? The questions generally focus on the distribution of healthcare, education, wealth, and population.

Rosling begins his book Factfulness with a thirteen-question, multiple-choice quiz to help readers evaluate their understanding of world facts. Title: Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World and Why Things Are Better Than You Thinkįormats: Paperback, Kindle, Hardcover, Audiobook This led to my interest in reading his book Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World and Why Things Are Better Than You Think, which is the subject of this review. While I was initially attracted to his compelling techniques for portraying complex information, I ultimately became much more interested in the message of his presentations. There are ten of his talks on the TED Web site. If you like watching TED talks, there’s a good chance you’ve encountered presentations by the late Hans Rosling.

Factfulness ten reasons we re wrong about the world