Review: Factfulness

In a world of competing ideologies, social media based manipulation and fake news, it is refreshing to read a book that attempts to challenge our thinking through verifiable facts and acknowledge that while things are still bad, they aren't quite as bad as we think and are getting better. So much so, that much of what we treat as truth may not be.

Along the way, Rosling uses anecdotes and facts to illustrate key principles most of which will be familiar to but perhaps slightly forgotten by any science graduate eg be careful about curve interpretation.

As with many others, I suspect the developing v developed world myth is perhaps the most eye-opening.  Rosling contends that much of what we think we know about the world and its peoples is rooted in a 1960s snapshot - and that nearly all countries are middle income ones now and still rapidly improving. I do wonder if what his views would have been on relative poverty though.

I was also pleasantly surprised there is good news on both contraception adoption and birth rates - regardless of beliefs - and that it looks like world population will top out sometime this century.

Lastly, I admired his vision of a world where the economic action will shift towards Asia and Africa over the coming decades.

If the book has a weakness, it is in the focus on public health and wealth related case studies. That's not surprising given the author's profession. I'll also forgive his perhaps justifiably didactic tone.


Verdict: A book for our times.