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Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About The World - And Why Things Are Better Than You Think Audiobook – Unabridged

Hans Rosling (Author), Ola Rosling (Author), Anna Rosling Rönnlund (Author),

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Factfulness: The stress-reducing habit of carrying only opinions for which you have strong supporting facts.

When asked simple questions about global trends - why the world's population is increasing; how many young women go to school; how many of us live in poverty - we systematically get the answers wrong. So wrong that a chimpanzee choosing answers at random will consistently outguess journalists, Nobel laureates, and investment bankers.

In Factfulness, Professor of International Health and a man who can make data sing, Hans Rosling, together with his two longtime collaborators Anna and Ola, offers a radical new explanation of why this happens and reveals the 10 instincts that distort our perspective.

It turns out that the world, for all its imperfections, is in a much better state than we might think. But when we worry about everything all the time instead of embracing a worldview based on facts, we can lose our ability to focus on the things that threaten us most.

Inspiring and revelatory, filled with lively anecdotes and moving stories, Factfulness is an urgent and essential book that will change the way you see the world.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

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Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About The World - And Why Things Are Better Than You Think

Hans Rosling (Author), Ola Rosling (Author), Anna Rosling Rönnlund (Author)

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Product details

Audible Audiobook
Listening Length: 7 hours and 59 minutes
Program Type: Audiobook
Version: Unabridged
Publisher: Sceptre
Audible.com.au Release Date: 3 April 2018
Whispersync for Voice: Ready
Language: English, English
ASIN: B0787M4JWY
Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 165 in Audible (See Top 100 in Audible)
- #35 in Business & Money
- #37 in Business & Economics

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A Fool's Errand

10 July 2018

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

This is a well-written book that will fail in its objective to get us to put facts first.

As Scott Adams explains in Win Bigly: Persuasion in a World Where Facts Don't Matter, people are persuaded mainly through emotion even though we think that we arrived at a position through rational arguments based on facts.

Rosling does address several issues with facts:
- how accurate is the data?
- they are contested (especially if they seem to conflict with one's beliefs)
- barriers to access to facts - not all facts are readily accessible to everyone either through cost, knowing where to look, or understanding what the facts mean.
- political agendas behind the collection and dissemination of facts.

Rosling's anecdotes help to expand on his points.

One person found this helpful

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PeterNZ

A book more people should read

22 May 2018

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Statistics, boring, dry. We have a saying in Germany, "Never trust a statistic you haven't faked yourself" But this book showed what a beautiful tool statistics can be. How they can help us to understand our world, our life. This book shows that statistics or better, data can show us beauty and progress. This book helps the reader to see reality. Not the reality the media wants us to see but the reality which is the real life. The beauty of it is that this can be applied to how you look at the world's problems and to the challenges you and I face in our lives.

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Rajesh Shanbhag

"Data as a therapy"

26 August 2018

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Factfulness is a truly inspiring book; it opens our thinking windows to our world and makes us see it like we never have before.

The author of the book is Hans Rosling, a professor of international health and a world-renowned public educator. Hans has presented his statistics and charts at several UN, World Economic Forum and other public and private forums. He has some very captivating talks at TED. He and his son Ola and daughter-in-law Anna have been instrumental in developing the “moving bubble chart” presentation that would wow any audience (watch his TED talks).

In this book the author Hans Rosling asserts, supported by his personal experiences, that we are largely wrong about our knowledge on the progress of humankind. He surmises that we are wrong not because of out-of-date knowledge, but because our ingrained opinions are not based on facts. He calls this the “overdramatic worldview” which is fed by news that makes us think the world is getting more violent, more frightening and more hopeless. He opines that if we don’t control our dramatic worldview, we might focus on wrong priorities or reach incorrect conclusions.

He starts the book with a startling set of 13 questions; and challenges us to perform better than chimpanzees (who might pick 33% answers correctly). He comforts his reader that even the well-educated, the Nobel laureates, the renowned economists have fared worse than the chimpanzees.

By the end of the book, Hans will convince you, based on facts from UN and presented in form of charts and tables, that the world is improving “not on every single measure every single year, but as a rule… This is a fact-based worldview”. He uses several charts and statistics to prove his point including a chart on “guitars per capita” as a statistic on human progress!!! By exposing our human instincts, Hans provide tips to his readers in controlling those instincts.

Why do we divide the world into “West and the rest” “developing and developed countries” (gap instinct) when facts show that the gap between these worlds has almost disappeared? “Factfulness is … recognizing when a decision feels urgent and remembering that it rarely is” (urgency instinct)? Are we not generalising the destiny of a continent like Africa (destiny instinct) and thereby foregoing the vast investment opportunities there for the smaller gains we make in the West? Instead of generalising countries into developed and developing countries, Hans prefers to group them into 4 levels based on the income. (Blame instinct) “remembering that blaming an individual often steals the focus from other possible explanations and blocks our ability to prevent similar problems in the future”.

As Hans puts it “This is data as you have never known it: it is data as therapy. It is understanding as a source of mental peace. Because the world is not as dramatic as it seems.” This book makes a compelling read. It presents a socio-economic story based on facts from UN and other organisations and presented by Hans in his own quintessential style. He exposes our own personal prejudices and instincts and enforces upon us to use a fact-based worldview.

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Tony

Well worth a read if you think your current perception of the world is accurate - you'll probably be very surprised.

24 June 2018

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Quite the eye opener. Definitely enjoyed the language of the author as it made for a fun read while conveying the facts well. I especially liked the 'I Don't Have Any Vision' story about the speech in 2013 at "The African Renaissance and Agenda for 2063 on page 180-181 as it perfectly surmised - at least my - current way of thinking, not that I can be proud to admit that but the idea is for us to realise and grow.

It was definitely written for it's time so you need to consciously remember when it was written. I think the fundamental concept will remain valid for many years but for the years to come you need to remember it's based on a particular time of the world and not necessarily the current reality.

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Paul

Such a challengingly enlightening read

30 January 2019

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

In my life’s work, I spend most of my time mentoring young people to think differently about themselves, their life situations and, most critically, their thinking. I have lost count of the number of them and others with whom I have excitedly shared what this wonderful book has taught me.

Factfulness as a book is a most valuable contribution to correctly realigning our worldview.

Factfulness as a code for living is even more important because it stretches us to make sure that what we know is right and, more importantly, how we respond is appropriate.

What a legacy has been left by Hans.

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Julian Mather

Full of facts, full of thinking, brimming with opportunity

6 June 2018

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Even if you don't read this book cover to cover, just scan it. Cherry pick it. It will make you pause and ask yourself, 'If my view of the world was so misaligned with how the world actually is, then what else am I thinking that is, in some way, harmful to the life I want to lead.' The question this book raised for me is how am I self-sabotaging? Loved it.

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Niall O'Brien

Fascinating read, filled with a minefield of facts

18 April 2018

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

A refreshing read based on statistical data made available by the UN, provides the meat in the sandwich that is this book. I gained a lot of useful & current knowledge on concepts that are affecting us all on a global scale. Am delighted to see the world is catching up on health care,education & life expectancy. I am fearful that we're driving off a cliff regarding inaction on climate change.

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Cassie romances

Best book I've read this year!

31 December 2018

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

This is not my usual fair, but something everyone needs to read to gain a better understanding of the world and how it is changing. Things are better than you think and it is important we realise why so we can understand what works.

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