Book Report - Factfulness by Hans Rosling

Factfulness by Hans Rosling has changed the way many people perceive the world. I was enlightened to learn this new outlook and see the positive changes that we continue to make every day. We see tragic events taking place in the news every day and everybody things that the world is traveling down this downward spiral. The truth is that things are better than they ever have been. The media is creating this negative misconception. We need to base our opinions off of the facts and see that we are in a very good place after all.

The first chapter that I am going to speak on is is Chapter six: The Generalization Instinct. When we generalize, we are creating stereotypes that we may not be meaning to make. Rather than viewing a group as a whole, it should be viewed as a system with multiple working parts that add to the whole thing. When looking at the world, we should not generalize other countries successes based on one geographical area. Many people view Africa as a place of poverty when in fact many of their countries are very well off. If we pay our attention to the details, we will see that a general statement does not apply to an entire population and can be very misleading.

The second chapter I will discuss is Chapter four: The Fear Instinct. This is caused by irrational fears and dramatic behavior. For example, some people may be afraid to swim in the ocean because they know that they can be attacked by a shark. Looking at the numbers we can see that shark attacks are extremely rare. We should not let these irrational fears stop us from exploring and pushing our boundaries. Many people become anxious to escape their comfort zone. If we look at things logically, there is nothing to be afraid of. We can learn from every new experience.

The last chapter that impacted me was Chapter eight: The Single Perspective Instinct. When we try to think of a solution to a problem, we should take all aspects of the issue into effect. This will create a targeted solution that will satisfy the entirety of the problem at hand. The analogy used in the book explained this very well. Hans Rosling said that somebody who has a hammer will view every problem as a nail. Not everybody may be lucky to have a hammer. We cannot base our solution implying that everybody knows or has the fix to the problem.

This book is very well written. Hans Rosling has a perspective that should be embodied by more people in the world today. He sees things the way that they are and bases all of his decisions on critical thinking and data. If more people were to live by the ideals in this book I don't think anyone could argue that this would make our world a better place. To anyone who may not see things this clearly, it is definitely a great read. I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for some clarity and positive insight. You will definitely learn a lot about the world and how your own mind works in itself!