A book which showed me how to change my opinions about the world.

I love being proven wrong. It makes me realise there is still a lot I need to learn, especially in the way I am building my opinions. This book does just that — it helps you to revisit the way you create opinions.

Hans Rosling starts the book with 13 questions about the world checking your general knowledge. What is the life expectancy of the world today? How many of the world’s 1-year old children today have been vaccinated against some disease? With questions like these he proves many of us to be wrong about our image of the world.

With engaging story telling from first hand experience from his own life he describes how everyday life looks like in various countries throughout the world. Each chapter touches the way we think and how we create misconceptions about the world on specific real-life stories branching to global issues. What the author does best is link a single story to the bigger picture.

The key takeaways of the book for me are as follows:

1. Beware of the group comparison.
   It is easy to fall prey into us vs. them or good vs. evil. This is most often wrong. Look for the entire distribution of data and assess where the majority lies.
2. Good news is not news.
   Have you ever wondered why the world looks so negative in the media? Crime, death, violence, mistakes and tragedies rule the world of media. We love to be shocked and to read about the extremes. No one cares for the one guy who did not eat the undercooked bat and did not cause a global pandemic. Gradual improvements and positive impacts of applied safety measures are not praised.
3. Knowledge of your past does not always predict the same future.
   From the turkey’s point of view the human is the all loving and all caring god. But only until the thanksgiving day comes. Because something works great for us for some time, it does not mean it will always be like that. If you enjoyed economic growth for your entire life it does not mean that a global recession does not await you behind the corner.
4. Get calm before you carry on.
   Most of the decisions I regret doing in my life I did when I was angry or afraid. Try to assess the danger times exposure — what is the chance XY hits me and how much will it impact me. Collect as much information as possible and decide once you calm down. Don’t rush important decisions.
5. Fooled by the shocking value.
   An elephant weights about 1.8 to 6 tons. What a heavy beast! However, it is about the weight of the whale’s tongue (about 3.6 tons). Don’t fall prey to huge numbers, always put it into proportion and compare it to something else.
6. Being part of a group does not make you like the group.
   A famous quote from Alexander Solzhenitsyn:
   “The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either — but right through every human heart — and through all human hearts. … And even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained.”
7. Talk to the elderly.
   Small gradual improvements are easily neglected. Go and ask your grandparents about their childhood. You might be surprised what kind of toilet they used. Appreciate the progress done even though it is hard to be seen.
8. Beware the simple.
   We live in a very complex world. Sometimes a complex problem requires a simple solution. That might be true in some cases, but sometimes a complex problem requires hundreds of experts and years of experience to be solved. If you are about to solve an unknown problem, bring the entire toolbox instead of a hammer. After understanding the problem you might need to change your approach to reach the solution.
9. Understand causes and systems.
   It is easy to blame “the others” for your misfortune. It is easy to find an external villain who is responsible. However, it does not solve the problem, it just creates new ones. Instead look for the cause, be like a scientist. Don’t blame, rather do research. On the other hand, it is easy to find the hero. Don’t do that either. Instead, look for the system which creates the heroes.
10. Take your time.
    If you ever fell prey to a limited discount you know how it feels if someone creates a sense of urgency for you to act. If you don’t do this now, you might not get a second chance. Realise that very few of your life decisions need to be done immediately. Things are often not as urgent as they seem. Take a breath, collect information, think about what you want. Always ask yourself a question. Will this have huge impact on my life? If yes, don’t rush to decide.

Overall I enjoyed this book a lot and found it worthwhile to read. If you already know the lessons it teaches and you feel like you will not learn anything new, there is one more thing this book provides — optimism. Every chapter is filled with a fresh breath of how things are going well in the world yet keeps us alert and aware of the challenges we still need to tackle.