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«One of the most important books I've ever read». 
Bill Gates

Topic

Sociology, psychology, statistics.

About the book

We tend to dramatise life around us. What proportion of people in the world live in poverty? How many modern children are vaccinated? How many years do girls from poor countries study? Information about these facts is constantly circulating around us, but even highly educated people get them wrong. University professors, journalists, experts, directors of multinational companies, and Nobel laureates often show poor results. Even chimpanzees, who would choose answers randomly, do better. Moreover, the mistakes tend to be in the same direction - the world is scarier, crueler and more hopeless than it really is. Obviously, the reason is not awareness or intelligence. It's irrational thinking and dramatic instincts that make people paint the picture.

Who is the book for

The book is for the widest range of readers, for all educated people who follow the news and read a lot, but because of the specifics of the information presentation, they see only the negative side. However, we are ready to question this belief.

Why this book

In the book, Hans Rosling, with the help of co-authors Ull Rosling and Anna Rosling-Röhnlund, shows us the errors of our perception, gives us tools to recognise unjustified generalisations, calm irrational fears and perceive life on the basis of facts.

About the authors

Hans Rosling is a professor, MD, advisor to WHO and UNICEF, co-founder of Médecins Sans Frontières in Sweden and the Gapminder Foundation. He is a TED speaker. One of the 100 most influential people in the world according to Time magazine (2012). He died in 2017.

Ula Rosling and Anna Rosling-Rönlund are co-founders of the Gapminder Foundation. They are the developers of Trendalyzer, a data visualisation software acquired by Google.

Books on similar topics

• «Freakonomics. The Downside of Everything in the World», Stephen Dubner, Stephen Levitt, «Our Format», 2017
• «Superfree Economy. The downside of everything in the world», Steven Dubner, Steven Levitt, «Our Format», 2018

Reviews

«Thanks to Rosling, data sounds like music, and global trends in healthcare and the economy are starting to come alive. The news suddenly turns out to be good, and the overall picture of global development becomes clear.
TED

Quotes

About Information Therapy
I think you've never experienced the use of information as therapy, and understanding as a source of mental and intellectual peace. Because in reality, the world is not as dramatic as it seems. Factuality, like a healthy diet and regular exercise, can and should be a part of your daily life. Start practising it, and you can replace your over-dramatised worldview with a fact-based perception of the world.

About «posibilists»
People often call me an optimist because I show them those huge results they never knew they had. This makes me angry. I am not an optimist: that would make me naive. I'm a very serious «sibilist» (I coined the word myself). It means someone who neither hopes nor fears for no reason. Someone who is constantly opposed to an overdramatised worldview. As a progressive, I see the progress that has been made, and this gives me confidence and hope that further progress is also possible. This is not optimism. It is a view based on a clear and rational idea of how things are around us. It is a worldview that is constructive and useful.