From watching, listening to, and reading about
the daily news, it is easy to conclude that the world is going to hell in a
handbasket. But it isn’t. The purpose of this S/DG is to show that the
first part of its title, The World is Getting Better, is true by studying the
information presented in the two books in the second part its title: Factfulness and Enlightenment Now.
The subtitle of Hans
Rosling’s Factfulness is Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World—and
Why Things Are Better Than You Think.
He calls the reasons Instincts that
we all have and devotes a chapter to each.
The ten are The Gap Instinct, The Negativity Instinct, The Straight Line
Instinct, The Fear Instinct, The Size Instinct, The Generalization Instinct,
The Destiny Instinct, The Single Perspective Instinct, The Blame Instinct, and
The Urgency Instinct. In each chapter
Rosling shows us how following that instinct can lead us to think incorrectly
about the world, with many examples.
As the title of the book implies, Rosling
gives us facts that show us that we must put aside these instincts—and that we
will then see that the world is indeed getting better. In the chapter on The Negativity Instinct, for
one, Rosling presents sixteen graphs on Bad Things Decreasing, including
Children Dying, Plane Crash Deaths, and HIV Infections, as well as sixteen more
on Good Things Increasing, including Girls in School, Immunization, and
Democracy.
Rosling, working with his son,
Ola Rosling, and his daughter-in-law, Anna Rosling Rönnlund, has developed
unique ways of presenting data that make it easy for the reader to understand
the essence of the numbers and ideas involved.
The subtitle of Steven Pinker’s Enlightenment Now is The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and
Progress. The new book is a logical
continuation of his well-received 2011 book, The Better Angels of Our Nature.
Enlightenment Now is divided into three unequal parts. After a brief discussion on what Enlightenment
is, the heart of the book is seventeen chapters on Progress in which Pinker
shows, with great amounts of data displayed in dozens of charts and graphs
along with extensive commentary, the gains that have been made over the years. The titles of chapters five through sixteen
are, Life, Health, Sustenance, Wealth, Inequality, The Environment, Peace,
Safety, Terrorism, Democracy, Equal Rights, and Knowledge.
The book concludes with
substantial chapters, separately, on Reason, Science, and Humanism.
Do not worry that books with such
emphasis on facts will not give us ample basis for discussion. Just looking at the chapter titles of each
book should reassure you that we will have plenty to talk about.
The books are
complementary. Although they often
present similar data and come to similar conclusions, the commentary and
methods of display are so different that you will find both valuable.
Both books were published in
2018, ensuring that the data they present are up to date. Together the two books are about seven
hundred pages.
About The Better Angels of Our Nature, Bill Gates said, “One of the most
important books I’ve read—not just this year, but ever.” He has topped that assessment with what he
says about Enlightenment Now, calling
it, “My new favorite book of all time.”
And he likes Factfulness just
about as well, calling it, “One of the most important books I’ve ever read—an
indispensable guide to thinking clearly about the world.”