Emily S, Guest Blogger

Emily in Year 11 wrote this fantastic piece for us.  We are great fans of Hans Rosling. TED describes him as "a world health expert" and "data visionary" but he was so very, very much more than that.  We would recommend any of his amazing  TED Talks.  Be careful though, you could easily lose a day or two.  

Thank you Emily for such a beautiful piece of writing.  

Hans Rosling, the main author of this book, devoted the final years of his life to writing Factfulness, before passing away in 2017. His famous TED Talks influenced thousands of people from all paths of life. In his talks, he made many geniuses seem clueless.

As humans, we have many instincts in common. Some examples from the book are: the straight line instinct, the fear instinct, the size instinct, the destiny instinct, and the blame instinct. These instincts explain why many of us are drawn to dramatic news such as natural disasters and human conflicts.

We are constantly fed negative content through mass media and this can spiral us into pessimistic thoughts, causing us to develop a cynical mindset. Yes, there are many horrific things happening all the time across the world, and yes they often need to be addressed (such as discrimination), but there is also a great deal of positive progress which is persistently ignored. Less people would watch the news if it was talking about small-scale, slow, optimistic change.

At the beginning of the book is a short quiz. There are 13 questions. Barely anybody gets more than 8 correct, even people from top companies, economists, environmentalists and scientists. This not only highlights our human instincts, but also how limited our global knowledge is. The questions are simple facts that we all ought to know... yet most people have no idea. Reading this book is a great way to learn about the world and to develop understanding of your own instincts and how to control them.

Emily S Year 11