Every now and then we meet someone who shifts our thinking on an individual level whilst simultaneously having a global impact and delivers both with incredible wit. Hans Rosling is one of those people for me.  His anecdotal style and powerful research evidence will challenge your world view of fact versus fiction from his own work but also from working with WWF, Amnesty International and several world health organisations.

I met Hans Rosling, Professor of International Health, at an Academic Conference in Stockholm a few years ago when he was presenting his research.  I was mesmerized.   His enlightening work about how wrong we are about several significant concepts including world poverty and female education was laced with fun interactions as he compared our knowledge to that of chimps.

As an educator I felt compelled to include his elucidating arguments in all my lectures to students.  Gapminder  was set up to help people understand the facts about the world we live in.  I encourage you to watch the video where Hans and his family explain why they wrote the book.  Factfulness highlights the ten instincts we have that misinform our judgements about how much the world has improved – you will recognise your biases I’m sure.  I find it refreshing not to have the constant ‘doom and gloom’ media effect we have all become accustomed to as we burst positively into 2019.

He has changed so many minds.  Having bought the book for my husband and kids who then recommended it to their friends and colleagues, I think it will definitely challenge your perceptions and worldview – what’s not to love about that?!

In this era of ‘fake news’ I hope you enjoy this factual contribution to reducing global ignorance as much as I did.

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