How I Learned to Understand the World: A Memoir

by Hans Rosling, Dr Anna Paterson (Translator)

The moving, playful memoir of Hans Rosling, Swedish statistics mastermind, researcher extraordinaire and author of the global bestseller, Factfulness, with Ola Rosling and Anna Rosling Rönnlund.

This is a book that contains very few numbers. Instead, it is about meeting people who have opened my eyes.

It was facts that helped him explain how the world works. But it was curiosity and commitment that made the late Hans Rosling, author of the bestselling book Factfulness with Ola Rosling and Anna Rosling Rönnlund, the most popular researcher of our time.

How I Learned to Understand the World is Hans Rosling’s own story of how he became a revolutionary thinker, and takes us from the swelter of an emergency clinic in Mozambique, to the World Economic Forum at Davos.

In collaboration with Swedish journalist Fanny Härgestam, Hans Rosling wrote his memoir with the same joy of storytelling that made a whole world listen when he spoke.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Memoir, Science, Audiobook, Autobiography, Biography Memoir

250 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 1, 2017

About the author

Hans Rosling (1948 – 2017) was a Swedish physician, academic, statistician, and public speaker.

He was the Professor of International Health at Karolinska Institute and was the co-founder and chairman of the Gapminder Foundation, which developed the Trendalyzer software. He held presentations around the world, including several TED Talks in which he promoted the use of data to explore development issues.

Reviews

[Dr. Appu Sasidharan (Dasfill) · Rating 5 out of 5]

How can a young Swedish Doctor change the lives of people in Mozambique? What is the importance of Medical Research in the prevention and treatment of diseases? These are the two crucial questions that the author tries to answer through this memoir.

Hans Rosling wrote this memoir together with Swedish journalist Fanny Härgestam. This is one of the few memoirs where Medicine can be seen at its best version. Various ethical dilemmas that a health care worker faces and how they should be tackled are discussed in depth.

"I should be trying to prevent more than 3,000 child deaths each year, of which only fifty-two were happening in the hospital. It would have been seriously unethical to spend more resources on the hospital before the majority of the population could access some basic form of healthcare."

The part where the village elder showed gratitude towards the author even after the author could not save a woman's life from their village was very touching. The ignorance of the world leaders in the World Economic Forum at Davos would be an eye-opener for most of us.

The amount of wisdom the author shares with us is truly remarkable. The way the author explains that the doctoral thesis is simply a driving license that allowed the graduate to gain more experience in research might sound harsh but is true to the core. There are many differences in Medical Research done under dictatorship rule and the standard Medical Research. The author perfectly describes this sensitive topic through his experiences in Cuba. The extra caution needed for not quarreling with the authorities and avoiding the chance of exploitation made his tenure in Cuba precarious.

The following sentence is more than enough for us to understand the author's effort in writing this book.

"He tended to look for conclusions and argued like he born pedagogue he was, asking question like:‘What will the reader learn by reading this chapter?'"

What I learned from this book
1) ‘A Little Knowledge Is A Dangerous Thing’ (especially if you are a teacher)
We can see Hans Rosling's teacher talking about Hinduism and India to his students. This shows the importance of teachers to know clearly about what they are talking to their students. A teacher's ignorance about a topic he/she is discussing will cause the spread of wrong information exponentially to the future generation.

"My teacher once memorably insisted that Hinduism made people in India fatalistic, so persuading them to convert to Christianity was very important for their country's progress and development. No one taught me anything about India's ancient civilizations. Long before the Swedes had got round to carving a handful of signs into rune stones, they were writing in their own alphabets."

2) How Dr. Hans Rosling sorted out his priorities?
This is a fundamental lesson we will learn from this book, which will help us work in a country where resources are scarce.

"A mantra had stuck in my mind: 'At first, change only what must be changed. Let everything else wait.' When you work in a place of extreme poverty, don't try to do things perfectly. All you will accomplish is wasting time and resources that could be put to better use.”

3) How Liberia successfully fought Ebola?
This is a vital lesson we can learn from this book. The author perfectly delineates all the measures taken by Liberia to fight against ebola. Although there was a lack of resources and infrastructure, Liberians were able to prevent Ebola from becoming a global catastrophe. The careful implementation of basic steps and wilful participation of the whole community with proper acknowledgment of the severity of the situation is inevitable for successfully tackling a pandemic in the initial stage itself.

"The success in the fight against Ebola had to a large extent been due to the Liberian public having grasped what was needed, like local shops setting up hand-washing areas and parents keeping children out of school."

My favourite three lines from this book

“My fact -finding drive is the key to my entire research career as well as the teaching to which I have dedicated so much of mylife.”

"You can find the right direction and reach your goal only if you know where you are now and how things are around you."

"I gained a brutal insight: the Indian fourth-year medical students knew more than I did. I admit I arrived in India convinced that I, a high-flying Swedish Medical student, would outclass the locals. But, once there, it became instantly evident that I was wrong. The world view that I had grown up to accept unthinkingly- that West was best and the rest would never catch up- had for the first time been challenged and changed."

Rating
5/5 If you are a person who is working in health care or anyone who wants to develop critical thinking habits this is a must-read book.

[Tanja Berg · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful memoir of a great man. Great in the sense of being humble, curious and able to accept being wrong. It starts off with his first memory at four years of age, when he nearly drowned in an open ditch with sewer. This was Sweden in the 1950's, before they had moved up to the top level of the four stages of economic wealth.

Hans explores his theories as they develop, but this is a book with few numbers and less statistics. It is a great companion to his "Factfulness", where he explores why our general world view is so out of date we score worse than chimpanzees - that is, worse than random - on a set of 12 questions.

Hans grew up in a working class family, but he studied to be a medical doctor and later went on to become a professor. He and his wife lived several years in Mozambique. A desperately poor country back then. Still is, but some parts have come out of the worst. There were many adventures during those years.

Coming back to Sweden, he describes how arguments with fact-resistant students got him on the path of developing interactive and animated statistics, together with his son and daughter in law, in order to better show how the world has moved on. There is no longer a population explosion, this has slowed. There will be no more children in 2100 than there are now. In all countries, the number of children fall drastically as their chances of survival increase and the countries move from level 1 poverty and up. So a general increase in health care and fewer children dying is the recipe for stemming population growth. That is one of the facts Hans' students did not want to accept.

I could go on. It's an absolutely fascinating tale that deserves to be read. Hans was not perfect. I am still saddened that he is no longer with us, he would have had so much more to contribute. I am grateful that we got these two books at the end - this memoir, and the wonderful "Factfulness". They will help keep his important legacy alive.

[Niklas Laninge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nu fattar jag varför så många läser självbiografier. Grät flera ggr, de flesta anekdoter är 5 plus och Rosling uppvisar mer självdistans än jag sett från honom när han levde. Rekommenderas för slapp semesterläsning men som ändå leder till lite lärande.

[Joselito Honestly and Brilliantly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have a friend, the intellectual type and an outstanding sports journalist, who had confessed to me that he is a closet atheist. I wasn’t really surprised that he’s an atheist because, for me, to become one, all you need is to commit the mistake of thinking. Even less surprising to me was the fact that he had chosen not to come out. I imagine him going to church with his children, head bowed solemnly during mass, holy as an Indian cow, and enjoying the coming festivities of food and gifts. It would all be like watching a fantasy film, enjoying what he knows isn’t true simply by suspending his disbelief.

Indeed, atheism is fast becoming the substitute for homosexuality. While the latter is rapidly gaining universal acceptance, the former is still burdened with the opprobrium attached to what is considered unnatural or abnormal. In the midst of believers (even those who could not agree among themselves what to believe in) an atheist in the open will unerringly exude a whiff of sulphur emanating from the cauldrons of hell. For it is a prevalent notion among believers that godlessness necessarily equates with immorality, lawlessness or libertinism. For them, morality is imposed from the outside and that it is God who defines what is good and what is evil.


The late Christopher Hitchens, whenever he is confronted this line of thought, whether in a speaking engagement or in a public debate, would face the audience and invite them to respond to two challenges. First, he’ll urge the audience: “Think of any ethical/moral act which ONLY a believer in god can do and which a non-believer cannot or does not do.” Expectedly, no one could. There are believers who are decent, well-behaved people but there are a lot of non-believers who are also such. Believers can love their children and can be faithful to their spouses, and there are non-believers who are also like that. Religious people can do charitable acts, build hospitals and orphanages, yet you can also see these in secular countries or communities. After a pause, Christopher Hitchens would then hurl his second challenge: “Think of a truly evil act which ONLY a believer in god can do and which a non-believer cannot and does not do.” And of course there’ll be plenty of these. Those most recent would immediately come to mind: the teacher who was beheaded because he had used Mohammad’s cartoons in his class, the 9-11, suicide bombings, bombs going off after the shout Allahu Akbar! followed by the perpetrator’s own death by his own hands. And think not that this is confined to just one religion. You have plenty of gruesome, sadistic murders, massacres and genocide ordered by “God” in the Old Testament. There were also the Salem Witch Trials, the Inquisitions, the countless pogroms and holocausts, the Crusades.

This book is a memoir of a doctor of medicine, Hans Rosling. Immediately upon graduating medical school, instead of working in some fancy hospital and earning good money, he came to Mozambique which was then just recovering from a destructive revolution. For a time he was the only doctor in a big community which was in want of almost everything. But with the limited means available he cured the sick and tried his best to save those in seemingly helpless situations. He brought his wife and children with him there. During the Ebola outbreak in Africa he was also in the thick of things, worried about his own and his family’s safety, yet he soldiered on. This book was co-written with Fanny Hargestam because at that time Hans Rosling was already dying of cancer. He was a good man.


And he was an atheist.

[Elena Laškoska · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was very happy to find out that Hans has a new book.
I am admiring his approach and the disease's research he did. Desperately look for more books such as Factfullness. Too bad he is not alive during these pandemic times.

[Geoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

I knew of Hans Rosling through his later in life TED talks and statistics documentaries for the BBC and others and for the great data viz work he helped on with the Gapminder Foundation. I did not actually know he was an eminent public health researcher and medical doctor. This book overs his journey from idealistic medical doctor to crusading public health researcher focused on showing how economic development has been a powerful force related to saving and improving lives. It was interesting and heartbreaking to see how his work early in his career, and the juxtapositions between what he had available in Sweden and what little he had in his practice in Mozambique, influenced his public health worldview. On the whole a very interesting memoir.

**Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Johan Hereora Hummerhielm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hans Rosling var en läkare (say whaaaat).
Hans Rosling var med (he was it) och upptäckte Konzo (förlamningssjukdomen).
Hans Rosling pratade oavbrutet.
Hans Rosling tappade bort saker konstant.
Hans Rosling (och hans son och dotter) grundade Gapminder.

Hur kan denna person inte vara en förebild?

Lättläst och svinbra bok. Ska hoppa på hans Factfullness direkt.

10 borttappade vantar av 10.

[Philipp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hans Rosling is mostly known for his optimistic TED talk: things are overall getting better, here are the numbers to prove it. Turns out his life's story was closely intertwined with the basic message of his life: from a dirt-poor background lifted into a career medicine by a strong social system.

From there he saw the rise of African standards of living during a 2-year stint as a doctor in the newly independent Mozambique after the Year of Africa. Can you imagine having to pull apart dead fetuses during a catastrophic birth so you can pull the body parts out so the mother has a chance at survival? I cannot.

From there back to Sweden to teach public health at universities, only to realise that the 'rich West' vs the 'poor rest' was a view stuck in the 60s, but widely shared by his students (one anecdote: one of his nursing students was upset that Thailand did not accept her application as a nurse; it turned out Thailand had enough Thai nurses by then, but the student did not understand that Thailand wasn't some backwater anymore).

In response to Swedish and other Western society not understanding how well the rest of the world had developed, Rosling started Gapminder: he came up with the famous circles, his daughter programmed the animations. At the heart of it all was a neverending curiosity about people; he credits most of his success to a willingness to interview 'correctly', willing to humanely listen, discarding method when it was in the way.

It's somewhat frustrating to read this as a millennial, interestingly, only Boomers have recommended Rosling to me. That's not because of Rosling himself who reads like a great person: it's just that all developments Rosling has relied on, have been systematically dismantled since then. Most Western countries, like my native Germany, have piece-by-piece dismantled their strong social systems that made Rosling possible. Rosling's entire world-view was that everything is getting better, year by year, because everything did get better during his life, year by year. Have things gotten better for you, year by year, in the past 20 years?

Child mortality, one of Rosling's main measurements, continues to fall, and is now roughly half of what it was in the 2000s.
On the other hand: wages haven't grown while housing affordability has fallen drastically, wealth inequality has gotten far worse and continues to worsen, biodiversity losses have accelerated, plastic pollution is at record levels, we clearly can't stop global warming, trust in democratic institutions has fallen and far-right parties are in power or close to power in most Western countries.

Perhaps I'll write a similar autobiography in 2070 and it will be the inverse of Rosling's life. (wait, that exists already! it's called Random Acts of Senseless Violence)

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a moving story about how Hans Rosling went from Swedish medical student to international teacher of truth "Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World – and Why Things Are Better Than You Think. The book is also great for explaining the difference between medicine and public health, which will perhaps be of more interest to people after COVID. Many important issues are brought up: poverty, global health, ethics, meaning in life, human dignity, etc. Rosling's great struggle was how to get people to understand basic realities about what's been happening in the world at a big picture level. Gapminder and Factfulness are his successes and are good for people who like data, but there are probably more people who like stories, and so I hope the audience extends beyond Gapminder fans.

[abthebooknerd · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐️3.75 / 5 ⭐️

An interesting, sweet memoir about an interesting, sweet individual.

I'll be honest: I had no idea who this man was prior to reading. But he sure was interesting. In all honesty, this wasn't my cup of tea, but I could see where others who were fans of his would find this memoir very compelling. Hans' voice was clear, kind, and to the point.

Big thank you to Macmillan Audio for sending me an ARC copy of this audiobook!

[Jessica Haider · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hans Rosling was a Swedish doctor who has become world renowned through TED Talks and his book Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World – and Why Things Are Better Than You Think among other things. In this memoir, he tells of his childhood growing up in Sweden and how each generation of his family became more educated and better off financially. He then tells of his marriage and parenthood and their decision to move to Mozambique to work in an area that was deficient in medical care. Through this work, he develops a passion for advocating for healthcare for less well-off nations. This book is less about the data than it is about what people and events in his life influenced him and how he brought awareness of healthcare parity to the world stage.

I listened to this on audiobook and the narrator did an excellent job expressing the intended mood. It was a nice book to listen to today, as we wrap up 2020, about a man who spent time trying to make the world better for those who don't have the means.

thank you to the publisher for the audiobook in exchange for an honest review!

[Corina Leth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this book as a present. I appreciate that my colleagues know me enough to choose something that would interest me. I learned some things, not so much about the world as the life of this remarkable man, who did so much. However it is the TED-talks I will remember him from. I like his quote in the end of the book "Det är aldrig för sent för att ge upp, så det kan vi lika gärna göra en annan gång" (it is never too late to give up, so we might as well do that another time).

[Dimitri Dumont dos Santos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read it slower than I did, felt like it ended too quickly..

Inspiring lessons taken from a man who lived a remarkable life.

[Sara Mesquita · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish I had read this book before Factfulness. This would make the second book taste even better.

Easy to read, this book will touch people differently, depending on their humanitarian sense and the stage of life they are in. As a Portuguese, it was interesting to understand a little of a Swede's view of the Mozambican struggle for independence. It also was curious to learn about what life was like in a former colony right after the Carnation Revolution (April 25, 1974).

This memoir gave me a deeper insight into the life of Hans Rosling, a person I already admired. We go through his whole life, taking his personal life as a stage to expose the weaknesses of the whole world.

[Adele · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great complement to Rosling's book “Factfulness” in form of personal stories and experiences. Very interesting to hear the life he lived and especially of his devotion to his work.

[Francisco Valente · Rating 4 out of 5]

Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World – and Why Things Are Better Than You Think, o livro mais conhecido de Hans Rosling, é provavelmente o livro mais importante e um dos mais interessantes que já li. Após acabar o Factfulness, lembro-me de ir imediatamente procurar algumas das apresentações e documentários de Hans Rosling disponíveis online, e ganhar ainda uma maior admiração pela sua capacidade comunicativa.

Como o próprio Hans afirma, “enquanto Factfulness é sobre as razões pelas quais as pessoas consideram o desenvolvimento à escala global tão difícil de entender, este livro é sobre mim e como cheguei a esse conhecimento”. É por isso pouco baseado em números, mas muito em histórias da sua vida, ao longo do seu percurso: adolescente e estudante de medicina, médico em Moçambique pós-independência, investigador de epidemias em África e Cuba, e orador para empresas e organizações. Considero que só entendemos verdadeiramente uma obra quando conhecemos o seu autor, e este livro de memórias é um excelente complemento a Factfulness.

Infelizmente, a par de Factfulness, este livro marca a fase final de Hans, que os estava a desenvolver quando, em 2017, faleceu de cancro. Hans ainda tinha muito para contribuir, e estas obras são, por certo, a tentativa de deixar todo o conhecimento que adquiriu ao longo da sua vida.

Nota adicional: Acho que o livro é ainda mais interessante para os portugueses. Hans Rosling privou com um revolucionário moçambicano e viveu em Moçambique no período pós-colonial. Algumas das passagens refletem o ponto de vista moçambicano sobre esse período, o que raramente é discutido em Portugal.

[Jazmine Manere · Rating 5 out of 5]

brilliant. taught me so much about the complexities of public health, social development, and research in a human light. the data presented in the book was also informative and relevant. pls read it if you can!!! i want to read his other book now 🥹

[Raluca Oana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Această carte m-a făcut să-mi dau seama cât de ignoranți suntem, majoritatea cu tot ceea ce se întâmplă în lume. Cât de nepăsători suntem în ceea ce privește modul de viață a altor țări.

În această carte este prezentată viața lui Hans și ideea obsesivă de a știi ce se întâmplă în lume, din punct de vedere al sănătății, dar nu numai.

Ne sunt prezentate evenimente din viața acestuia, care-l propulsează într-o zonă a Africii și anume Mozambic, ca medic împreună cu familia.

Mozambic, un loc unde sărăcia era extremă. Unde mortalitatea infantilă era foarte crescută. Unde serviciile de sănătate erau foarte precare. Unde modul de viață era unul foarte sărac.

Stau și mă gândesc că încă există astfel de locuri pe această lume și e păcat.

Mi-a plăcut foarte mult această carte.

Dacă ești pasionat/ă de un astfel de subiect, îți recomand această carte.

5/5 ⭐️

[Ana Claudia Santos-Cortez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Big fan of Hans Rosling here. “Factfulness” was one of the greatest books I read and decided to share it with my family members living in a small village isolated from further knowledge opportunities and guided by misinformation to help them see that many times what we see in the media/hear from others does not correspond to the full truth.
With that in mind, I decided to purchase this title from the same author in an attempt to understand how this doctor developed his amazing holistic thinking capability over time and his love for research.
Turns out the reason why I feel so connected with this individual is that we are both driven by an endless curiosity and always eager to understand the full picture rather than just part of the information presented.
This book is filled with personal stories about Dr Rosling’s adventures as a physician, working in multiple countries which reality had nothing to do with the one he grew up in at Sweden, obligating his horizons to expand and think outside of his comfort zone daily.

A great piece. What a great way to kick off 2023’s readings.

[Izabelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ännu en riktigt bra bok av Hans Rosling. Vilken fascinerande människa!

I Hur jag lärde mig förstå världen är det fokus på Roslings liv, hans uppväxt, familjeliv och hans arbete som läkare och forskare. Man lär sig så otroligt mycket av Roslings berättelser, om världen och om människan.

Vissa av berättelserna kommer kännas igen av den som läst Factfulness och det är min enda kritik av boken. Eftersom jag läste Factfulness så nära inpå den här boken blev det rätt mycket upprepningar.

[Sinni · Rating 5 out of 5]

must read!!

[Seraj Mahdi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love Hans Rosling. Love this book as I loved his previous one. It’s been a while since I read a book in Swedish, and this one was nicely written.

[Hana Bilqisthi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I watched The Magic Washing Machine YouTube video by Hans Rosling and really how his presentation and then down to rabbit hole watching other his videos. When I find out he wrote this book, I read it right away.
His experience is really interesting 😍

[Ady ZYN · Rating 5 out of 5]

PREAMBUL: În primă fază, lumea ne apare străină mai ales când ne conștientizăm granița dintre sine și ea. Nu ne rămâne decât să ne organizăm experiențele exterioare încât să trăim în ordine cu ea. Pentru asta trebuie să ne detașăm, să ne deconectăm cât mai mult partea afectivă, care ne decide rapid reacțiile și care, odată ce ne este interioară nouă, ne dezvăluie repede, fără prea multă măsură, o lume aprig de ostilă care e gata să ne înghită, îndemându-ne să ne mobilizăm forțele și reacționăm de multe ori disproporționat. Însă, detașați putem privi lumea printr-o perspectivă mai rece, percepând-o într-un tumult de cauze și efecte, multe dintre ele fiindu-ne distante. Atunci vedem că partea afectivă desenează multe umbre, multe iluzii și energia pe care ne-o cere ca să ne luptăm cu ele ne secătuiește de viață. Hans Rosling a fost omul care luptat cu aceste stereotipuri ale afectelor ca să ne arate că lumea nu este așa de ostilă precum arta afectelor ne-o crează. Să privești faptele reci în față este ceva facil, mai greu e să le înrurești în evenimente care respectă niște reguli proprii lor și nu unor scenarii inventate de tumultul unei minți aflate sub impulsul emoțiilor. Cartea lui, „Factfullnes. Zece motive pentru care interpretăm greșit lumea și de ce lucrurile stau mai bine decât crezi” mi-a schimbat optica prin care vedeam lumea, m-a convins că deși lumea ne transpare nouă în multe feluri și putem oferi o mulțime de interpretări pe baza lor, rațiunea ne poate ghida să interpretăm lumea ca întreg aflată pe o cale de reală îmbunătățire a condițiilor de viață. În ciuda evenimentelor de care ne lovim zilnic și ne tulbură viețile, privită la scară istorică, lumea își trăiește cele mai bune vremuri.

Pe 7 februarie 2017 înceta din viață Hans Rosling în urma unui cancer de pancreas. A călătorit mult alături de soția lui Agneta. Prin anii 70 a ajuns prin Asia și a văzut condițiile de viață de acolo, apoi la începutul anilor 80 a activat tot alături de ea într-un spital din Nacala, un orășel din Mozambic. Acolo s-a întâlnit cu diferitele lipsuri și suferința produsă de sărăcie în special precaritatea stării de sănătate care se reflecta în numărul mare al deceselor infantile.

Povestea începe cu tabloul familiei Rosling, cu dificultățile vieții într-o Suedie săracă de la sfârșitul secolului al XIX-lea, unde bunica autorului își trăiește viața amară într-o societate cu tradiții aspre, care deja au făcut o parte din strămoșii familiei să emigreze spre America încă de la mijlocul secolului. Dar, gradual, secolul XX aduce îmbunătățiri care sporesc condițiile de viață ale muncitorilor și, deci, ale părinților lui Hans. O lume care se civilizează devine o lume din ce în ce mai educată. Bunica Agnes admiră în 1927 școala fiicei ei amintindu-și de casa de lemn de la sfârșitul secolului XIX, care-i fusese ei școală: „Probabil că ei cred că oameni ca noi valorează ceva din moment ce ți-au construit o așa școală de frumoasă.” Implicara statului conduce la dezvoltarea progresivă a Suediei și pas cu pas, țara devine azi una dintre cele mai dezvoltate din lume. Autorul găsește de atunci un model de progresie a civilizației umane pe care-l ating mai repede sau mai încet toate țările.

Când o boală neurologică misterioasă afectează pe cei săraci din zona Mozambicului, Hans se decide să studieze problema. Ajunge în cele din urmă în altă țară africană, Congo, și determină adevărata cauză a bolii. Înregistrează progresele pe care țările din lumea a treia le fac și își dedică viața înlăturării prejudecăților pe care oamenii le au când vizualizează lumea și problemele ei. Concluzia cercetărilor lui este că lumea se află într-un progres continuu și doar prejudecățile noastre ne împiedică să apreciem asta. Chiar și liderii mondiali cad pradă acestor clișee și dovedesc că au cunoștințe minime despre realitatea socială. Organizația lui Gapminder oferă o colecție de cifre ce arată progresele înregistrate de omenire în ultimii zeci de ani și care ne contrazic prejudecățile încetățenite în modul nostru de a vedea lumea. Hans a fost în contact cu decalajul dintre condițiile de viață din trecut și cele mai recente. Conștiința lui familială, înregistrarea evoluției familiei sale prezentată la începutul biografiei reprezintă evoluția țării natale; de la sărăcie la bunăstare există o sumedenie de pași mici, o aplicare a unei serii de politici sociale concrete. El găsește că și țările din lumea a treia pășesc pe aceeași cărare, același model de îmbunătățire a condițiilor de sănătate și o sporire a condițiilor de viață odată cu trecerea anilor. Când revine după 30 de ani în același spital din Nacala unde a lucrat în tinerețe, găsește un sistem medical destul de bine pus la punct, mult mai organizat și locuitori care de acum au speranța de viață mai mare și o rată mai scăzută a mortalității infantile.

Biografia prezintă experiența care-l determină să scrie cartea Factfulness. Din Mozambic, în Congo, iar din Congo în Cuba lui Fidel Castro. De la catedră încearcă să inducă studenților la medicină o optică rațională bazată pe cifre asupra realității mai ales când aceste cifre descriu fapte din lumea a treia. Pentru că acolo sistemul de valori este diferit de cel occidental și lucrurile trebuie văzute din altă perspectivă. Ultima etapă a vieții sale a constat în prezentarea faptelor care descriu lumea exact așa cum este ea prin prisma cifrelor și a unor interpretări nuanțate. A participat în câteva rânduri și la întrunirile de la Davos unde a arătat că oamenii cei mai puternici ai lumii, și care ar trebui să fie cei mai informați, au o cunoaștere superficială a ei. Cartea Factfullness vine să corecteze această perspectivă deformată. De asemenea, situl organizației Gapminder, gapminder.org este o colecție valoroasă de date despre lume. E timpul să adoptom o postură mai rațională și să vedem lumea dintr-o perspectivă mai distantă de emoții și stereotipuri.

[Adrika_G · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hans Rosling je veľmi inšpiratívna osobnosť. Predtým som ho vôbec nepoznala - vedela som iba to, že napísal známu knihu Moc faktov (ktorú som samozrejme ešte nečítala).

Po dopočúvaní audioknihy Ako som sa naučil rozumieť svetu, som veľmi vďačná, že som sa k jeho autobiografii vôbec dostala. Je neuveriteľné, koľko toho dokáže poňať ľudský život. Jeho pohľad na svet a myšlienky mi samej trochu otvorili oči a myslím, že kúsok z neho si v sebe ponesiem ešte dlho. :)

[Sourbh Bhadane · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the midst of the terminal stage of his cancer, Hans Rosling wrote this memoir because he realized, while co-writing Factfulness, that he had material for two books. To me, just this fact alone is hugely inspiring.

Rosling is famous for his 'fact-based worldview' on global development and public health, most of which is articulated in Factfulness. This book is about the experiences that led to this worldview. The way Rosling had to navigate ethical dilemmas as a doctor in a small city in Mozambique was eye-opening for me. His later research career and his work fighting Ebola in Liberia were a masterclass in tenacity and drilling down to the questions that really mattered. The one trait that impressed me the most in Rosling was his willingness to say 'I was wrong'.

Public health has perhaps never taken as much center stage as it has in the past year. This book is a nice peek into the lessons that a celebrated public health specialist learnt over the course of his career. At the end of the book I learnt that Rosling passed away before its completion. Maybe that's why the book feels like looking at a nearly complete jigsaw puzzle.

[Samuel Svenlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Boken om Hans och hans frus liv gav insikter i, precis som titel säger, hur han lärde sig se världen och hans spännande liv. Jag läste Factfulness för några år sedan och tyckte den här behövdes läsas också i nåt skede.

[Jemysieni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hans Roslingin muistelmat. Suosittelen lukemaan alle teoksen Faktojen maailma. Tässä pääsee sitten syvemmin kiinni Roslingin elämään ja maailmankuvaan. Mieleen jäi tarinat vuosikymmenten takaisesta Afrikasta ja ne valtavat harppaukset, jotka ihmiskunta on vuosikymmenten saatossa ottanut.

[Camilla Floweret · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mycket bra. Läsvärd. Underfundig. Den som läst ellet lyssnat på något av Rosling förut lär inte bli besviken.

[Karenina (Nina Ruthström) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fängslande! Otroliga historier.
Jag blir liksom sporrad att bli en bättre människa när jag läser om Rosling. Lärorikt om att försöka hjälpa och ändå sätta gränser - balansen mellan självuppoffring och att ta ansvar för att själv må bra.
Mycket välskrivet av Fanny Härgestam