Numbers Don't Lie: 71 Stories to Help Us Understand the Modern World

by Vaclav Smil

And then there are qualitative differences that cannot be captured by numbers, and such considerations are particularly important when comparing food preferences and diets.

Numbers may not lie, but which truth do they convey? In this book I have tried to show that we often have to look both deeper and wider. Even fairly reliable—indeed, even impeccably accurate—numbers need to be seen in wider contexts. An informed judging of absolute values requires some relative, comparative perspectives. Rigid ranking based on minuscule differences misleads rather than informs. Rounding and approximation is superior to unwarranted and unnecessary precision. Doubt, caution, and incessant questioning are in order—but so is the insistence on quantifying the complex realities of the modern world. If we are to understand many unruly realities, if we are to base our decisions on the best available information, then there is no substitute for this pursuit.

And a tolerance of numbers: not too many, but enough to make a convincing case. The last point was particularly important to me, because over the decades I had noticed how the discussion of important matters that demand some clear quantitative understanding was becoming increasingly qualitative and hence progressively unmoored from complex realities.