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Numbers Don't Lie: 71 Things You Need to Know About the World Hardcover – October 1, 2020
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'There is no author whose books I look forward to more than Vaclav Smil' Bill Gates
Is flying dangerous? How much do the world's cows weigh? And what makes people happy?
From earth's nations and inhabitants, through the fuels and foods that energize them, to the transportation and inventions of our modern world - and how all of this affects the planet itself - in Numbers Don't Lie, Professor Vaclav Smil takes us on a fact-finding adventure, using surprising statistics and illuminating graphs to challenge lazy thinking.
Packed with 'Well-I-never-knew-that' information and with fascinating and unusual examples throughout, we find out how many people it took to build the Great Pyramid, that vaccination yields the best return on investment, and why electric cars aren't as great as we think (yet). There's a wonderful mix of science, history and wit, all in bite-sized chapters on a broad range of topics.
Urgent and essential, Numbers Don't Lie inspires readers to interrogate what they take to be true in these significant times. Smil is on a mission to make facts matter, because after all, numbers may not lie, but which truth do they convey?
'Smil's title says it all: to understand the world, you need to follow the trendlines, not the headlines. This is a compelling, fascinating, and most important, realistic portrait of the world and where it's going' Steven Pinker
'The best book to read to better understand our world. Once in a while a book comes along that helps us see our planet more clearly. By showing us numbers about science, health, green technology and more, Smil's book does just that. It should be on every bookshelf!' Linda Yueh, author of The Great Economists
'He is rigorously numeric, using data to illuminate every topic he writes about. The word "polymath" was invented to describe people like him' Bill Gates
'Important' Mark Zuckerberg, on Energy
'One of the world's foremost thinkers on development history and a master of statistical analysis . . . The nerd's nerd' Guardian
'There is perhaps no other academic who paints pictures with numbers like Smil' Guardian
'In a world of specialized intellectuals, Smil is an ambitious and astonishing polymath who swings for fences . . . They're among the most data-heavy books you'll find, with a remarkable way of framing basic facts' Wired
'He's a slayer of bullshit' David Keith, Gordon McKay Professor of Applied Physics & Professor of Public Policy, Harvard University
Vaclav Smil is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Manitoba. He is the author of over forty books on topics including energy, environmental and population change, food production and nutrition, technical innovation, risk assessment and public policy. No other living scientist has had more books (on a wide variety of topics) reviewed in Nature. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, in 2010 he was named by Foreign Policy as one of the Top 100 Global Thinkers. This is his first book for a more general readership.
- Print length384 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherViking
- Publication dateOctober 1, 2020
- Dimensions5.67 x 1.38 x 8.74 inches
- ISBN-100241454417
- ISBN-13978-0241454411
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Product details
- Publisher : Viking (October 1, 2020)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 384 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0241454417
- ISBN-13 : 978-0241454411
- Item Weight : 1.1 pounds
- Dimensions : 5.67 x 1.38 x 8.74 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,787,695 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #3,019 in Probability & Statistics (Books)
- #4,152 in Environmental Science (Books)
- #6,217 in History & Philosophy of Science (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
![Vaclav Smil](https://cdn.statically.io/img/m.media-amazon.com/images/S/amzn-author-media-prod/915b4q6da3a06v7hji0s01ebgu._SY600_.jpg)
Vaclav Smil is currently a Distinguished Professor in the Faculty of Environment at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada. He completed his graduate studies at the Faculty of Natural Sciences of Carolinum University in Prague and at the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences of the Pennsylvania State University. His interdisciplinary research interests encompass a broad area of energy, environmental, food, population, economic, historical and public policy studies, and he had also applied these approaches to energy, food and environmental affairs of China.
He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (Science Academy) and the first non-American to receive the American Association for the Advancement of Science Award for Public Understanding of Science and Technology. He has been an invited speaker in more than 250 conferences and workshops in the USA, Canada, Europe, Asia and Africa, has lectured at many universities in North America, Europe and East Asia and has worked as a consultant for many US, EU and international institutions. His wife Eva is a physician and his son David is an organic synthetic chemist.
Official Website: www.vaclavsmil.com
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Customers find the book very informative and well-presented on a wide range of topics. They also describe it as easy to read and entertaining.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers find the book very informative and wonderful. They also appreciate the variety of areas and subjects discussed. Readers also mention that the book contains interesting facts that don't always align with what they hear from the media.
"...There were some great thought exercises in this book, and I loved how Smil was able to come up with creative analogies and comparisons to encourage..." Read more
""Numbers Don't Lie" is a very informative book on a wide range of topics written in an approachable and direct format...." Read more
"...Some are smartly written and elucidating, while some others are leaving a bit to be desired and potentially even looking at spurious correlations...." Read more
"This book is so well written and clearly illustrated with graphs, it is a revaluation on the challenges of our times...." Read more
Customers find the book easy to read and good for bedtime reading. They also appreciate the concise ideas and entertaining content.
"...The book is an easy read, and because the chapters are short and not bogged down in too many technical terms, it should appeal to a wide audience...." Read more
"...is a very informative book on a wide range of topics written in an approachable and direct format...." Read more
"...Some are smartly written and elucidating, while some others are leaving a bit to be desired and potentially even looking at spurious correlations...." Read more
"This book is so well written and clearly illustrated with graphs, it is a revaluation on the challenges of our times...." Read more
Reviews with images
![Fun ways of thinking about data, and putting things into correct historical context](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/common/transparent-pixel._V192234675_.gif)
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Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
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Even in just the Introduction, there were already some surprising facts and comparisons that got me thinking. For example I was surprised to learn that Nigeria, as Africa’s most populous country, only uses 35 gigajoules of energy per year; while France was using 35 gigajoules per year by 1880. There are comparisons like this throughout the book, with the goal of putting raw data into a more digestible context, or helping you see numerical comparisons from a different perspective.
The book is divided into seven sections sections: People, Countries, Machines/Designs/Devices, Fuels/Electricity, Transport, Food, and Environment. In each section, Smil has several chapters that are each only a few pages. The chapters are each isolated stories about data, and don't really flow into each other like one cohesive narrative. This makes it easy to read a few, then put the book down and come back to it later, as you don't need the information from previous chapters to understand the next chapter.
There were some great thought exercises in this book, and I loved how Smil was able to come up with creative analogies and comparisons to encourage thinking about information in different ways. The book is an easy read, and because the chapters are short and not bogged down in too many technical terms, it should appeal to a wide audience. Highly recommended!
![Customer image](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/common/transparent-pixel._V192234675_.gif)
Reviewed in the United States on June 13, 2021
Even in just the Introduction, there were already some surprising facts and comparisons that got me thinking. For example I was surprised to learn that Nigeria, as Africa’s most populous country, only uses 35 gigajoules of energy per year; while France was using 35 gigajoules per year by 1880. There are comparisons like this throughout the book, with the goal of putting raw data into a more digestible context, or helping you see numerical comparisons from a different perspective.
The book is divided into seven sections sections: People, Countries, Machines/Designs/Devices, Fuels/Electricity, Transport, Food, and Environment. In each section, Smil has several chapters that are each only a few pages. The chapters are each isolated stories about data, and don't really flow into each other like one cohesive narrative. This makes it easy to read a few, then put the book down and come back to it later, as you don't need the information from previous chapters to understand the next chapter.
There were some great thought exercises in this book, and I loved how Smil was able to come up with creative analogies and comparisons to encourage thinking about information in different ways. The book is an easy read, and because the chapters are short and not bogged down in too many technical terms, it should appeal to a wide audience. Highly recommended!
![Customer image](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91H7W7jO-CL._SY88.jpg)
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*Once a country's fertility rate slips below 1.5 reversals of population decline are unlikely. Gradual population decline in Japan and many European countries seem inevitable while 75% of all births between 2020-2070 are expected to be in Africa;
*For every $1.00 invested in vaccinations $16.00 is expected to be saved in healthcare costs;
*Greater consumption of animal protein (meat, eggs and especially milk) is associated with a taller population, which is associated with longer life expectancy, lower risk of cardiovascular disease, higher cognitive abilities higher lifetime earnings and higher social status. Countries with the tallest populations include the Netherlands, Belgium, Estonia, Latvia and Denmark;
*Gas turbines are the ideal/most affordable suppliers of peak power and the best backups for wind and solar generation. The cost of new capacity in 2023 is expected to be $60 per megawatt-hour(MWh) for coal, $48 for solar photovoltaic, $40 for onshore wind, $30 for conventional gas turbines, and $10 for combined cycle gas turbines;
*Wind turbines are difficult to make, transport and require a large quantity of fossil fuels to construct;
*As a global mean, more than 60% of the electricity for an electric vehicle comes from fossil carbon. The manufacture of an EV creates 3x more toxicity than the construction of an ICE;
*High speed rail is the most energy efficient form of transportation compared to planes or automobiles. China has the world's longest network of high-speed rail with 29,000 kilometers while countries like the US, Canada and Australia as laggards;
*Better window insulation (triple-glazed windows) is one of the most effective ways to conserve energy;
*Carbon emissions are starting to slow down in affluent countries although are increasing in India and Africa, and therefore it is unlikely there will be a global decrease in the near term. The only way to keep the average world temperature from rising no more than 1.5 degrees C is to bring emissions to zero by 2050 which is almost impossible. There is currently not a sufficiently low-cost alternative to carbon that can produce the four pillars of civilization (ammonia, steel. cement and plastics) that will be consumed in Africa and Asia for decades.
The opening section is quite uneven ranging from ancient Egypt and the pyramids to fertility rates to human heights. The later sections are much tighter and focussed. The opening section is on is on People ("inhabitants of Our World"), followed by "nations in the Age of Globalization", and then "Inventions that Made Our World". The fourth section is "Energizing Our Societies", "How We Get Around", "Energizing Ourselves", and ending with "Damaging and Protecting Our World".
Smil does okay, but not great, in the articles involving sociology, social sciences and/or social issues. He really excels when talking about actually engineering issues, say for example like the gas turbine and other topics in the last 4 sections.
Prof Smil has gotten very good at presenting different life aspects in a quantitative manner.
Highly recommended for the Engineering minds out there.
Top reviews from other countries
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Achei todos os assuntos abordados, em capítulos, de fácil leitura, quase divertidos, nunca cansativos ou chatos.
O livro me manteve interessado do começo ao fim.
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I strongly recommend it for all the curious people out there who want to understand better how our world works, and why it does that like this.
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In this book, there is a wealth of information about our world and how so many parts of it work. It is written very authoritatively by a highly knowledgeable author. This is a book that can be enjoyed by anyone and should be read, I believe, by everyone.