FACTFULNESS – Hans Rosling

-
ISBN: 978-1-473-63746-7
Verdict: 👍👍👍


Great book with some really useful insights into Global Human trends - very positive fact based outlook.

The following quote "Its not the numbers that are interesting. It’s what they tell us about the lives behind the numbers” p20 sums up my takeaway from the book.


I have never heard the saying “give a child a hammer and everything looks like a nail” before, however it made me smile  

Chapter 10 starts with a quote 
How “now or never” can block our roads and our minds..
which is reinforced on a few pages later with the brilliant quote “When we are afraid and under time pressure and thinking of worst-case scenarios, we tend to make really stupid decisions. Our ability to think analytically can be overwhelmed by an urge to make quick decisions and take immediate actions. (p226)

I will not spoil the read - but it’s one of those books you must read from beginning to end to derive the full benefit. 

The Illustration on the inside front cover is worth a scan – it’s the ‘World Health Chart’ a map for health and wealth.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Surrounded by Idiots – The Four Types of Human Behaviour (or, How to Understand those Who Cannot Be Understood) – Thomas Erikson

-
Image
ISBN:  978-1-78504-218-8 Verdict :👍👍 I enjoyed reading this book with its elaboration of the concepts that centre around the D ominance, I nducement, S ubmission and A nalytics ability (DISA) system for  human  communication which the Author breaks into 4 Color Types ( Red , Yellow , Blue & Green ) and says that " behaviour.Its like a  recipe  - we need to understand all the ingredients before we bake the cake " p13 The book discusses the various  behavioural  traits of individuals which the author centers around a 4 square color model, with each color representing a specific trait and some behavioral patterns associated with the colors - here are some snippets; The Quote "Only Dead Fish Go with the Flow" to describe Reds is classical where Reds are quick thinkers and one on long before everyone else. Yellows can be amusing, creative and elevate the mood regardless of who they are with         p64 " ...
Read more

WHAT IT TAKES - Stephen A. Schwarzman

-
Image
ISBN:  978-1-4711-8955-5 Verdict :   👍👍 You have to respect Scharwazman for what he has achieved in his long life, reinforcing to some extent the old saying that ‘ money makes money ’.This book is worth reading if you are working in finance and is quite a nice read. The book takes you down Stephen's memory lane and his life time of investing. It’s a short book and does lack clarity on the analysis, rules and logic applied on the business decisions. The book is about Stephen and the people he knows and boy does he ‘name drop’, throughout the book, to the extent it was getting boring reading another name popping up towards the end.  There are snippets on Blackstone’s Business Drivers/Methodology e.g.  Blackstone’s three tests  “It must have potential to be hugely rewarding for investors . It must add to Blackstone intellectual capital. And it must have a 10 in charge of it.”          p281  Be...
Read more

12 RULES FOR LIFE AN ANTIDOTE TO CHAOS - Jordan B. Peterson

-
Image
ISBN : 978-0-241-35164-2   Verdict :  👍   I’m probably one of the very few people who didn’t really enjoy this read – don’t get me wrong, it’s  well written with great reviews elsewhere, probably just my taste.   On this occasion maybe skip my review , skim before investing your time in it ? The books delves into Jordan’s 12 rules , some great rules which he expands on – so I have listed them on the flow on the right ; I did struggle to finish this and I did skip pages 185-192 - which he would probably say was similar to “ The leaf, when perceived, might blind the observer to the tree. The Tree can blind him to the forest. And some things that are most real (such as the ever-present dominance hierarchy) cannot be “seen” at all .” (p13) Beauty shames the ugly. Strength shames the weak. Death shames the living – and the Ideal shames us all p50 The one thing this book gave me and for that I am thankful to Mr Peterson – w...
Read more