Numbers Don't Lie
71 Things You Need to Know About the World
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. Smil is on a mission to make facts matter, because after all, numbers may not lie, but which truth do they convey ?
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My first Vaclav Smil book, which I enjoyed in small doses with plenty of time in between.
I appreciate that the chapters were divided into topics, because it can be a labour in itself to read 71 short essays on disparate themes due to the mental switching involved, and the subdivisions lightened this mental load. As an engineer, numbers and figures do not really phase me, and in fact I found myself wishing for a bit more of an elaboration on the stats, though I understand that this was written for everyone to enjoy and not just numbers people.
I did end up skipping some sections, which were to do with my area of expertise: electrical and electronics engineering (the electric motor, moore's law, integrated circuits, comms, etc), but the rest were a great refresher for things I knew but never thought about, or as an intro to topics I am quite hazy on.
