a book

Numbers Don't Lie

Name: Numbers Don't Lie
Rating: 5 (4 reviews)
Author: Vaclav Smil
ISBN: 9788418056352

Vaclav Smil · 2020 · 336 pages

Un maestro de los datos y las estadísticas ofrece una visión del mundo tan sorprendente como iluminadora. ¿Es peligroso volar? ¿Qué es peor para el medioambiente, un coche o un móvil? ¿Cuánto pesan todas las vacas del mundo juntos y por qué ese dato importa? ¿Se puede medir la felicidad? La misión de Vaclav Smil es convencernos de que los hechos importan. Científico medioambiental, analista de políticas públicas y autor tremendamente prolífico, es el referente de Bill Gates cuando se trata de entender el mundo. En Los números no mienten, nos embarcamos con Smil en una fascinante expedición en busca de datos que desafían nuestras preconcepciones, al tiempo que nos invita a ver con nuevos ojos el impacto de las transfor maciones del mundo moderno sobre la sociedad y el medioambiente. Basado en divertidos ejemplos, estadísticas y gráficas asombrosas, este libro es la combinación perfecta de ingenio, historia y ciencia que cambiará la manera en que vemos el mundo. Es posible que los números no mientan, pero ¿qué verdad transmiten? La crítica ha dicho... «El título de Smil lo dice todo: para entender el mundo hay que examinar las líneas de tendencia, no los titulares. Un retrato fascinante, convincente y sobre todo realista del mundo actual y de hacía dónde nos dirigimos.» Steven Pinker «La palabra "erudito" se inventó para describir a gente como él.» Bill Gates «Uno de los pensadores más importantes del mundo sobre la historia del desarrollo y un maestro del análisis estadístico.» The Guardian

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recommended by 4 people

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Andrej Karpathy
“A quick read whirlwind tour of a number of topics, at a pace of only about 2-3 pages per topic. Some fun notes and examples: - 75% of all births between 2020 - 2070 will be in Africa - vaccinations have an extraordinarily high benefit-cost ratio, an approx. ~44X return on investment - estimated heritability of linespace is only ~15-30% (?) - humans are sweating champions in the animal kingdom, very useful for thermoregulation and endurance even in hot weather - synthesis of ammonia not only averted the Malthusian catastrophe, but also just in time allowed a blockaded Germany to continue manufacturing explosives and prolonged WWI by years. - renewables only provided ~4.5% of electricity in 2017, and electricity is only 27% of global energy consumption ;s - many large uses of fossil fuels have no clear non-carbon alternatives, including long-distance transport (air, water), production of primary iron, cement, synthesis of ammonia, plastics, space heating - no other domesticated land animal can covert feed to meat as efficiently as broilers (chickens raised for meat production), at a feed-to-meat conversion efficiency of ~15% (pork 10%, beef 4%). The lives of these chicken are straight up unethical - they live 7 weeks (normal lifespan is ~8 years), have malformed bodies, spend life in dark confinement. But cost $2.94 / pound of boneless breast, great. - in North America / Europe about 60% of total crop production is for animal feed, not human feed - four pillars of modern civilization, allegedly: ammonia, steel, cement, plastics This is a fun / quick read, though mostly a large collection of mostly disconnected cliff-notes style quick fact summaries that are dense in numbers and comparisons and can become a bit exhausting. Perhaps due to speed, some topics get a somewhat questionable, almost misleading treatment, for example I found the EV and GDP sections mildly annoying.”
Bill Gates
“My favorite author’s new book might be his best one yet. Each chapter covers one of 71 facts about the world that help you understand how history ties together. I unabashedly recommend it to anyone who loves learning.”↗
Mark Zuckerberg
Terrance McArthur