Notes on Numbers Don’t Lie: 71 Things You Need to Know About the World by Vaclav Smil
We’re generating more data than ever. But are we using them productively? As Vaclav Smil puts it, “there are fundamental differences between accumulated data, useful information, and insightful knowledge.”
Numbers Don’t Lie combines curious facts with insights on how to make sense of data. I was surprised to learn that some cameras can capture the motion of electrons by creating an image every attosecond, i.e., every 10-18 seconds, and that the fatality rate of the 2009 influenza pandemic was anywhere between 1 and 10,000 deaths per 100,000 people depending on how we count.
The author tackles various issues: from innovation to dieting to climate change to transportation to energy production and consumption. However, some of the chapters are on the speculative side. For example, Vaclav Smil tries to determine whether animals or man-made objects are more diverse. Even if knowing this were useful, the answer depends heavily on a whole host of assumptions, including on what we consider a different object and what a mere variety—are all iPhones the same?
On the whole, Numbers Don’t Lie is a fun and informative read. It will whet your curiosity about numerous topics, especially if you like books such as What If? and Freakonomics. Happy reading.
