Numbers Don't Lie: 71 Stories to Help Us Understand the Modern World

It is interesting to be able to look around and see the surroundings in sizes, quantities, in other words numbers.Prof Smil has gotten very good at presenting different life aspects in a quantitative manner.Highly recommended for the Engineering minds out there.

"Numbers Don't Lie" is a very informative book on a wide range of topics written in an approachable and direct format. Some of my favorite insights include the following:*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.

Numbers Don't Lie is a collection of thought-provoking short discussions by Professor Vaclav Smil, a brilliant teacher and prolific author. There are 71 short pieces about data and information, mostly focusing on trying to make sense of numerical information by analyzing the historical and international context; and thinking about different ways to understand the data.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!

Despite the praise heaped on Smil, I'm only giving this book 3 stars--IMO doesn't mean it is bad, just good or okay. Where and why this book suffers is that the quality of each short chapter is uneven. Some are smartly written and elucidating, while some others are leaving a bit to be desired and potentially even looking at spurious correlations. But this can be expected given that this is a compilation of essays written for IEEE Spectrum over the past 8 or 9 years. Writing a monthly column and each essay being stellar for that many months is tough.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.

This book is so well written and clearly illustrated with graphs, it is a revaluation on the challenges of our times. I will read parts of it again as I need to remind myself.

I started reading after I found that this book was one of Bill Gates favorite. It brought fresh perspectives on some topics I have an understanding and new ideas that I wasn’t aware.

Muito interessante a diversidade de temas apresentados, sempre acompanhados de dados concretos, números.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.

Crisp,informative,enlightening stuff. worth every rupee,every Second spent reading this little,elegant eye opener. Numbers truly don't lie.it's the interpreters mind that does it

It’s been my experience that this author’s books read much like textbooks: detailed, objective, no chit-chat nor anecdotes, just the facts and also a bit dry, unless you love the subject matter. This book, I found, is not as extreme and, consequently, should be accessible to a much broader readership. The topics covered are many: from living on earth, to inventions, energy production and usage, food eaten, crops grown, electric cars and related technology and so much more. Each of the 71 chapters is about four pages long and usually includes an interesting plot/figure of some sort.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.

Really like the books. Keep coming back to the book because of its breadth as well as the "good enough" depth to start think about the world.

Beaucoup de bon sens dans cet ouvrage, dans lequel j’ai appris pas mal de choses, dans un format facile à lire. Conduit à réfléchir beaucoup sur l’environnement et l’avenir de nos enfants (et le nôtre).