“Factfulness,” by the late Hans Rosling, is one of the best books I’ve read in a long time. It’s a great guide to thinking clearly about the world. Here are some of my favorite tips… 
“Things can be both better and bad.” This is the heart of our foundation’s work. It’s bad that 5 million children die every year—but it’s better than it was, which is why I think it can keep improving.
“Give the system some credit.” It’s great to celebrate heroes (I do!). But there were heroes 1,000 years ago, and life was awful. Modernity—being able to flush the toilet and turn on the lights—is a miracle of systems plus heroes.
“Slow change is still change.” Extreme poverty has gone down by an average 2.5% per year in the last two decades. Over time, that adds up to a 50% drop.
I use this one all the time: “Big numbers always look big. Small numbers on their own are misleading… Always look for comparisons.”
I can’t recommend Factfulness highly enough. Hans and two family members wrote it at the end of his life, and it’s a wonderful summary of everything he stood for. Here’s my full review. b-gat.es/2q57moZ
