Marsha Woerner reviewed SUMMARY Of Factfulness by Book Addict
Review of 'SUMMARY Of Factfulness' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
At first, I didn't care for this book very much; the main goal seemed to be changing the perception of the economy from two categories ("poor and underprivileged" and "wealthy", with perhaps a "middle-class" to round the whole thing out) to four classes (first, second, third, and fourth). The majority of Americans are theoretically in fourth. That seems to be going from one oversimplified and incorrect view to another. And anyway, at least in America, that "fourth" is a horrible group that doesn't distinguish those who have billions from middle and upper middle-class. But as it turns out, the book is a whole lot more than that. The author is Swedish, so the book's really not speaking from the WAY overbalanced and unequal American society, but he really is talking in terms of the WORLD economy and how it differs from the standard stereotype of "we Westerners" and "all those …
At first, I didn't care for this book very much; the main goal seemed to be changing the perception of the economy from two categories ("poor and underprivileged" and "wealthy", with perhaps a "middle-class" to round the whole thing out) to four classes (first, second, third, and fourth). The majority of Americans are theoretically in fourth. That seems to be going from one oversimplified and incorrect view to another. And anyway, at least in America, that "fourth" is a horrible group that doesn't distinguish those who have billions from middle and upper middle-class. But as it turns out, the book is a whole lot more than that. The author is Swedish, so the book's really not speaking from the WAY overbalanced and unequal American society, but he really is talking in terms of the WORLD economy and how it differs from the standard stereotype of "we Westerners" and "all those underprivileged OTHERS."
Although I had been aware of SOME (though not all) of the standard incorrect beliefs of overall society, seeing all spelled out and realizing the actual numbers of, theoretically well-informed, people working from a totally skewed vision was enlightening. AND, I really did need pointed out to me how easy it is to fall into that "us and them" mentality.
The author does appear to be [or have been – he passed away at the end of the writing of the book] a diehard optimist, and I don't agree with all of his optimistic views and predictions, but I truly appreciate SOMEONE pointing out that we are definitely not destined to go to hell in a hand basket, as most media would have you believe.
