Numbers Don't Lie

'There is no author whose books I look forward to more than Vaclav Smil' Bill Gates'Smil's title says it all: to understand the world, you need to follow the trendlines, not the headlines. This is a compelling, fascinating, and most important, realistic portrait of the world and where it's going' Steven PinkerIs flying dangerous? How much do the world's cows weigh? And what makes people happy?From Earth's nations and inhabitants, through the fuels and foods that energize them, to the transportation and inventions of our modern world - and how all of this affects the planet itself - in Numbers Don't Lie, Professor Vaclav Smil takes us on a fact-finding adventure, using surprising statistics and illuminating graphs to challenge lazy thinking. Smil is on a mission to make facts matter, because after all, numbers may not lie, but which truth do they convey?'The best book to read to better understand our world. It should be on every bookshelf!' Linda Yueh'For anyone confused by statistics or dubious of data in a world where numbers seem to mean everything and nothing' BBC Science Focus