I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in return for an honest review。 This book explored the world--its people， cultures， technologies， and challenges， by examining quantitative data。 It does so through the presentation of brief vignettes。 Overall， the book is compelling and had several interesting facts and revelations， but there were also some weaknesses in its presentation。 Smil has made a clear choice to emphasize breadth over depth here， which allows him to cover a lot of g I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in return for an honest review。 This book explored the world--its people， cultures， technologies， and challenges， by examining quantitative data。 It does so through the presentation of brief vignettes。 Overall， the book is compelling and had several interesting facts and revelations， but there were also some weaknesses in its presentation。 Smil has made a clear choice to emphasize breadth over depth here， which allows him to cover a lot of ground。 However， the vignettes are uneven in their degree of development。 Some are fully realized stand-alone tableaus， with a beginning， middle， and end。 Others lack finesse and present info without sufficient explication or interpretation and feel unfinished。 They're still satisfying as a series of amuse-bouches， but not as fully realized vignettes throughout。 Smil's often acerbic and harsh tone in criticizing other nations and cultures is at once incisive and off-putting， sometimes detracting from the data being presented。 In other vignettes， a moralistic sanctimony bleeds through what is otherwise an objective presentation of data and evidence， resulting in an uneven voice and tone at times。 Finally， the theme of uneven presentation is also apparent in the way the book's theme manifests in the different vignettes。 The thesis of the book is that quantitative data elucidates these various aspects of our world。 Some vignettes demonstrate this elegantly and clearly。 Others have almost no quantitative data in them and seem to only lightly touch on the book's primary theme。 In all， this book is fascinating and worth the read， but there are certainly some inconsistencies in execution and style。 。。。more