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50 Facts that Should Change the World
Monday, September 29, 2008

A typical condition in my choice of reading is something to help pass the time whilst on board a plane.

What criteria do I apply when making this choice? Usually the book will fit into one or more of these categories:

It is light reading on a topic I love, like "I Know You Got Soul";
It is 'must read' as recommended by friends & colleagues, like "The Tipping Point";
It is thought provoking reading about something I don't know much about, but I'm intrigued about when I read the book's cover or a review of it.

"50 Facts that Should Change the World" fell into the last category.

I'd recommend it to anyone as a bit of a reminder of some of the challenges we face around the world.

Taking a look specifically at the poverty situations covered in the book that are quite eye opening:

Every cow in the EU is subsidised by $2.50 a day, which is more than what 75 per cent of Africans have to live on;
One in five of the world's people lives on less than $1 a day;
America spends $10 billion on pornography every year - the same amount it spends on foreign aid;
There are 44 million child labourers in India; and
Every day, one in five of the world's population go hungry (some 800 million people).

There are more, but what this book did for me was again reinforce how great the need is to focus on education as a key method for helping people escape the cycle. Granted, they need to be safe from violence (war, hate crimes, etc) and have the ability to feed themselves before education can begin.

Sadly, our dog (who was a puppy at the time) also decided the book was intriguing... and chewed through facts 8 to 12. :-(

Thankfully I had read these before they were consumed.

Labels: Books