Numbers Don't Lie

Numbers Don't Lie is a collection of numerous short essays which were, mostly, first published in American magazine, IEEE Spectrum, the magazine of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers. Covering a wide range of topics, the essays are crammed with a lot of information, but their brevity means that I never quite felt as though Smil had explored each of his ideas to a satisfactory depth. I was frequently left with a nagging sense that perhaps the crux of the matter had been left, unexamined, just out of the frame. Numbers in themselves don't lie, but their selection and presentation can easily be manipulated to prove pretty much any argument and I wondered what the major influences behind this work were. I would certainly question the two essays promoting increased cow's milk consumption as universally healthy for humans, and essays regarding the future of meat-eating actually seemed to contradict each other. Smil apparent resignation to continued levels of fossil fuel usage is concerning. Comments like diesel fuel being here to stay are directly counter to what we must achieve to combat the climate emergency, and Smil does seem surprisingly negative about the possibilities for renewable energy solutions, especially now governments are beginning to actively support such technologies rather than suppressing them through biased taxation measures (a point he doesn't make). Assumptions of slow progress historically within an industry doesn't mean significant gains will never be made there and it's perfectly possible to concurrently pursue several avenues of improvement. Overall I think Numbers Don't Lie could be an interesting starting point to spark conversations about some of the issues raised, but unfortunately I found it more of a frustrating read than anything else with the snarky comments concluding each essay being particularly irritating.