Numbers Don't Lie cover art

Numbers Don't Lie

71 Things You Need to Know About the World

 Preview
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free
Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.
Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Just £0.99/mo for your first 3 months of Audible.
1 bestseller or new release per month—yours to keep.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

Numbers Don't Lie

By: Vaclav Smil
Narrated by: Stephen Perring
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly. Offer ends 29 January 2026 at 11:59PM GMT.

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

LIMITED TIME OFFER | £0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Premium Plus auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Terms apply.

About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

Is 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 energise 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.

Packed with 'well-I-never-knew-that' information and with fascinating and unusual examples throughout, we find out how many people it took to build the Great Pyramid, that vaccination yields the best return on investment and why electric cars aren't as great as we think (yet). There's a wonderful mix of science, history and wit, all in bite-sized chapters on a broad range of topics.

Urgent and essential, Numbers Don't Lie inspires listeners to interrogate what they take to be true in these significant times. Smil is on a mission to make facts matter, because after all, numbers may not lie, but which truth do they convey?

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2020 Vaclav Smil (P)2020 Penguin Audio Engineering Environment Mathematics Politics & Government Science

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Energy and Civilization cover art
Grand Transitions cover art
Power Density cover art
Growth cover art
The Molecule of More cover art
A Thousand Brains cover art
Twilight of Abundance cover art
Electronic Dreams cover art
Power Trip cover art
In Denial cover art
What Is Life? cover art
Wasted cover art
Against the Grain cover art
Bright Green Lies cover art
Climate Change and the Road to Net-Zero cover art
Stories We Tell Ourselves cover art

Critic reviews

"There is no author whose books I look forward to more than Vaclav Smil." (Bill Gates)
All stars
Most relevant
Very interesting, well presented and easy to understand. Just wish it was longer to learn more!

Wish it was longer!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The latest book from Bill Gates is clearly heavily inspired by the work of Václav Smil. The difference is that Smil is not so careful when pointing out where the numbers don't add up.

Similar to latest Gates book but less politically

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I enjoyed this book. Plenty to digest, and I’m sure it’ll influence me to make better choices for my family, myself, and the environment.

Fascinating

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This book had some interesting facts, but lacked a narrative, instead it just fired out information. Some of this was interesting so wasn’t.

Had some good facts but became boring

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A good read and lesson on critical thinking. For so much of our lives we focus on immediacy and disregard more in depth thought. This book is the antithesis of that and stimulates one to think deeper than normal.

Excellent and informative

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews