Davos

Town in Switzerland (Literary), Switzerland.

At a glance

Source	Author	Role	In one line
How I Learned to Understand the World	Hans Rosling	setting	At a small climate-change meeting in January 2007, an EU minister blames China and India for emissions.
How I Learned to Understand the World	Hans Rosling	setting	In January 2015 Rosling quizzes the assembled elite with response devices on poverty, measles and child numbers.

How I Learned to Understand the World — Hans Rosling

Source: How I Learned to Understand the World · Readwise highlight

Davos is an ordinary-looking Alpine town with a modest railway station. It had snowed that morning and as Agneta and I pulled our wheeled suitcases along I slipped and slithered on the steep, icy street.

• Role: setting
• In the book: At a small climate-change meeting in January 2007, an EU minister blames China and India for emissions. The Indian delegate replies sharply and declares that calculations should be per capita, which impresses Rosling.
• Why it matters: The meeting room scene is the point; the town is a short description.

How I Learned to Understand the World — Hans Rosling (2019)

Source: How I Learned to Understand the World · Readwise highlight

I was booked to speak in front of a thousand-strong audience in the plenary hall.

• Role: setting
• In the book: In January 2015 Rosling quizzes the assembled elite with response devices on poverty, measles and child numbers. They score worse than chimps on two of three questions, with Kofi Annan in the front row.
• Why it matters: Closes the book: the failure of the elite audience prompts Gapminder to develop the Factfulness concept.