A Biography of the World

 

“If the World Were a Village – A Book of the World’s People,” is not a biography of a person but of our world.  The author David J. Smith breaks down our world of 6,400,000,000 people to a village of 100 people.  Statistically this means in the village 22 people speak a Chinese dialect, 20 people earn less than a dollar a day, and 17 people could not read or write.

 Food

Even more shocking, there is no shortage of food.  But the food is not equally divided.  Thirty percent of the people always have enough to eat, 50% of the people go hungry some of the time, 20% are severely undernourished.

Population

If this statistically relevant village was made up of our ten most populated countries: 21 people would be from China, 17 from India, 5 from the United States, 4 from Brazil, 3 from Pakistan, 2 from Bangladesh, 2 from Russia, 2 from Japan, and 2 from Nigeria.

“World-mindedness”

In his author’s note, Smith explains that his book is about “world-mindedness” which he feel “is vital to the well being of our planet.”  He points out that people who are going to solve world crises in the future are the children of today.  Smith has over 25 years teaching experience and is the creator of the award-winning curriculum “Mapping the World by Heart.”  Shelagh Armstrong illustrated the book and her thoughtful and colorful drawings brought the text to life.

I highly recommend this book and have added it to my personal library.