Smart Thinking Books

Interview with Mark Henry, author of In Fact: An Optimist's Guide to Ireland at 100

Interview with Mark Henry, author of In Fact: An Optimist's Guide to Ireland at 100


Mark Henry, author of In Fact: An Optimist's Guide to Ireland at 100 recommends a group of great books! Before jumping into the interview, please check out Mark's book:

In Fact: An Optimist's Guide to Ireland at 100

In Fact: An Optimist's Guide to Ireland at 100

Mark Henry

Review from Book Depository: If you follow the headlines, you could be forgiven for thinking that things in Ireland are worse than ever. In fact, we live longer than ever before, we have never been healthier or better educated, we earn five times more than our grandparents did, our personal freedoms exceed those of any previous generation, and the lives of women and children have been transformed for the better.

At a time when some good news is welcome, this uplifting book tells our national story through facts and stats, placing Ireland under the microscope to chart 100 undeniable achievements of the past 100 years. When the State was formed, Ireland was one of the most poverty-stricken nations in Europe. Now it has the second-highest quality of life in the world. While there is still more to be done, In Fact illustrates that Ireland, for all its imperfections, is in a much better state than you might think.

Buy On:

Easons €19.99 Book Depository €21.13 Waterstones £22.99 Wordery $23.13

(All links earn commission from purchases. Prices accurate at time of writing)

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Q. Do you have a favourite smart thinking book (and why that book)?

It has to be Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About The World – And Why Things Are Better Than You Think by Hans Rosling, Ola Rosling, and Anna Rosling Rönnlund. It’s a wonderful reminder that most of us are entirely wrong in our perceptions of progress on planet Earth. Despite the negative news cycle, the world has never been better off, healthier and better educated than it is today. (The book so moved Bill Gates that he paid for a free copy for every graduating American student in 2018.) After reading Factfulness, I was inspired to start searching for data on Ireland’s progress, and that ultimately resulted in my book In Fact.

Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World – and Why Things Are Better Than You Think

Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World – and Why Things Are Better Than You Think

Hans Rosling, Ola Rosling, Anna Rosling Rönnlund

Review From Book Depository The international bestseller, inspiring and revelatory, filled with lively anecdotes and moving stories, Factfulness is an urgent and essential book that will change the way you see the world, and make you realise things are better than you thought.

Buy On:

Easons €10.49 Book Depository €9.82 Waterstones £9.99 Wordery $12.32

(All links earn commission from purchases. Prices accurate at time of writing)


Q. What's the most recent smart thinking book you've read (and how would you rate it)?

It was How to be a Liberal by Ian Dunt. The book is more of a history of liberal thought than a ‘how to’ guide but it’s a very useful overview for all that. I was particularly taken with Dunt’s "six lies of nationalism" which he outlines in his opening chapter and to which liberal thought stands in complete opposition.

How To Be A Liberal

How To Be A Liberal

Ian Dunt

Review from Book Depository: The authoritarian right is taking control. From Viktor Orban in Hungary, to Brexit in Britain, to Donald Trump in America, nationalists have launched an all-out assault on liberal values. In this groundbreaking new book, political journalist Ian Dunt tells the story of liberalism, from its birth in the fight against absolute monarchy to the modern-day resistance against the new populism.

In a soaring narrative that stretches from the battlefields of the English Civil War to the 2008 financial crash and beyond, this vivid, page-turning book explains the political ideas which underpin the modern world. But it is also something much more than that - it is a rallying cry for those who still believe in freedom and reason.

Buy On:

Easons €15.40 Book Depository €10.78 Waterstones £8.99 Wordery $12.94

(All links earn commission from purchases. Prices accurate at time of writing)


Q. Do you have a favourite childhood book?

I see many previous authors have plumped for books by J.R.R. Tolkien so I’m going to skip over those and instead chose The Mad Scientist’s Club by Bertrand R. Brinley. I picked this up on my very first visit to the United States as a child and it was so exotic to buy a book that you simply couldn’t lay your hands on back at home, and one that made heroes of children with an interest in science! I was hooked.

The Mad Scientists' Club

The Mad Scientists' Club

Bertrand R. Brinley

Review From Book Depository A strange sea monster suddenly appears on the lake ...a fortune is unearthed from an old cannon ... a valuable dinosaur egg is stolen.
Who's responsible? Those seven junior geniuses - and their wild ideas!
"Every time you Mad Scientists get mixed up in something, it means trouble!" cries the mayor of Mammoth Falls.

Watch out as the seven junior geniuses of the Mad Scientists' Club turn the town upside down.
Fully illustrated with classic Charles Geer drawings.

Buy On:

Book Depository €13.78 Waterstones £11.50 Wordery $15.10

(All links earn commission from purchases. Prices accurate at time of writing)


Q. Do you prefer reading on paper, Kindle or listening to an audiobook?

I’ve enough noise in my life between back-to-back Teams calls all day and three children to entertain thereafter. Audiobooks have limited appeal so. It’s my belief that paper withstands the extremes of Irish weather, or a spilt cup of coffee, better than a Kindle so that’s my preference every time.


Q. Do you have a favourite bookshop (and why that shop)?

Hodges Figgis in Dublin is set in a beautiful heritage building with four floors of books. I tend to judge a bookshop by the estimated browsing hours you can spend there so Hodges Figgis tops the table on that criteria. It means they can accommodate a lovely mix of popular and obscure titles so there’s always a lovely ‘find’ to be made alongside the guarantee of getting whatever you came for.


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Many thanks to Mark for recommending a group of great books! Please don't forget to check out Mark's book In Fact: An Optimist's Guide to Ireland at 100.
Daryl


Image Copyrights: Gill (In Fact), Hodder & Stoughton (Factfulness), Canbury Press (How To Be A Liberal), Purple House Press (The Mad Scientists' Club).


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