William MacAskill - Doing Good Better: Effective Altruism and a Radical New Way to Make a Difference

PRAISE FOR
DOING GOOD BETTER

Beautifully written and extremely smart. Doing Good Better should be required reading for anyone interested in making the world better.

Steven D. Levitt, #1 New York Times bestselling coauthor of Freakonomics and When to Rob a Bank

MacAskill tackles a monumental question: How can we make the biggest difference for the greatest number of people? His answer is a grand vision to make giving, volunteering, spending, and working more worthwhile.

Adam Grant, New York Times bestselling author of Give and Take

Effective altruismefforts that actually help people rather than making you feel good or helping you show offis one of the great new ideas of the twenty-first century. Doing Good Better is the definitive guide to this exciting new movement.

Steven Pinker, Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology at Harvard University and author of The Better Angels of Our Nature

Doing Good Better is a superb achievement. Will MacAskill, a leader of the effective altruism movement and a rising star in philosophy, now displays his talent for telling stories that pack a punch. This must-read book will lead people to change their careers, their lives, and the world, for the better.

Peter Singer, Ira W. DeCamp professor of bioethics at Princeton University and author of Animal Liberation and The Most Good You Can Do

Humanity currently spends more money on cigarette ads than on making sure that we as a species survive this century. Weve got our priorities all wrong, and we need effective altruism to right them. If you want to make a real difference on the biggest issues of our time, you need to read Doing Good Better.

Jaan Tallinn, cofounder of Skype, Kazaa, and MetaMed

MacAskill leads his readers on a witty, incisive tour through the ideas and applications of effective altruism, which seems increasingly poised to become a dominant social movement of the twenty-first century.

Julia Galef, cofounder of the Center for Applied Rationality

This is the most valuable guide to charitable giving ever published. Even readers who disagree with MacAskills conclusions about the value of particular charitable donations will make smarter decisions by learning from his analysis.

Paul Brest, codirector of the Stanford Center for Philanthropy and Civil Society and former president of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

Doing Good Better provides an absolutely indispensable framework for anyone wanting to actually help others with their money, time, or career. Warning: Failure to read it, share it, and keep it close as you set out to do good is likely to be harmful to yourself and others!

Charlie Bresler, executive vice president of Mens Wearhouse and executive director of the Life You Can Save

Are you interested in giving away money more effectively? This is the very best book on how to do that.

Tyler Cowen, Holbert C. Harris professor of economics at George Mason University and author of Average Is Over

Doing Good Better has a rare combination of strikingly original ideas, effortless clarity of delivery, and a thoroughgoing practicality that leaves the reader inspired to get out of their chair and take on the world. Humanity faces some big challenges in the twenty-first century; this is a much-needed manifesto for social change, and Will MacAskill is the ideal ambassador.

Eric Drexler, founder of nanotechnology and author of Engines of Creation

MacAskill brings fresh, bold thinking to todays big problems. He leads from first principles to counterintuitive conclusions. Like laser eye surgery, this book will change how you look at the world forever.

Uri Bram, bestselling author of Thinking Statistically

Inspiring, engrossing, and at times hilarious. I couldnt put it down. This book will change your life.

Nick Cooney, author of How to Be Great at Doing Good

William MacAskill shows that we can make a surprisingly large life-changing difference to those in disadvantaged parts of the worldprovided that our altruistic impulses are intelligently channeled. This fascinating and clearly written book deserves wide readership: It can in itself do great good if its message is heeded.

Lord Martin Rees, former president of the Royal Society

Think philosophers are dry, inaccessible, and obsessed with mere ideas, not actions? Think again. MacAskill puts forward an eye-popping claim: By combining heart and mind, one can make the world a better place. And then he shows you how.

Dean Karlan, professor of economics at Yale University and coauthor of More Than Good Intentions

This is a challenging and thought-provoking book. We are encouraged first to ask ourselves whether we are altruistic enough, and second whether we practice effective altruism, a much tougher and more contested ask. This book will guarantee lively debates and should encourage us all to ask searching questions.

Fiona Reynolds, former director-general of the National Trust

Doing Good Better is a must-read for anyone with both a heart and a brain. MacAskill demolishes the lazy myths of nothing-you-can-do-ism and demonstrates the power of asking the right questions. This is an important book. Its also surprisingly fun. Figuring out what really helps people is a challenging scientific puzzle, and these pages are full of unexpected twistsenlightening and invigorating.

Joshua Greene, director of Harvards Moral Cognition Lab and author of Moral Tribes

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Copyright 2015 by William MacAskill

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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-I N-PUBLICATION DATA

MacAskill, William.

Doing good better : how effective altruism can help you make a difference / William MacAskill.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-698-19110-5

1. Altruism. 2. Helping behavior. I. Title.

HM1146.M33 2015

171'.8dc23

2015000705

While the author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers, Internet addresses, and other contact information at the time of publication, neither the publisher nor the author assumes any responsibility for errors or for changes that occur after publication. Further, the publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.