The Life You Can Save: Acting Now to End World Poverty [Hardcover]

'[A] radical voice... Australian philosopher Peter Singer throws out a challenge to western arrogance and apathy.' --The Irish Times

'If you believe world poverty is far too big a problem to solve, this book will convince you otherwise. A 'can do' lifesaver... just one or two steps along the evolutionary tree from Nudge, the political bestseller on the art of guiding and nudging individual behaviour toward sensible lifestyle choices. Singer's is a Nudge solution: if millions of people each give a small percentage of their income toward the care of desperately poor children, we could shrink the problem of world poverty to something more manageable.'

'Although this book is an easy read, I do not recommend it for bedtime. It is not that you won't be able to put it down, but that once you've done so, you won't be able to get to sleep. The book challenges us individually where it most hurts: in the pocket.'

This is the right time to ask yourself: "What should I be doing to help?"

For the first time in history, it is within our reach to eradicate world poverty and the suffering it brings. A billion people struggle to live each day on less than many of us pay for a bottle of water. Nearly ten million children die each year from poverty-related causes. Our current response to world poverty is not only insufficient but ethically indefensible. If we are not to turn our backs on a fifth of the world’s population, we must become part of the solution. This is the right time to ask yourself: ‘What should I be doing to help?’ Peter Singer’s unflinching, persuasive and rigorous book is a call to action. It not only suggests what you should be doing, but also shows you how you can do it. It shows you the life you can save.

Peter Singer is professor of bioethics at Princeton University. Author, co-author, or editor of forty books on a range of topics, Singer is best known for Animal Liberation, widely considered to be the founding statement of the animal rights movement. He lives in Melbourne, Australia, with his wife and three daughters.