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The Life You Can Save: How to play your part in ending world poverty Paperback – 5 Feb 2010

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Peter Singer (Author)
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Peter Singer (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars 13 customer reviews
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Product details

  • Paperback: 224 pages
  • Publisher: Picador; Reprints edition (5 Feb. 2010)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0330454595
  • ISBN-13: 978-0330454599
  • Product Dimensions: 13.1 x 1.4 x 19.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 55,111 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Product Description

Review

‘This book has persuaded me that I should give more – significantly more – to help those less fortunate’ Financial Times

‘It’s the opposite of a glossy self-help book. It’s a help-others book.’ Sunday Herald

‘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’ Scotland on Sunday

‘Thoroughly compelling, practical, unanswerable’ The Times

Book Description

The End of Poverty meets Nudge in an empowering, life-changing manifesto

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Customer Reviews

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Top Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 starsBold, provocative, but not for everybody
By Jeremy Williams on 14 Dec. 2010
Format: Paperback
Peter Singer has worked out how to end poverty, with change left over. On a sliding scale of giving in which 90 per cent of us give away just 1% of our incomes, and the richest give a little more, we'd have a trillion dollar pot that would be enough to meet all the Millennium Development Goals eight times.

For an average gift of around $200 per person per year in the rich world, poverty would be swept away. So why haven't we done it yet? What's stopping us? These the questions Singer tackles in 'The Life You Can Save: Acting now to end world poverty'.

As an ethicist and philosopher, his gift is to ask provocative questions - the kind that are penetrating, even borderline offensive in their implications. He lines up moral arguments that you couldn't disagree with, and before you know it you've argued yourself into something you don't want to believe, saying you shouldn't save for retirement, or that it's wrong to love your own children more than other people's. It's very clever, if you like that kind of intellectual trickery, and I imagine Singer makes a great professor at Princeton. If you just thought you were reading a book about aid and giving, you might find it rather frustrating.

There's more here besides moral philosophy however. There are chapters on the psychology of giving, an analysis of how much it actually costs to save a life, and who does it best. There's a great section on how to encourage a culture of giving, including the quite brilliant suggestion of `opt-out' philanthropy.

The book cops out a little at the end, soft-pedalling the call to personal action, and it lacks the historical background that could have added more depth.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsBrilliant - Must Read for anybody donating or thinking about donating
By were111 on 17 Jan. 2011
Format: Paperback
Believe it or not, I am very far from having any anti-capitalists sentmients and I really enjoyed the book, found it intellectually inspiring and impactful on my personal giving.

Some time ago I have decided to donate part of my income, but finally did not do so, because of insecurity about where my donation could have the largest impact and because of lack of information on the effectiveness of different NGOs. The book gives examples of effective NGOs that can save a life in one of the poorest countries for less than 1000$. On the same issue I found givewell.org extremely useful, which has been mentioned several times throughout the book and is dedicated to identify the most effective charities by applying scientific methodology and giving a wealth of information on their website to anybody interested in effective giving.

It is difficult to argue that there are organizations that can save the life of a person in a poor country for less than 1000$. Mentioning this fact should not be considered as an insult. Neither thinking it through in a brilliant, convincing and easy to understand analysis, which takes into consideration different points of view and arguments.

In addition the book contains a wealth of very interesting statistical data from different areas about poverty and giving. It also discusses the arguments given by critics of aid.

I highly recommend this book to anybody dealing with any of the questions:
- whether to donate,
- how much to donate
- to whom to donate

and also to everybody who thinks to already have found a satisfying answer to any of these questions.
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4.0 out of 5 starsInteresting, slightly infuriating
By Alexander Sokol on 6 July 2011
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
Singer's book is an unusual melange of ethical philosophizing, aid statistics and personal stories. He begins the book with some arguments for correct ehthical standards, pointing out that most people fall far short of these standards. Afterwards, he discusses aid efficiency, both as regards how functional aid in practice turns out to be, as well as the problem of distinguishing between efficient and inefficient aid. Finally, he lays out practical standards for giving.

His ethical arguments, and particular his discussion of the psychology of giving, are interesting. However, they also turn out to be the most annoying part of the book, as Singer implicitly accuses the reader who does not live up to his standards of being immoral - Singer lays out a short set of ethical standards, considers some objections to the standards which are generally dismissed, and between the lines seem to conclude that his standards are somehow universal and irrefutable. While he correctly points out that complete moral relativism leads to problems, his moral absolutism is also problematic. Moreover, he does not consider arguments such as personal happiness being very much relative to one's society, leading to his absolute comparisons being somewhat rigid. Finally, he several times uses the example of it being immoral not to save a child drowning in a pond, arguing that letting starving children in Africa die is just as immoral. It would indeed seem very heartless for a member of an affluent society to leave alone a child drowning on the side of the road. However, if instead it were the case that a billion children were drowning on the side of the road, it would appear somewhat more understandable that at some point, the otherwise upstanding citizen would quit rescuing children.Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsVery readable, engaging and inspirational.

Fantastic book. Deeply thought provoking and ultimately a won argument. The basic premise is that if we can help another human being then to not do so is wrong. Read more

Published 9 months ago by Gary G
5.0 out of 5 starsLIFE CHANGING

Insightful, poignant and truly remarkable. This book has changed my life and in doing so will change hundreds of others. Read more

Published 10 months ago by kelly
1.0 out of 5 starsYou people don't know the least as to why poverty ...

You people don't know the least as to why poverty exists. Its the capitalist system that we live in. WAKE UP. Read more

Published 19 months ago by Ana
5.0 out of 5 starsLife Changing

This is a wonderful book: simple, short and very much to the point. It has two aims.

The first aim is to demonstrate the importance of making the right decision when... Read more

Published 20 months ago by Johnny Blue
5.0 out of 5 starsinspirational

Thought provoking, clear, compelling. Highly recommended for all. It's impossible to read this book and not be compelled to action.

Published on 12 May 2013 by Jim
5.0 out of 5 starsReally interesting read

A thought provoking, easy to read and concise book. Recommended to anyone interested in ethics or charity, whether as an exam subject or general interest. Read more

Published on 8 May 2013 by SG
5.0 out of 5 starsThis book will make you think

You may shy away from this book thinking it's going to be heavy reading, but it is not terribly long (fewer than 200 pages) and it's very readable. Read more

Published on 11 Mar. 2013 by Julia Flyte
5.0 out of 5 starsJust brilliant

Has the cojones to come out and admit that ignoring people dying or living horribly impaired lives unnecessarily is immoral, and almost everyone is guilty. Read more

Published on 24 Feb. 2013 by Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 starsA very thought provoking book

I think the reviewer below is incorrect in believing that the main aim of this work is to discredit capitalism. Read more

Published on 12 July 2010 by Darcy
3.0 out of 5 starsToo strong and provocative if you're just looking to get involved.

I would advise people looking at this (especially parents) to check the authors Wikipedia page, first. Read more

Published on 24 April 2010 by Amazon Customer

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