Doing Good Better

How Effective Altruism Can Help You Make a Difference

By: William MacAskill

Narrated by: Sean Pratt

Most of us want to make a difference. We donate our time and money to charities and causes we deem worthy, choose careers we consider meaningful, and patronize businesses and buy products we believe make the world a better place. Unfortunately we often base these decisions on assumptions and emotions rather than facts. As a result even our best intentions often lead to ineffective - and sometimes downright harmful - outcomes. How can we do better?

While a researcher at Oxford, trying to figure out which career would allow him to have the greatest impact, William MacAskill confronted this problem head on. He discovered that much of the potential for change was being squandered by lack of information, bad data, and our own prejudice. As an antidote he and his colleagues developed effective altruism, a practical, data-driven approach that allows each of us to make a tremendous difference regardless of our resources. Effective altruists believe that it's not enough simply to do good; we must do good better.

At the core of this philosophy are five key questions that help guide our altruistic decisions: How many people benefit, and by how much? Is this the most effective thing I can do? Is this area neglected? What would have happened otherwise? What are the chances of success, and how good would success be? By applying these questions to real-life scenarios, MacAskill shows how many of our assumptions about doing good are misguided.

MacAskill urges us to think differently, set aside biases, and use evidence and careful reasoning rather than act on impulse. When we do this - when we apply the head and the heart to each of our altruistic endeavors - we find that each of us has the power to do an astonishing amount of good.

©2015 William MacAskill (P)2015 Gildan Media LLC

Critic reviews

"Highly useful guidelines to finding the perfect charity worthy of your money." ( Kirkus Reviews)

Perhaps the most important book of my life

The book is on an extremely important subject: how to have a bigger impact on the world. Macaskill's thinking is incredibly clear, and I found myself enthusiastically applying the book's advice to my own life. The narrator was very easy to listen to, and I plan on listening to the book again, but this time read the text version at the same time and take notes. I am trying not to shove effective altruism down my friend's throats, but I am certainly letting them know I want them to listen to this book.

Uuuuggghhhh

This book changed the way I view a lot of important subjects. Isn't that annoying? If you're looking to stay the same, don't read this book.

Amazing introduction to effective altruism

Excellent use of examples to teach the principles of effective altruism.

Very inspiring and I highly recommend it.

So Good!

I absolutely loved the book! Very indepth and clear and broad details. The methods for engaging in altruistic activities are very sensible and I think transferable to other areas of life. It's very encouraging

Cold, calculating and ultimately beneficial

This book rubs me the wrong way. I sure it is right in what it says, it makes complete sense, but it just feels so wrong.

"Doing Good Better" is a different way to look at charity and giving, focusing solely on the actual outcomes of the charity and giving. And what is suggests is that most of us have probably been doing it very wrong. Know someone that died of cancer and suddenly have a desire to throw money at cancer research? Probably don't bother. It might make you feel better but it probably wont do much for cancer research. If you really want to make a difference in the world there is a better way.

By looking at things like "what are others doing?" (small, less well known issues are better), "what has the biggest impact per dollar" (third world stuff, due to exchange rate), and "would someone else do it better?" (don't work for a charity if someone else is better for the role) you can maximise your impact. Is it better to work in a "unethical" job to make tonnes of money and give the money to charity than it is go work for the charity direct? Is it better to buy cheaper non fair trade items and donate what you save, rather than trust fair trade policies? Should you give to high profile disaster recovery when daily there are often more deaths from things that are cheaper/easier to fix?

In the end, the approach is right for getting the most out of how you do charity and how you change the world. But it feels wrong. And I guess that is why we fail to making a huge change to poverty, because we go with what is currently popular or trendy. We go with the 'easy' charities. And it makes us feel good to do so.

This book is about putting off the quick easy feel good for the longer term feel good of knowing you have actually made a difference, not just thrown money at whatever catches your eye,

Narration by Sean Pratt is pretty good. Clean and clear and easy to follow. Happy to listen to his work again.

There were however some issues with listening to this book on audio. Later in the book (chapter 8 on or so) the book starts to contain a lot of lists and breakdowns of companies/charities. This is easy enough to follow but because it's all quick facts in dot points it's not easy to retain or compare. These lists would really be served better through a written copy (or pdf supplement) so that it can be easily referenced later and comparisons between different charities on the list can be made.

A book I'm going to read again

Extremely thought provoking. Should be on college curriculum for people starting careers and in community and church reading groups of those wrestling with where to put their time and money. At the same time I want to read reviews. I suspect the author undervalued so very important things. Need to find the holes first.

fascinating data driven approach to altruism

fascinating data driven approach to maximizing your impact on. the world. donating money Marty be better than your time!

Useful framework

I loved that this book was emotional but rather more analytical. Provided greater perspective, supported by evidence. One of its kind on this topic.

I highly recommend

This book is thought-provoking and a must-read for those who want to impact positively.

Altruism broken down to its simplicity

I absolutely loved this book. William does a great job explaining all of the different paths to living an altruistic life. You evaluate your life, your connections and your skills to fund the most effective way for you to help others. He goes in depth about specific charities, diseases, global problems and personal lifestyle choices. All of which effect the lives of others and the world as a whole. Very informative!