How to Be Perfect

The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question

De: Michael Schur

Narrado por: Michael Schur, Kristen Bell, D'Arcy Carden, Ted Danson, William Jackson Harper, Manny Jacinto, Marc Evan Jackson, Jameela Jamil, Todd May

From the creator of The Good Place and the cocreator of Parks and Recreation, a hilarious, thought-provoking guide to living an ethical life, drawing on 2,500 years of deep thinking from around the world. Read by the author, this one-of-a-kind audio production features guest appearances by members of the cast of The Good Place.

Most people think of themselves as “good", but it’s not always easy to determine what’s “good” or “bad” - especially in a world filled with complicated choices and pitfalls and booby traps and bad advice. Fortunately, many smart philosophers have been pondering this conundrum for millennia, and they have guidance for us. With bright wit and deep insight, How to Be Perfect explains concepts like deontology, utilitarianism, existentialism, ubuntu, and more, so we can sound cool at parties and become better people.

Schur starts off with easy ethical questions like “Should I punch my friend in the face for no reason?” (No.) and works his way up to the most complex moral issues we all face. Such as: Can I still enjoy great art if it was created by terrible people? How much money should I give to charity? Why bother being good at all when there are no consequences for being bad? And much more. By the time the book is done, we’ll know exactly how to act in every conceivable situation, so as to produce a verifiably maximal amount of moral good. We will be perfect, and all our friends will be jealous. Okay, not quite. Instead, we’ll gain fresh, funny, inspiring wisdom on the toughest issues we face every day.

How to Be Perfect is narrated by Michael Schur, Kristen Bell, D’Arcy Carden, Ted Danson, William Jackson Harper, Manny Jacinto, Marc Evan Jackson, Jameela Jamil, and Todd May!

©2022 Michael Schur. All rights reserved. (P)2022 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

Reseñas de la Crítica

"Michael Schur and the cast of "The Good Place" once again collaborate, this time to ponder today’s toughest moral questions using philosophical views from the East and West. Schur delivers hilarious sarcasm as he tackles ethics and explains how to balance morality and achieve virtue. Friendly and inviting sounding, he is able to take the difficult, oftentimes dry topic of philosophy and make it engaging and entertaining. Using a simple and steady pace, Schur's narration is coupled with signature voices from the show, including Ted Danson and Kristen Bell. The entire cast makes this production an intriguing and funny way to introduce or reintroduce oneself to philosophy and achieve goodness." (AudioFile Magazine)

Loved it

Admittedly I am an ethics nerd. This is a fun fun fun education in lots of philosophical theories. Michael Schur sums everything up nicely at the end in a letter to his kids. Based on my experience of having been a kid and having my own kids and grandkids I’d like to compliment him on a good job there with that. If you chose to give this book a listen I think there’s a good chance you’ll like it. Stick around for the acknowledgments they are good too.

Wonderful

Michael Schur has written a brilliant book that addresses ethics and moral philosophy in an approachable way. Everyone hates moral philosophy professors- that’s just the way it is. This book says what they try to convey in a way that is so endearing and practical. The bonus: he enlisted his talented and lovely actor friends to dub some of the dialogue along the way- and Todd May. :) May your ink well never run dry!

Now I need to rewatch The Good Place

This book about moral philosophy is interesting and entertaining which is no surprise since the writer/narrator wrote the shows The Good Place and Parks And Rec. Although I enjoyed listening, I wished I had followed along with a hard copy and highlighter.

Spot on!

Funny and spot on advice on how to live life! The book was a wonderful, entertaining listen that made striving to live a better life and forgiving yourself for the mistakes you’ve made in the past absolutely doable! I’m probably going to be listening to this one again

I need comedians to teach me all of life's lessons

One of the funniest and best books I've ever listened to. Frequently found myself laughing out loud to his excerpts and thought process and I rarely do that when I'm alone. It's enjoyable whether you want to learn ethics or just be entertained.

Maybe too good?

I’ll just start out by saying I’m a huge Michael Schur fan which drove my interest in this book. Didn’t watch a lot of Good Place but aware of the gist. I gave this book all 5s except overall and here’s why. It is a real deep dive. The first half seems like a lot and it is. Im not someone interested in philosophy but I do find myself perplexed at the range of morality in our world. The last half had me hooked. I highly recommend if you want to shake up your usual read. And LOVED all the actors from The Good Place coming in to narrate. That part, along with the footnotes, were my favorite.

Hilarious and clever

This book is hilarious and clever. The audio might actually have an advantage over the book with the delivery of the author/reader and sound effects

Love the tie in to The Good Place

I love how simple it makes such complex thought puzzles. It’s not what you know, but how to think and act

Fun, Engaging, Educational

I love the personable candor with which the author writes and narrates! I've learned about most of the philosophies involved in University and still learned so much. I loved the recombinations of the different philosophies applied to the same ethical puzzles; it really helped to clarify the strengths/weaknesses and uniqueness of each of them.

Really well done, fun to listen to, easy to understand. And not at all preachy. Ultimately, it's informative, and it's up to you to make your own ethical decisions.

Loved it

Substantive discussion of ethics, existentialism, and how to love a moral life. But it was also funny. I’m going to start my second listen right now.