Customer Reviews

The Art of Being Kind

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In "The Art of Being Kind", Stefan Einhorn makes a good case that the world would be better with more kindness in it. One of the best parts of the book is where he presents evidence for how kindness in beneficial, and draws parallels to kindness among certain animals. The chapter on ethics and religion is weaker. Einhorn is an agnostic, but he gives the religions much credit for being ethical and ignores the obstacle religion can be when it comes to things such as empathy and kindness (read Sam Harris's "The End of Faith" for more on that).

It's refreshing that he doesn't demonize egoism but instead states that kindness is good, even if there are egoistic motivations behind it. The result is what counts. The last part of the book is also good. It deals with feeling successful and how to evaluate the direction your life is taking, and about making the world a better place for yourself and others by being kind.

This is the first time that I commenting about a book. This book is so good that I could not not to do it. This is an excellent book for you, your childern, your parents, your colleauges, your neighbors, .... You won't regret reading it.

I like most books that I read, but this one fell far short of my expectations. After reading a chapter, I turned to the back flap for the author's bio to try to figure out if he had any credentials or experience pertinent to writing this book. Not so much, and it shows. It reads like someone sitting down at his computer to write his thoughts about ethics, success, kindness. Like a bad high school term paper, thoughts are strung together without purpose. There is research included, but it did not serve to boost the integrity of the book.