How to Make the World a Better Place: 116 Ways You Can Make a Difference (Paperback)

by Linda Catling (Author), Jeffrey Hollender (Author) "In her book The Wagon and the Star: A Study of American Community Initiative, Margaret Mead describes the 1950s radio broadcasts entitled The People Act..." (more)
Key Phrases: community development credit unions, citizen diplomacy, minimum deposit, New York, United States, Working Assets (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
This book shows how just one person can make a difference in solving global, national, and local problems. Each chapter alerts readers to problems that require attention, explains the issues and what has to be done about them, and lists the addresses and phone numbers of organizations that can be contacted.

About the Author
Jeffrey Hollender is chairman and CEO of Seventh Generation, the nation's first direct-mail catalog of environmentally safe consumer products.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: W.W. Norton & Co.; Rev Sub edition (April 17, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393312917
• ISBN-13: 978-0393312911
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #458,297 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great wonderful stuff, but out of date, May 13, 2005

By	Orion Sandstorrm - See all my reviews

Presentation:
The interior text is formatted nicely. I don't recall encountering any typos. No interior illustrations, graphics, or photos. The text is divided up into headings, subheadings, etc to lend sufficient visual interest, and this makes it significantly easier to skim the book if necessary. The writing style is neither humorous nor bland.

Subjects covered:
The book is divided into eight parts, is further divided into 33 chapters by subject, and is further divided into 116 "actions."

The parts are these: Building community. Raising the next generation. Computer activism. Protecting the environment. Food, hunger, and agriculture. Socially responsible banking and investing. The responsible consumer. Peace, Justice, and social change.

Each "action" is fairly brief, only a couple pages, and tells you some background information about the subject, argues why something should be done, and tells you what you can do, and who to contact to learn more and actually do some things. There are plenty of things you can do other than donating money to organizations, such as volunteering or making changes in your lifestyle. Interestingly, the last action listed in the book, number 116, is about supporting gay rights.

Since this book was published in 1995, much of the information may no longer be of use:
~ References to the Internet are obsolete, since this was before the World Wide Web.
~ Changes may have happened to mailing addresses, phone numbers, and fax numbers of organizations to contact. You'll have to Google them and find out where they are now.
~ Statistics aren't fully up to date, although ten-year-old statistics are probably satisfactory information.

Suggestions:
~ Since a lot of this book is disappointingly out of date, get it from the library rather than buying it. Don't feel bad, since the book itself says that getting library books is better than buying a book you're doubtful about, since it conserves resources.
~ Read this book with a notepad at hand, to jot down things you found interesting: points, actions, and names of organizations to look up later.
~ You can read this book in short breaks when you're fairly busy with other things, since its layout makes it very easy to find your spot again to resume reading, or to skim.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a perfect guide for the perplexed, June 18, 1997

By A Customer

This book is different from most books of the 50 Ways to Save the Earth genre because it covers a diverse array of social, political, ethical, and environmental problems in an in-depth fashion. The authors explain tough issues like the environmental effects of eating styles in clear, calm terms. The suggestions to make the world a better place range from extremely easy acts to reduce personal consumption to ambitious, challenging proposals for personal engagement with the homeless, the homebound, and others in need of assistance. Not only has it changed my own daily behaivor, I've found it to make a great, thought-provoking gift

7 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most inspiring book I have read!!!, May 21, 1999

By A Customer

This is a great book, reminding us that no matter what we do, it affects the whole world. So we might as well direct our attention and affect our world in a positive way by following the suggestions the authors have put together. Extremely well researched and organized book. Everyone can make a difference. I wish everyone would read the book to find out how!!!