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Be Good: How to Navigate the Ethics of Everything Hardcover – August 22, 2012

by Randy Cohen (Author), Dave Hopkins (Illustrator)

68 customer reviews

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The New York Times Magazine's original "Ethicist" Randy Cohen helps readers locate their own internal ethical compasses as he delivers answers to life's most challenging dilemmas—timeless and contemporary alike. Organized thematically in an easy-to-navigate Q&A format, and featuring line illustrations throughout, this amusing and engaging book challenges readers to think about how they would (or should) respond when faced with everyday moral challenges, from sex and love to religion, technology, and much more. Sure to ignite brain cells and spark healthy debate, Be Good is a book to refer to again and again.

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Editorial Reviews

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"What [Cohen] has created is "a set of practice problems" meant to test and strengthen the reader's own ethical compass. "
- Publisher's Weekly

"What struck me most was his claim that, despite our quickly changing world of social media and altered interpersonal communications, ethics themselves have not changed much over time. Etiquette changes; social mores shift. But whether you're a Googler or a gladiator, the basic line stays the same: When in doubt about how to act, be good. We all know (pretty much) what that means."
- Oprah.com

"While there's plenty of common-sense inside this book, there's also lots to ponder about right and wrong."
- Alaska Journal

About the Author

Randy Cohen established himself as the author of the popular "The Ethicist" column in the New York Times Magazine, which he wrote for twelve years. He has appeared regularly on NPR, and is host of the radio series Person Place Thing. He lives in New York City.

Product details

Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: Chronicle Books; 1st Edition edition (August 22, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1452107904
ISBN-13: 978-1452107905
Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 1.1 x 8.5 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 68 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,075,120 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #4646 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Philosophy > Ethics & Morality

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Food for thought and ingredients for interesting conversations.

September 24, 2012

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

I was a huge fan of Randy Cohen's "The Ethicist" columns that ran in the Sunday New York Times Magazine for 12 years. I'm an even bigger fan of this new book based on that column. Because here he's not confined to two questions and 680 words per week. Here he can sort, arrange and share many of his favorite letters by topic and expand on the reasoning that went into his answers. There are chapters dedicated to Family; Home; Doctors & Nurses; Civic Life; Money; Animals; Sports; 9/ll, Iraq, Afghanistan; Work; Arts; Technology; Community; School; In Transit; Love & Sex and Religion ... each of them introduced by Cohen's overview of the subject matter in general before tackling specific questions. Often we'll learn how the questioner responded, a bit about reader reaction and, sometimes, Cohen's second thoughts based on those reactions.

This collection is also a lagniappe for all his fans who treated "The Ethicist" as a family game played at the breakfast table each Sunday--one person would read the question aloud, then go around the table for each person's answer...and only then would they read Cohen's answer and discuss it. Perhaps you'd like to join the fun. Here's a sampling of questions to ponder:

After the second time the police show up in response to a neighbor's noise complaint, the reader demands to know who complained, but the police refuse. Does he have the right to know? .... During a transatlantic flight, a request comes for any doctors on board to make themselves known. Four were on board, but only one came forward. Ethical? .... During the anthrax scare, a reader who filled a prescription for Cipro that he didn't need was criticized by friends for hoarding, but claims this is similar to stockpiling food or water for an emergency. Who's right? .... After a storm delay, the TSA made coach passengers wait three hours in the security line while first class passengers went to the front of the line and had no wait whatsoever. Ethical? .... Residents of a co-op had their apartment treated for bedbugs. Should they alert their neighbors? Even though the owner and the co-op board said not to? .... A friend revealed that he and his wife were expecting a baby, but said that info was confidential. Was the reader right in waiting until his friends went public to tell his wife? .... A man's fiancee is moving to his town from another state. When introducing her to his women friends, is he morally obligated to tell her he's slept with all of them? .... Is an atheist psychiatrist who's asked by a patient what religion he follows obligated to answer? .... Is a lapsed Catholic pall bearer at a Catholic funeral obligated to recite prayers, genuflect and cross himself during the ceremony? .... When a female client reaches out to shake hands with her Orthodox Jewish real estate agent, who refuses it on religious grounds, is she justified in tearing up the contract? (Cohen stopped counting the angry e-mails about his response to that last one when they hit four thousand.)

25 people found this helpful

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Read it, think about it, and get the discussions going

June 1, 2015

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Fascinating read that makes you think about what your values and ethics truly are, and more importantly, how they show up in real life. The format is especially useful: it's organized into topics so you can jump around as you want/need, and Cohen uses a question/answer structure based on real Q's from NYTimes readers. That keeps the content relevant and current. The author's writing style is easy to take, too. He's thorough, never hedges or leaves you guessing, and injects a lot of clever humor that is welcome in a tome about a touchy subject like ethics. I'm recommending it to friends and family and can't wait for the next Thanksgiving dinner to talk about some of this stuff!

One person found this helpful

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Be Good is Good

October 14, 2012

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Be Good is essentially an edited and annotated collection of columns from the Ethicist column of the NY Times. Randy Cohen addresses readers questions with insight, context, and where appropriate, a sharp wit. While not exactly a "guide to ethics" it is a collection of real problems with analysis of solutions, and sometimes follow up about what actually happened. Since ethics is more often than not, situational, one can learn more from the stories in the book than from something that would be more of a collection of rules. The structure of the book lends itself to be read in short bursts, so it is a perfect book to have with you to make good use of idle time. Be Good was surprisingly fun book to read, and provides both a framework for thinking of ethical issues and a cultural snapshot of the period in which the letters were written.

4 people found this helpful

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A great read filled with expert advice on Ethics

November 5, 2012

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

This is a VERY valuable book on Ethics which is also HIGHLY-ENTERTAINING.

MY FAVORITE THINGS ABOUT THIS BOOK:

1) STRUCTURE - Randy Cohen selected many of the best letters and responses to his "The Ethicist" column from over the years and grouped them BY CATEGORY (e.g., Work, Sports, Money, Military, Animal Rights). So here in one book you have Randy Cohen's "best-of" and organized by subject, which adds to the power of the material.

2) INTROs TO EACH CHAPTER - Cohen has written excellent short essays introducing each chapter.
- These add the "benefit of hindsight" to Randy's original takes on each topic, and
- They bring a freshness to each topic and make each very contemporary.

3) HUMOR - Cohen is an exceptionally funny writer, and there are many great lines in this book, making for a very pleasurable read.

Many of his readers know that Randy Cohen has won several Emmys for The David Letterman Show, and was also the Head Writer for the Rosie O'Donnell Show. So it's not exaggeration to say he's probably the funniest living expert on Ethics. I also like that his humor is very "New York" (with a nice dash of Woody Allen influence!)

4) ETHICS! The book really is a treasure-trove on the subject of Ethics, with a great deal of the wisdom that Cohen put into authoring his column: "The Ethicist," plus the additional research and new takes he provides now in 2012. And there's a great range to the topics he's able to cover, aided by the diversity of all the people who sent him letters to the NY Times over those 12 years.

I highly recommend this book as a very solid and practical guidebook on Ethics. It's a great read for anyone who wants to be a more ethical decision-maker in their life, as well as in their work. And it also makes for a great textbook for instructors who teach Ethics (as I do, in my project management courses).

2 people found this helpful

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William T. Masonis

This Might Not Make You Be Good - But It Might Make You Consider What Might Make You That Way

November 28, 2015

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

On the whole, a more than worthwhile exercise in ethical reasoning. Though I didn't agree with all his conclusions, the whole was worth considering, and provided fuel for my own ethical group to consider a variety of thorny issues. Often quite funny, this is worth reading, if only for its' range of issues; I reccomend it to anyone seeking a source of stimuli for ethical consideration.

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