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Peter Singer

The Life You Can Save: Acting Now to End World Poverty Hardcover – March 3, 2009

by Peter Singer (Author)

4.5 339 ratings

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This is the right time to ask yourself: “What should I be doing to help?”

For the first time in history, it is now within our reach to eradicate world poverty and the suffering it brings. Yet around the world, a billion people struggle to live each day on less than many of us pay for bottled water. And though the number of deaths attributable to poverty worldwide has fallen dramatically in the past half-century, nearly ten million children still die unnecessarily each year. The people of the developed world face a profound choice: If we are not to turn our backs on a fifth of the world’s population, we must become part of the solution.

In The Life You Can Save, philosopher Peter Singer, named one of “The 100 Most Influential People in the World” by Time magazine, uses ethical arguments, provocative thought experiments, illuminating examples, and case studies of charitable giving to show that our current response to world poverty is not only insufficient but ethically indefensible.

Singer contends that we need to change our views of what is involved in living an ethical life. To help us play our part in bringing about that change, he offers a seven-point plan that mixes personal philanthropy (figuring how much to give and how best to give it), local activism (spreading the word in your community), and political awareness (contacting your representatives to ensure that your nation’s foreign aid is really directed to the world’s poorest people).

In The Life You Can Save, Singer makes the irrefutable argument that giving will make a huge difference in the lives of others, without diminishing the quality of our own. This book is an urgent call to action and a hopeful primer on the power of compassion, when mixed with rigorous investigation and careful reasoning, to lift others out of despair.

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Print length

224 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Random House
Publication date

March 3, 2009
Dimensions

5.75 x 0.88 x 8.55 inches
ISBN-10

1400067103
ISBN-13

978-1400067107
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The Most Good You Can Do: How Effective Altruism Is Changing Ideas About Living Ethically
Peter Singer
615
Paperback
-38%$11.13
List: $18.00
$10.08 shipping

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339 global ratings

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Customers find the book very insightful, interesting, and refreshing. They describe it as a wonderful, important, and special read. Readers praise the writing style as well-written, concise, and clear.

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Thought provoking Readability Writing style

27 customers mention "Thought provoking"27 positive0 negative

Customers find the book insightful, philosophical, and refreshing. They appreciate the concrete suggestions for implications. Readers also say it's crucially important to philosophers and philosophical novices alike. Additionally, they mention it has great information on how you can find a worthwhile organization.

"...This argument is valid, and I think sound, so if one is to reject the conclusion, one MUST reject one (or more) of the premises...." Read more

"...This book shows you where your money goes best. It does talk quite a bit about ethical and moral obligations to help those in need...." Read more

"The book is Philosophical in nature, makes several good points, but needs updated...." Read more

"...Singer presents an incredibly well-researched review of the circumstances of the developing world, the organizations that address global poverty,..." Read more

25 customers mention "Readability"25 positive0 negative

Customers find the book wonderful, important, and convincing. They say it's a quick read that provides a good overview of effective altruism. Readers also mention the quality is like new and the author makes an extremely compelling case.

"In this relatively short book, Professor Singer makes an extremely compelling case for why it is morally obligatory for capable individuals to aid..." Read more

"...However, this book is valid and relevant to the world's needs. Highly recommended!" Read more

"...He presents a clear, compelling, and substantiated ethical argument that westerners (of varying levels of wealth) have a fundamental and moral..." Read more

"...A quick read that gives a good overview of the effective altruism movement, and highlights key charities making a difference, such as the Fred..." Read more

14 customers mention "Writing style"14 positive0 negative

Customers find the writing style well-written, easy to read, and concise. They appreciate the amazing clarity and simplicity of the message. Readers also say the book gets its point across well.

"...Professor Singer's logic is solid throughout. His writing is both lucid and entertaining, making this work accessible, absorbing and crucially..." Read more

"...This would be a nice transition/break from statistics...more reader friendly. However, this book is valid and relevant to the world's needs...." Read more

"...He presents a clear, compelling, and substantiated ethical argument that westerners (of varying levels of wealth) have a fundamental and moral..." Read more

"...I find I come away feeling joyful and clear minded after reading a chapter...." Read more

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Travis M. Timmerman

A brilliant work of philosophy that everyone should read!

Reviewed in the United States on March 12, 2009

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In this relatively short book, Professor Singer makes an extremely compelling case for why it is morally obligatory for capable individuals to aid beings that suffer. Those that are familiar with his previous work will recognize his basic arguments on poverty, which he has been expanding upon for over three decades. For those who are unfamiliar with Peter Singer, the argument he expands upon in this book is quoted as follows...

1.) "Suffering and death from lack of food, shelter and medical care are bad."
2.) "If it is in your power to prevent something bad from happening, without sacrificing anything nearly as important, it is wrong not to do so."
3.) "By donating to aid agencies, you can prevent suffering and death from lack of food, shelter and medical care, without sacrificing anything nearly as important."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Conclusion - "Therefore, if you do not donate to aid agencies, you are doing something wrong."

This argument is valid, and I think sound, so if one is to reject the conclusion, one MUST reject one (or more) of the premises. If they accept the premises, then they MUST accept the conclusion.

Professor Singer's logic is solid throughout. His writing is both lucid and entertaining, making this work accessible, absorbing and crucially important to philosophers and philosophical novices alike. This is simply a must read for everyone.

55 people found this helpful

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sun_muse

Good information and good to know facts and statistics

Reviewed in the United States on January 4, 2014

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I have wanted to contribute more but in a way that would make the greatest impact. This book shows you where your money goes best. It does talk quite a bit about ethical and moral obligations to help those in need. I happen to agree with this viewpoint, but I can see others points of view that says this comes off as a bit judgmental. However, I appreciate Singer's decision not to sugarcoat and unapologetically describe how we are obligated to help others when we are born into privilege and first-world opportunities. I think Singer could spend more time describing how he came at his recommended percentages of income to give. I also love hearing about people's stories (which I read on his website) about their experience in giving. This would be a nice transition/break from statistics...more reader friendly. However, this book is valid and relevant to the world's needs. Highly recommended!

3 people found this helpful

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Pat Hallquist

Could be a bit more pragmatic and needs updating.

Reviewed in the United States on February 6, 2015

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The book is Philosophical in nature, makes several good points, but needs updated. A recent study detailed that 1 billion people came out or extreme poverty between 1990 and 2010. Matt Damon who has water.org, makes the point that a billion people got clean water because they got jobs and could obtain the water via their own resources. Only some got clean water through NGO's. I would guess that both NGO's and economic growth contributed to the billion coming out of poverty, but a majority of these folks who came out of poverty did it by getting access to electricity and jobs. Equatorial New Guinea has enough oil wealth such that all citizens could have income equal to the United Kingdom, but 75% live on $2.00 a day or less. Much of the world in poverty has corrupt governments which makes it impossible to build the infra-structure to bring electricity and jobs. Our Friend Mary started Kenya Works because she found creating jobs allowed folks to have income to make their own decisions and get out of extreme poverty.

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Stephanie G.

This is easily the most transformative book I have ever read

Reviewed in the United States on August 9, 2014

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This is easily the most transformative book I have ever read. I frequently lend one of my four copies to students and friends who are interested in poverty, ethics, and global issues. It has also altered the way I live and how I spent my money. Singer presents an incredibly well-researched review of the circumstances of the developing world, the organizations that address global poverty, and the philanthropic efforts of the western world's wealthy. He presents a clear, compelling, and substantiated ethical argument that westerners (of varying levels of wealth) have a fundamental and moral obligation to involve themselves in addressing global poverty. He is one of the greatest thinkers of our time.

6 people found this helpful

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Sean Tubridy

I truly loved this book

Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2018

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I truly loved this book, and it helped make a meaningful difference in my giving. While it start's out heavy with the logical and moral argument for giving our surplus funds, or those things that we consider as necessities but perhaps are more guilty pleasures, to make an immediate and measurable impact in the world's neediest areas. A quick read that gives a good overview of the effective altruism movement, and highlights key charities making a difference, such as the Fred Hollows Foundation and the Against Malaria Foundation.

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Doctor Robert

Compelling Critical Thought for the Reasonable and the Emotional

Reviewed in the United States on March 19, 2009

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Dr. Singer has a knack for finding ways to engage others in reasoned, principled, critical thought on difficult moral issues without resorting to name calling, arrogance, or emotional tantrum. Dr. Singer uses concrete language to share an argument in favor of acting to end world poverty. He offers his best summary of the evidence in favor of his argument. He outlines possible counter arguments. He shares further evidence to challenge these counter arguments. Then, he wraps things up by offering is own thoughts on how a reasonable, ethical person might choose to put his principles into daily practice. He doesn't demand. He simply shares his arguments and offers evidence. He leaves it up to me to decide how I mght act (if at all) to end world poverty. What more could I ask for? I wanted to read a work of philosophy that would engage me in reasoned reflection. Dr. Singer's book gave me exactly what I wanted.

5 people found this helpful

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A. Lethlean

Amazing!

Reviewed in the United States on August 2, 2015

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Peter Singer is a wonderful and inspiring writer. His ability to target and expand on all aspects of charitable giving and look at them reasonably, is a refreshing read; and one of high level thinking. I find I come away feeling joyful and clear minded after reading a chapter. His capacity to link effective conscious giving, with a persons life purpose and happiness brilliant. One of the great books of our time.

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Sajda Parween

A Must read book

Reviewed in India on April 1, 2021

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Must read if you are into fundraising.

rafael

With Great Knowledge Comes Great Responsibility…

Reviewed in Brazil on October 31, 2017

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It's impossible to read this book and not feel touched about it, about the fact that we can do so much for people with so little - that is the case the author states, that all of us have much more means than we think to help others. It's a vast and deep exploration about giving, and how to do it with efficiency.

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roberto crespo

Ci sono libri che ci cambiano la vita...Quando ho letto questo libro, si è accesa in me una grande luce di esperanza. Quest'anno

Reviewed in Italy on October 29, 2016

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Consiglio questo libro a quelli che pensano che non c'è posto per utopie!!!
Realmente dona un senso di umanità, paragonabile al "Banchiere dei poveri" di Muhammad Yunus, il mio libro preferito...che guarda caso viene anche citato!!!

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Mike

Cоnvincing and Urgent

Reviewed in Canada on September 5, 2016

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What if someone would tell you, that despite your best intentions, you can't claim to lead a moral life? That even though you don't harm others, you keep your promises, you don't cheat or lie, you support your children and elderly parents and maybe even volunteer in your community, your claim to a moral life is questionable?
That's exactly what Peter Singer does in "The Life You Can Save". And the more I think about it, the more sense it makes to me.
The book starts with a simple moral argument:
1) Suffering and death from a lack of food, shelter and medical aid are bad
2) If it is in your power to prevent something bad from happening, without sacrificing anything nearly as important, it is wrong not to do so
3) By donating to aid agencies, you can prevent suffering and death from a lack of food, shelter and medical aid, without sacrificing anything nearly as important
4) Therefore, if you do not donate to aid agencies, you are doing something wrong.
This is a simple argument, but if it's true, than it has some serious implications. Singer argues that not donating money to prevent death from curable diseases is morally equivalent to seeing a child drowning in a lake, and not doing anything to save him.
The book is divided into 4 parts. In the first Singer presents his moral argument and persuasively replies to objections to it. Common objections include:
- "a drop in the ocean" argument (the fact that many more won't be helped by your donations doesn't change the fact that you can save someone's life)
- the "giving people money or food breeds dependency" argument (it's correct, and that's why many aid organizations today aim at helping communities become self-sufficient)
- the "we (the West) already give enough" argument (no, we don't - on average, from every $100 of GDP of developed countries, only $0.18 go to foreign aid)
- and the ever popular "we should help our own poor first" argument (the relatively poor people in developed country, despite the challenges they face, still have access to healthcare, education and other basic needs, which puts them in an immensely better position then the extremely poor in India or Sub-Sahara).

In the 2nd part, Singer reviews the causes for objections to giving money to strangers in faraway countries. These have to do with our moral intuitions and the human nature. For example, people are moved by the needs of concrete people that have faces and names, rather than groups of people. Experiments show that people are more likely to donate to save one child, than to donate to save 10 children. Singer argues that while we can't do much to change our intuitions, we are also capable of rational thinking, which can change our behavior. That's really what this book is all about.

In 3rd part Singer presents basic facts about the work of aid agencies such as Oxfam, and calculates how much does it cost to save a life. His calculations should persuade even skeptics, since he painstakingly calculates for example how many mosquito nets are required to save 1 life (some children won't die even without a mosquito net). At the end he arrives at a figure of somewhere between $200 - $2000, that are required to save 1 life. But aid isn't only about saving lives, it's also about immensely improving the quality of life. For example, there are millions of people that are blind due to cataracts, that could see again with a simple surgery.

In the last part of the book, Singer asks how much should we donate. In tune with his rational approach, he develops a progressive scale, on which the donation level increases with the income, similarly to how income taxes work.
Singer argues that if every person from the "golden billion" would contribute 1% of his income to meet the basic needs of the extremely poor 1.4 billion people, that would be enough. But since most people don't donate, those that do, have to donate more (he argues that doing "your fair share" isn't enough, you should do the maximum you can).

This is a book that everyone, even modestly interested in the bigger world, should read. You can decide that you don't have enough to spare or that there other goals you are already committed to. But at least allow yourself to be persuaded.

RWP

A must read!

Reviewed in France on November 12, 2015

Verified Purchase

Change my vision of what one can do to change this world! Easy to read with strong arguments. one suddenly becomes sensitive to the world surrounding us

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