It’s a decade since the launch of philosopher Peter Singer’s seminal The Life You Can Save: Acting Now to End World Poverty. The book, which argues for our obligations toward those living in poverty and outlines paths for action, led to the founding of an organisation of the same name and gave momentum to the then-emerging effective altruism movement.
Now, the updated tenth-anniversary edition of The Life You Can Save is available for free as an ebook and audiobook. This is exciting news for those of us here at Charity Entrepreneurship. By drawing attention to the huge potential of effective charitable interventions, The Life You Can Save has been a major inspiration to CE’s founders, as well as many alumni and staff.
“The Life You Can Save made me an effective altruist,” says Vicky Cox, one of our research analysts. “I'm grateful that I've read a book that made me realize that altruism can be a full-time life project and re-directed my life to a more impactful and meaningful path.”
Photo from one of EA meetings in London. Joey Savoie (CE Strategy Director), Karolina Sarek (CE Research Director), Peter Singer, Ula Zarosa (CE Digital Media Manager).
Professor Peter Singer was a guest speaker at Charity Entrepreneurship’s 2019 Incubation Program, inspiring the founders-to-be in their efforts. In fact, many at CE aim to found charities that are effective enough to be featured in the recommendations of impact-driven evaluators such as The Life You Can Save and GiveWell. Urszula Zarosa, a PhD graduate and Digital Media Manager at Charity Entrepreneurship, reflects on how The Life You Can Save helped her to move from ideas to action. “As a young animal activist and philosophy student, I had many doubts. Where is all this going? Are we really helping animals? The Life You Can Save pushed me towards looking for impactful interventions. In the end, I joined CE to support a group of talented researchers in their endeavor to answer exactly the same concerns I had and transform the ideas and research into effective interventions.” The launch of the free tenth-anniversary edition of The Life You Can Save represents a fantastic opportunity to spread the word about effective charity with your friends and family over the holiday season. It’s engaging reading material for long cozy evenings around the fireplace and long balmy southern-hemisphere summer evenings -- and it might just change someone’s life.
“The Life You Can Save single-handedly changed the entire course of my life,” says Thomas Billington, a graduate of CE’s incubation program and co-founder of the Fish Welfare Initiative. “It is a must-read for anyone who wants to make the world a better place.”
The full The Life You Can Save ebook is available for free, as is an audiobook version featuring narration by Stephen Fry, The Good Place star Kristen Bell, and more. Hard copies can be purchased via Amazon and in bookstores.
PRAISE FOR THE LIFE YOU CAN SAVE (FROM THEIR WEBSITE):
“A persuasive and inspiring work that will change the way you think about philanthropy ... and that shows us we can make a profound difference in the lives of the world’s poorest.” --Bill & Melinda Gates
“Mr. Singer is far from the world’s only serious thinker on poverty, but with The Life You Can Save he becomes, instantly, its most readable and lapel-grabbing one.” --The New York Times
“Mr. Singer is a compelling moral voice seeking far more compassion for those who have the least.” ---The Wall Street Journal
Kristen Bell is one of the audiobook narrators! Image source: https://www.thelifeyoucansave.org/the-book/
LINKS
Download The Life You Can Save as a free ebook and/or audiobook
Calculate the impact of your potential donations with The Life You Can Save’s tool
Watch Peter Singer’s TED Talk on effective charity