How to Be Perfect

Books | Humor / Topic / Celebrity & Popular Culture

4.4

(151)

Michael Schur

From the creator of The Good Place and the cocreator of Parks and Recreation, a hilarious, thought-provoking guide to living an ethical life, drawing on 2,400 years of deep thinking from around the world.Most people think of themselves as “good,” but it’s not always easy to determine what’s “good” or “bad”—especially in a world filled with complicated choices and pitfalls and booby traps and bad advice. Fortunately, many smart philosophers have been pondering this conundrum for millennia and they have guidance for us. With bright wit and deep insight, How to Be Perfect explains concepts like deontology, utilitarianism, existentialism, ubuntu, and more so we can sound cool at parties and become better people. Schur starts off with easy ethical questions like “Should I punch my friend in the face for no reason?” (No.) and works his way up to the most complex moral issues we all face. Such as: Can I still enjoy great art if it was created by terrible people? How much money should I give to charity? Why bother being good at all when there are no consequences for being bad? And much more. By the time the book is done, we’ll know exactly how to act in every conceivable situation, so as to produce a verifiably maximal amount of moral good. We will be perfect, and all our friends will be jealous. OK, not quite. Instead, we’ll gain fresh, funny, inspiring wisdom on the toughest issues we face every day.

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More Details:

Author

Michael Schur

Pages

304

Publisher

Simon and Schuster

Published Date

2022-01-25

ISBN

1982159332 9781982159337

Community ReviewsSee all

"Glib and preachy. Ugh"

Fred

"moral philosophy, but fun"

whiskyjay

"Hilarious and so smart, a really easy way to get into philosophy if you are new."

Arden🩻

"I never thought philosophy could be relaxing, but Schur proved me wrong. I was eager to get into bed every night and decompress while being pleasantly presented with moral quandaries and a variety of ways to approach them. <br/><br/>Schur’s voice and comedic use of footnotes made the reading experience even more enjoyable, and I truly learned a lot."

K R

Kayla Randolph

"One of the easiest 5 stars I’ve given this year. I listened to the audiobook and highly recommend it, as it is read by most of the Good Place cast and is just such a fun read. Mike Schur has such a fun yet personal delivery and makes this book, that takes on such a massive and complicated topic, an impossibly light read. It’s a fantastic intro and overview of moral philosophy and I’d recommend it to anyone!"

Olivia Cook

"A book that everyone should read! I don’t claim to be an “ethics” person (as in this was the first ethics book I’ve ever touched) and I felt as though all of the different principles were described very well. On top of that, I appreciated how humble the author is and made ethics seem very approachable. He is very realistic in what he proposes we should all do to be “good people.” Well worth the read!! "

A K

Alyssa Kelly

"Amazing, super funny. Probably doesn't have reread value for me, but was an enjoyable read. (LOVED the audiobook)"