Doing Good Better: Effective Altruism and a Radical New Way to Make a Difference
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- Create Date：2022-08-20 08:57:18
- Update Date：2025-09-07
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- Author：William MacAskill
- ISBN：1783350512
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Summary
Most of us want to make a difference。 We donate our time and money to charities and causes we deem worthy， choose careers we consider meaningful， and patronize businesses and buy products we believe make the world a better place。 Unfortunately， we often base these decisions on assumptions and emotions rather than facts。 As a result， even our best intentions often lead to ineffective—and sometimes downright harmful—outcomes。 How can we do better？
While a researcher at Oxford， trying to figure out which career would allow him to have the greatest impact， William MacAskill confronted this problem head on。 He discovered that much of the potential for change was being squandered by lack of information， bad data， and our own prejudice。 As an antidote， he and his colleagues developed effective altruism， a practical， data-driven approach that allows each of us to make a tremendous difference regardless of our resources。 Effective altruists believe that it’s not enough to simply do good; we must do good better。
At the core of this philosophy are five key questions that help guide our altruistic decisions: How many people benefit， and by how much？ Is this the most effective thing I can do？ Is this area neglected？ What would have happened otherwise？ What are the chances of success， and how good would success be？ By applying these questions to real-life scenarios， MacAskill shows how many of our assumptions about doing good are misguided。 For instance， he argues one can potentially save more lives by becoming a plastic surgeon rather than a heart surgeon; measuring overhead costs is an inaccurate gauge of a charity’s effectiveness; and， it generally doesn’t make sense for individuals to donate to disaster relief。
MacAskill urges us to think differently， set aside biases， and use evidence and careful reasoning rather than act on impulse。 When we do this—when we apply the head and the heart to each of our altruistic endeavors—we find that each of us has the power to do an astonishing amount of good。
While a researcher at Oxford， trying to figure out which career would allow him to have the greatest impact， William MacAskill confronted this problem head on。 He discovered that much of the potential for change was being squandered by lack of information， bad data， and our own prejudice。 As an antidote， he and his colleagues developed effective altruism， a practical， data-driven approach that allows each of us to make a tremendous difference regardless of our resources。 Effective altruists believe that it’s not enough to simply do good; we must do good better。
At the core of this philosophy are five key questions that help guide our altruistic decisions: How many people benefit， and by how much？ Is this the most effective thing I can do？ Is this area neglected？ What would have happened otherwise？ What are the chances of success， and how good would success be？ By applying these questions to real-life scenarios， MacAskill shows how many of our assumptions about doing good are misguided。 For instance， he argues one can potentially save more lives by becoming a plastic surgeon rather than a heart surgeon; measuring overhead costs is an inaccurate gauge of a charity’s effectiveness; and， it generally doesn’t make sense for individuals to donate to disaster relief。
MacAskill urges us to think differently， set aside biases， and use evidence and careful reasoning rather than act on impulse。 When we do this—when we apply the head and the heart to each of our altruistic endeavors—we find that each of us has the power to do an astonishing amount of good。
Reviews
Nathalie Maria
，
It is a great book， and the best introduction to Effecitive Altruism out there。 However， some of the points are somewhat outdated at this point。
Matt
，
This is a really excellent book。 I read it after finishing Peter Singer's book on Effective Altruism， The Most Good You Can Do。 In just about every respect， I think MacAskill's is better。 I liked it so much that I'll be assigning it as part of my introductory course in Philosophy， Politics， and Economics， starting this Fall。The main part of the book is organized around five key questions of Effective Altruism， which is a really helpful way of conveying what's distinctive about this approach。 Alo This is a really excellent book。 I read it after finishing Peter Singer's book on Effective Altruism， The Most Good You Can Do。 In just about every respect， I think MacAskill's is better。 I liked it so much that I'll be assigning it as part of my introductory course in Philosophy， Politics， and Economics， starting this Fall。The main part of the book is organized around five key questions of Effective Altruism， which is a really helpful way of conveying what's distinctive about this approach。 Along the way， there are a lot of useful discussions of marginal utility， expected value， and other ideas that are important to understand whether or not you sign on to the whole EA approach。 Singer's book， in contrast， was less clearly organized in its presentation of EA。The second part of the book discusses a number of "applied issues" for Effective Altruism， including the morality of sweatshop labor and how to choose a career designed to do good。 There's lots of interesting and provocative material in here， and I'm sure it's going to make for great classroom discussions。MacAskill covers a lot of ground in this book。 But he's clearly a very， very sharp philosopher and so even while moving fast， he doesn't misstep too often。 The only argument that struck me as fairly implausible was his attempt to defend the usefulness of voting on expected utility terms。 His general idea is that low probability but very high value endeavors can sometimes be a good use of one's time。 But I think he badly underestimates the degree of our ignorance on matters of politics， and overestimates our chance of making a difference in that domain。 Your vote probably isn't going to make a difference in who wields political power， and even if it did， how sure are you， really， that the person you want to be in power would actually be better for the world than their competitor？MacAskill is clearly committed to making the world a better place， and he wants you to be too。 But unlike Singer， who has always focused heavily on individuals' obligation to sacrifice their own interests for the interests of others， MacAskill focuses primarily on ensuring that when you do act on behalf of others， you're doing the most you can。 It's a subtle difference in emphasis， but the result is that MacAskill's book feels far less moralistic than Singer's。 I think this will make the book a lot more appealing to undergraduates。Highly recommended！ 。。。more
BookDoge
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Can truly recommend， please spread this highly valuable knowledge of effective altruism perfectly written by William MacAskill :）
Sathish
，
Sometimes you meet people who love saying "I'm a numbers person" and you can be 100% certain that they have no understanding of numbers。 William MacAskill is that guy。 Sometimes you meet people who love saying "I'm a numbers person" and you can be 100% certain that they have no understanding of numbers。 William MacAskill is that guy。 。。。more
Laura Sagen
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Useful read if unfamiliar with development economics。 Useful framework that strips emotions off your decisions around which causes are worth donating your time （career or volunteering） or money to。
Caitlin Spain
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Good book， though it gets redundant。
Mary
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I don’t think this has convinced me
Ben
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Comes highly recommended*get it shipped to you for free from your nearest EA community e。g。 EA new zealand
Will
，
An introduction to the ideas of effective altruism and the movement behind it
Bec Screnci
，
Makes you take a hard look at your life and weigh up the effectiveness of all the things you do to 'do good'。 It highlights many 'charities' that do good， and gives you the tools to be able to research this on your own。 Also highlights 'charities' that actually didn't do as much good as one would anticipate， so reminds you to be critical of every donation/investment you make when trying to be an altruist。Definitely leaves the reader with more questions than answers， which I guess is the point of Makes you take a hard look at your life and weigh up the effectiveness of all the things you do to 'do good'。 It highlights many 'charities' that do good， and gives you the tools to be able to research this on your own。 Also highlights 'charities' that actually didn't do as much good as one would anticipate， so reminds you to be critical of every donation/investment you make when trying to be an altruist。Definitely leaves the reader with more questions than answers， which I guess is the point of the book， to think about your actions， decide/calculate how you can make the biggest impact。This book was the first insight I got into really understanding that EA is a social science， and the amount of 'good' you do can be measured （to an estimated number， based on some assumptions）。 。。。more
Siddharth Nishar
，
An exceptionally clear， concise and direct treatise on the the why and how of Effective Altruism with actionable next steps for all readers。 Refreshingly clean streams of logic， on point examples and admirable intellectual honesty make this book an absolutely pleasure to read， perfect for a Saturday afternoon。 The topic is incredibly important （quite literally a matter of life and death） and is handled with dispassionate and serious consideration。
Jason
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This an interesting framework for considering altruism。 It's good overall， even though some of the methodologies are， by necessity， handwavy。 This an interesting framework for considering altruism。 It's good overall， even though some of the methodologies are， by necessity， handwavy。 。。。more
Freya Dixon-van Dijk
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Something everyone should read！
Carolina
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There was some really enlightening discussion of effective altruism， and some eye opening stats that probably a lot of people could do with reading （particularly surrounding discussion of the global 1% and the impact of individuals。） Definite highlight was the second half about effective altruism in action， in particular chapter 8 on ethical consumerism （and the discussion of moral licensing！） You do need to be in a certain mood to read it （particularly due to the amount of maths discussed！） but There was some really enlightening discussion of effective altruism， and some eye opening stats that probably a lot of people could do with reading （particularly surrounding discussion of the global 1% and the impact of individuals。） Definite highlight was the second half about effective altruism in action， in particular chapter 8 on ethical consumerism （and the discussion of moral licensing！） You do need to be in a certain mood to read it （particularly due to the amount of maths discussed！） but when you sit down and properly focus， it's fascinating。 My primary issue was that the book takes a very black and white perspective。 I particularly objected to the suggestion that we should ignore personal connections to causes and just donate to the most effective ones: if everyone took a completely unemotional standpoint when choosing where to donate， there would be so many causes that would become neglected。 Some campaigns and charities may be slightly less efficient， but this does not make their causes any less worthy （this does not， of course， apply to corrupt or ineffective charities）。 That said， it was a really interesting read and I'd definitely recommend it for a new perspective and things to think on。 。。。more
Gregg
，
This book completely changed the way I think about making charitable donations。 It uses moral philosophy and economic theory to raise the distinction between making donations that actually do good and donations that merely make you feel good。 Some donations make an objectively much larger impact than others （e。g。， measured in quality-adjusted life years）。 Some have very little impact at all。 And the author offers a framework for evaluating charitable activities along these lines。 As the book say This book completely changed the way I think about making charitable donations。 It uses moral philosophy and economic theory to raise the distinction between making donations that actually do good and donations that merely make you feel good。 Some donations make an objectively much larger impact than others （e。g。， measured in quality-adjusted life years）。 Some have very little impact at all。 And the author offers a framework for evaluating charitable activities along these lines。 As the book says， Effective Altruism answers the question "how can I do the most good？" It says you can figure that out by using evidence and careful reasoning in an honest and impartial attempt to work out what's best for the world and then committing to do what's best， whatever that turns out to be。 Spoiler alert: what's best may not be your favorite charity or even your favorite issue。 。。。more
B
，
Overall， fantastic intro to effective altruism。 Highly recommendNotes:Chapter 6 - Why Voting is Like Donating Thousands of Dollars to CharityThis chapter presents the very illuminating idea of using expected value to understand the impact of things that are effective if lots of people do them but （at least perceived as） ineffective if only one individual does them。 Examples include voting （it is extremely unlikely that your vote will swing the election）; reducing CO2 footprint （unlikely your red Overall， fantastic intro to effective altruism。 Highly recommendNotes:Chapter 6 - Why Voting is Like Donating Thousands of Dollars to CharityThis chapter presents the very illuminating idea of using expected value to understand the impact of things that are effective if lots of people do them but （at least perceived as） ineffective if only one individual does them。 Examples include voting （it is extremely unlikely that your vote will swing the election）; reducing CO2 footprint （unlikely your reduction will have a meaningful impact on its own）; buying less meat; etc。 In cases like these， we don't literally mean that what the individual does doesn't matter， since the group is merely the sum of individuals。 So we know that some individual's action will matter， we just don't know who and in which circumstances。 But if we have a rough idea of the chance that a given individual will "turn the tide" one way or another， and if we have a rough estimate of the expected value of such an event， we can easily calculate the expected value of that particular individual taking that particular action。 For example， maybe the chance that you reducing your CO2 footprint only has a 1/1，000，000，000，000 chance of meaningfully reducing overall global warming; but we know if it just so happens that your reduction is the "tipping point" that leads to a meaningful reduction in overall warming， then the overall dollar value might be $100，000，000，000，000。 If we assume the cost to you of reducing your CO2 footprint is valued at $10， then the expected value of doing so would still be positive: （$100，000，000，000，000 * 1/1，000，000，000，000） - （$10 * 1） = $90。 。。。more
Achmad Lutfi
，
Gagasan yang dipaparkan dalam buku ini bagi saya sangat relevan。 Pernah di suatu waktu diberi tanggung jawab mengelola penyaluran dana donasi。 Bukan sekali dua kali， tetapi donasi yang dilakukan rutin setiap bulan。Saya sepakat apa kata penulis， bahwa bahkan dalam persoalan melakukan kebaikan， mestilah kita mengelola dengan manajemen yang rapih， tertata， dan tepat guna。Karena tanpa pengelolaan yang baik， penyaluran donasi tidak akan optimal， bahkan benar， justru berpotensi mengurangi manfaat dona Gagasan yang dipaparkan dalam buku ini bagi saya sangat relevan。 Pernah di suatu waktu diberi tanggung jawab mengelola penyaluran dana donasi。 Bukan sekali dua kali， tetapi donasi yang dilakukan rutin setiap bulan。Saya sepakat apa kata penulis， bahwa bahkan dalam persoalan melakukan kebaikan， mestilah kita mengelola dengan manajemen yang rapih， tertata， dan tepat guna。Karena tanpa pengelolaan yang baik， penyaluran donasi tidak akan optimal， bahkan benar， justru berpotensi mengurangi manfaat donasi tersebut secara nilai， sementara di tempat yang lain sangat mungkin ada yang lebih memerlukan。Buku ini mengajarkan skala prioritas dalam memberi。 Bukan mengabaikan atau mengacuhkan yang terdekat， namun mengutamakan yang paling darurat。"If you want to make the biggest impact， you need to develop the skills to do so – rushing out to Africa to build schools is useless if you don’t know the first thing about building。"Saya suka kalimat ini。 Betul sekali bahwa niat dan motivasi yang baik saja tidak cukup。 Harus ada upaya dari kita untuk memenuhi wawasan dan ilmu terkait。 Agar kebaikan itu tidak jadi sia-sia atau sekadar disampaikan。Dan terakhir， sebagai donatur， baik rutin ataupun tidak， selayaknya kita juga banyak membaca dan banyak menyerao informasi， soal bagaimana dana kita disalurkan， untuk siapa dan apa dampaknya。Sekali lagi， menjadi orang baik juga harus cerdas dan peduli。 。。。more
Natasha
，
Well written， clearly laid out frameworks for thinking about donations/careers/causes
Reed Schwartz
，
this discounts careers in the public sector too heavily imo but I would prescribe it to people suffering from terminal consultant brain
Alex Davis
，
One of the best summaries of effective altruism books that I’ve read。 As of today， this topic probably takes up more of my brain than any other so highly recommend too any interested friends out there！
Joel
，
A book about effective altruism！ This book articulates well all of the reasons that we are thinking about charity wrong and boldly identifies ways that we can do better
Soopa
，
Lots of interesting factoids contained in this book。 A good introduction to effective altruism。
Paul Booker
，
Pragmatic and powerful
Tom
，
It is well and clearly written。 Perfect to get a first glimps on effective altruism。
Andy
，
This book is incredibly frustrating。 I had to keep taking breaks to vent about its logic to my friends and family， just to reassure myself that I wasn't crazy。MacAskill's whole thing is using fast-and-loose economics to become a financially optimal good person （perhaps the best person）。 The result feels like a utilitarian hellscape: the "quality-adjusted life year per dollar" is his metric for what a good charitable cause is （nevermind the haziness or incompleteness of this metric）， and now that This book is incredibly frustrating。 I had to keep taking breaks to vent about its logic to my friends and family， just to reassure myself that I wasn't crazy。MacAskill's whole thing is using fast-and-loose economics to become a financially optimal good person （perhaps the best person）。 The result feels like a utilitarian hellscape: the "quality-adjusted life year per dollar" is his metric for what a good charitable cause is （nevermind the haziness or incompleteness of this metric）， and now that we have this number we can just compare everything。 Subjectivity is solved， intellect triumphs。I'm not going to do my itemized list of all the arguments in here that I hate， but I'll say that MacAskill comes across as strangely out of touch。 He seems to consistently misinterpret why people want to do good and how they make their decisions， while very haphazardly applying intellectual rigor to some areas and not others （he takes a particularly weird potshot at ethical consumerism which almost feels。。。 defensive？）。 The result feels uncritically capitalist。 The person this book seems to want you to become is Bill Gates。As a pamphlet this book might do okay。 People should donate more， and this book offers a few useful metrics for deciding what causes will make good use of your money。 But as a full-length book， as a moral framework and not a handful of tips， I think it's a failure。 It abstracts altruism down to a game of number maximization， it snipes at anyone who would dare make a symbolic stand against the status quo （"but did you ever consider that sweatshop workers need jobs？"）， and it seems tailor-made to make rich people feel okay with themselves。 Because hey， my wealth is your wealth。 I give to all the best charities。 。。。more
Luis Cancilleri
，
MacAskill shows you different paths to effective altruism by doing good in different ways。First， in your career by helping you choose the best one， with 80，000 hours by earning to give， being a volunteer， or helping/collaborating in some way to an effective organization。Another interesting thing about the book and characteristic of those effective organizations is asking ourselves， before thinking of being part of one or donating， is asking some questions， you may call it "reflections"， but for MacAskill shows you different paths to effective altruism by doing good in different ways。First， in your career by helping you choose the best one， with 80，000 hours by earning to give， being a volunteer， or helping/collaborating in some way to an effective organization。Another interesting thing about the book and characteristic of those effective organizations is asking ourselves， before thinking of being part of one or donating， is asking some questions， you may call it "reflections"， but for me is something not just to implement when you want to do altruism but life in general - for work and personal life as well。Altruism is more than giving money， is actually much more than that， is filling that hole that most of us have by helping others in the most effective way， knowing that we can apply some concepts from the private industry to this sector to help you understand that anything you do in life will have an impact， hoping that the dots connect in the future - using your skills and experience we can make a difference， and taking the time to analyze everything we do - is necessary。 。。。more
Kevin
，
Dit boek legt uit hoe je de effectiviteit van elke euro die je doneert kan maximaliseren。 Zo is het 100 keer zo effectief om te doneren aan het armste land ter wereld dan aan arme mensen in je eigen land。 Het enige zwakke punt aan het boek vind ik het voorbeeld dat ze geven om CO2 te compenseren door te doneren aan Cool Earth。 Dit is effectiever dan vegetariër zijn。 Mijn vraag is alleen waar de limiet hieraan ligt: niet elke wereldbewoner kan hier even veel aan toevoegen， right？ Dit wordt niet t Dit boek legt uit hoe je de effectiviteit van elke euro die je doneert kan maximaliseren。 Zo is het 100 keer zo effectief om te doneren aan het armste land ter wereld dan aan arme mensen in je eigen land。 Het enige zwakke punt aan het boek vind ik het voorbeeld dat ze geven om CO2 te compenseren door te doneren aan Cool Earth。 Dit is effectiever dan vegetariër zijn。 Mijn vraag is alleen waar de limiet hieraan ligt: niet elke wereldbewoner kan hier even veel aan toevoegen， right？ Dit wordt niet toegelicht。 。。。more
Dave Banerjee
，
Well-written and clear。 In my opinion， this is a better introduction to EA ideas than the Arete Fellowship and other introductory EA fellowships。
Janna Van Den Berg
，
Een mooi vervolg op feitenkennis。 Eerste helft gaat voornamelijk over goeden doelen。 Tweede deel ook over andere manieren van bijdrage。 In het kader van ‘wie/wat inspireert jou’ en ‘haal je het best uit het leven’ heel interessant。 Ook gelijk als boek gekocht， naast audio book。 Nog een keer lezen， want cijfers en opsommingen zijn moeilijk qua focus。 Dan wat mij betreft uitlenen aan iedereen die maar wil！
Pete
，