Doing Good Better is a superb achievement. Will MacAskill, a leader of the effective altruism movement, and a rising star in philosophy, now displays his talent for telling stories that pack a punch. This must-read book will lead people to change their careers, their lives, and the world, for the better.
— Peter Singer
William MacAskill shows that we can make a surprisingly large life-changing difference to those in disadvantaged parts of the world — provided that our altruistic impulses are intelligently channelled. This fascinating and clearly-written book deserves wide readership: it can in itself do great good if its message is heeded.
— Sir Martin Rees
"[MacAskill] provides a straightforward guide to help anyone make the largest possible difference in the lives of others...a manual for how to harness your generosity as effectively as possible — on a scale both small and large."
— Sue Desmond-Hellman, MD, MPH
Effective altruism — efforts that actually help people rather than making you feel good or helping you show off — is one of the great new ideas of the 21st century. Doing Good Better is the definitive guide to this exciting new movement.
— Steven Pinker
"I found MacAskill’s ideas on Effective Altruism fascinating and worthy of argument."
— Rajesh Mirchandani
Will has a rare combination of gifts — the intelligence to develop new ideas, the clarity to convey them to a wider audience, and the motivation to bring them to life in the real world. Will has motivated a small army of the most talented young people to dedicate their lives to doing good, and it's been my pleasure to get to know them. Humanity faces some big challenges in the 21st century, and I'm glad the effective altruism movement exists to tackle them."
— Eric Drexler
"Many of the concepts laid out in Doing Good Better--such as counterfactuals, diminishing marginal utility, and fat tail distributions--will be familiar to economists. What is unusual is to see these tools used to develop a practical guide on how to live an ethical life. MacAskill doesn’t tell you what choices to make; instead he sets out a simple framework for how to think through decisions."
— Dr. Rachel Glennerster
"Beautifully written and extremely smart. Doing Good Better should be required reading for anyone interested in making the world better."
— Steven Levitt