Review: How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question by 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 2,500 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. ~ Goodreads

Source: ALC (Advanced listening copy) provided by Libro.fm via Simon & Schuster

Narrated by: Michael Schur (author), Michael Schur, Kristen Bell, D'Arcy Carden, Ted Danson, William Jackson Harper, Manny Jacinto, Marc Evan Jackson, Jameela Jamil & Todd May

• Length: 9 hours 13 minutes
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Review: Written by Michael Schur, the creator of the comedy series, The Good Place, a series that centers on the philosophy of morality and ethics, How to Be Perfect expands on and explores those themes in a lighthearted, humorous - yet still informative and thought provoking - way.

I have never seen the series but Schur has a very inquisitive, open mind on the subject and is willing to be self reflective about some of his own actions where his morality and ethics came into question. 

How to Be Perfect explains most of the major philosophical concepts regarding ethics and then applies the theories to a hypothetical situation. Such as the thought experiment,  the trolley problem - where you could save 5 people by diverting the trolley and allowing one person to die instead.

Schur also delves into more recent debates like football teams with offensive names, cancel culture and mask wearing.

Honestly, this book could not be more timely and could have been written entirely about mask wearing and vaccine mandates (but that would be a downer and I'm glad he didn't lol) . More interestingly though, is that even though Schur has a distinct point of view - I think anyone could come out of any debate with a different answer with a philosophical approach to match their opinion. 

Each philosophy takes a different approach but still finds their way ethical using the principles of utilitarianism, consequentialism, contractualism, virtue ethics, existentialism and others. While one theory may espouse *being good* is by sacrificing and helping others, another theory believes being good to oneself above all others is of the highest moral value.  

In the end - it's all sort of arbitrary and the philosophers themselves could be deeply problematic - some believing women, Black people and the poor weren't even worthy of entering the discussion. Some were even Nazi sympathizers and twisted their theories in knots to make that work out in their brains. 

I listened to the audiobook and I really think that's the way to go. It has a full cast of narrators  - the author and the cast from The Good Place: Kristen Bell, D'Arcy Carden, Ted Danson, William Jackson Harper, Manny Jacinto, Marc Evan Jackson, Jameela Jamil & Todd May, They really help to make the drier subject matter come to life. 

There are a lot of footnotes and they are denoted by two different tones for the start and finish. That was super helpful and not confusing to me at all. 

If I have one complaint with this book is that the author felt the need to fill every space with a joke. He's a comedic writer and I get that he's trying to make something dry and possibly boring more palatable, but while often very funny, it wore a little thin sometimes. 

Overall this was a fun read and got me thinking. Can we be perfect? No. Because all of our choices have consequences for someone. Even with the best intentions, there is a ripple effect. Schur mentions what he coined - the moral exhaustion effect - and yessss. As good as you try to be - research where you get your food, or what car you drive or any other decision that you investigate to try to have the least impact possible - it can be getting exhausting.

Is it still worth trying to be a better persona and do the right thing? I say yes. We will screw up, get better informed, dust ourselves off and try again. We can't afford to do otherwise. 

This book is book #2 (out of 5-10) read for 2022 Audiobook Challenge hosted by Caffeinated Reviewer and That's What I'm Talking About (click on banner to learn more about the challenge)