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How to Be Perfect
- The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question
- Narrated by: Michael Schur, Kristen Bell, D'Arcy Carden, Ted Danson, William Jackson Harper, Manny Jacinto, Marc Evan Jackson, Jameela Jamil, Todd May
- Length: 9 hrs and 13 mins
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Publisher's Summary
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. Read by the author, this one-of-a-kind audio production features guest appearances by members of the cast of The Good Place.
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. Okay, not quite. Instead, we’ll gain fresh, funny, inspiring wisdom on the toughest issues we face every day.
How to Be Perfect is narrated by Michael Schur, Kristen Bell, D’Arcy Carden, Ted Danson, William Jackson Harper, Manny Jacinto, Marc Evan Jackson, Jameela Jamil, and Todd May!
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What the critics say
"Michael Schur and the cast of "The Good Place" once again collaborate, this time to ponder today’s toughest moral questions using philosophical views from the East and West. Schur delivers hilarious sarcasm as he tackles ethics and explains how to balance morality and achieve virtue. Friendly and inviting sounding, he is able to take the difficult, oftentimes dry topic of philosophy and make it engaging and entertaining. Using a simple and steady pace, Schur's narration is coupled with signature voices from the show, including Ted Danson and Kristen Bell. The entire cast makes this production an intriguing and funny way to introduce or reintroduce oneself to philosophy and achieve goodness." (AudioFile Magazine)
What listeners say about How to Be Perfect
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Brock McLaughlin
- 2022-12-21
The most beautiful book of 2022
I loved it. Insightful, fun and thought provoking. Can’t wait to hear again. Well done
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- Alex
- 2023-02-23
Good book that helps you think about things
Only loses a star because it feels like it loses its way in the last 2 hours, starts going on about luck a lot without heralding it back to the point and feels like he says the same thing in a different way over and over. Otherwise, great “idiots guide to moral philosophy” with The Good Place vibes.
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- Michael
- 2022-03-20
You learn how to be a better person while laughing
I'm big fan of the show the good place and I just happened to be taking a university course on moral philosophy when I heard about this book! so I though it was perfect timing! I really enjoyed listening to this book and thought it gave a fun and entertaining overview of some basic philosophy principles and theories.
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- Brett Chandler
- 2022-02-26
Thoughtful and Entertaining
It might be a bit much to call this book "perfect", but does make a cool companion piece for fans of The Good Place.
in How To Be Perfect, TGP showrunner Michael Schur goes into more detail about the actual Philosophy material presented on the show, with some great overviews of Aristotle and Kant. I was especially pleased to hear a description of T.M. Scanlon's Contracturalism. Good Place fans might remember mentions of Scanlon's book What We Owe To Each Other and here we learn a little more about the significance.
Past the formal Philosophy and history, Schur does a great job of providing examples of moral issues in history, in recent news, and even from his own life.
The production of the book is great. Schur got the cast of The Good Place to provide some narration. I'm not sure how much that adds, but it was nice to hear those voices back here. Schur's style is casual, frequently funny, and at times surprisingly moving. It was clear to me that Moral Philosophy has become something of a mission for the author and its great to see him finding ways to present these valuable ideas in new and interesting ways.
Liked it. Easy to recommend.
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- Jeff Surtees
- 2022-03-11
Excellent
Moral philosophy can be fun. Who knew? The last chapter/Coda is everything I wanted to tell my kids about how to be good people.
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- Amazon Customer
- 2023-01-05
Very funny and informative
I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Mr Schur and the Good Place cast perform. Come for the humour. Leave thinking of ways to be better
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- Amazon Customer
- 2023-05-05
Michael Schur is an amazing human/genius
This is one of the best books I've ever read. The narration is fantastic, it's laugh-out-loud funny but also makes you think about your own moral compass. If you enjoyed any of Michael's TV shows you will love this book. I was sad when it ended, but I plan on listening again.
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- Karen A Popoff
- 2022-01-31
Really enjoyed this journey in goodness.
What an enjoyable listen. I loved the walk through all of the philosophical views on how it is that one can be good. Funny, thoughtful, educational and just plain good. Pun intended. It was a delightful find of a book to listen to! I recommend it highly.
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- Genevieve Quintin
- 2022-02-12
Superb!
Absolutely loved this book. The performance of it by Mike Schur made it even more enjoyable. This is a book I am sure to listen to again and again!
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- Sally Dixon
- 2022-04-07
Better the second time around
just finished this book for the second time and increased the number of stars. it gets better with closer examination.
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