Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World by Bill Clinton Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World
Book Review: Making a difference in the world
Summary: 5 Stars
Clinton's books message is great - open our hearts and give where we have the greatest chance of success - and contained a lot of statistics. The book tells us about individuals who manage to get past the corruption and really help, mostly by doing all the work themselves. It's nice to hear about these ordinary people doing extraordinary things. It really opens up the possibilities for all of us wanting to give in ways that can change the world. This was a very well written book that I thoroughly enjoyed reading.
And for a good book of philosophy try Understanding: Train of Thought.
Book Review: A giving world = a problem-solving world
Summary: 5 Stars
This book adds volume (depth x breadth x height) to an important component of charitable work, and in fact human life - Giving. I am 100% sold about this book, not because its author is a brilliant politician, and a VIP among his peers, but because the book does address a real problem in a creative and implementable way. The problem is that we all know that there are people out there who are far worse off than we are for whatever reason(s) - real or imagined. We also know that we can, and often are willing to, help. However, some of us may not know how we can help, and most of us think we do not have the means to make a significant impact. This book dispels that self-depreciation - I like it! Even more I love the reason why Clinton wrote the book, as well as its potential impact on the non-profit sector worldwide. While it sounds reasonable, even trivial to understand, that those who were blessed with the gift of receiving should in turn spread the message of giving, only infrequently does one hear from the people who actually do give. Giving tells the collective story of those people.
Following the introductory chapter, the first four chapters provide an excellent guide to different kinds of giving: giving money, time, stuff, and skills. The four chapters describe what gifts can do and what some gifts have become. Gifts can facilitate peace and reconciliation, and investment in "social entrepreneurship". Some gifts become self-propagating, and still others become replicable. In these cases, the size of a gift truly does not matter. Qualitatively (relatively) the last dollar spent from the Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation has the same marginal impacts on a starving orphan in Mozambique as a similar dollar from a six-year-old's lemonade stand. The last chapter summarizes how much we all can give, but elsewhere the book provides ample and actionable evidence in that regard. My family and I have been donating to Heifer International every Christmas time for many years. We are excited to learn about Kiva.org, eBayGivingWorks, GlobalGiving.com, and a few other charities we can contribute to with what we already have. Positively impressed.
The last three chapters deal with voluntary actions that have and can still more raise the efficiency and effectiveness of the not-for-profit sector. These include what individuals and organizations can do to make private markets more responsive to the production and delivery of public goods, what the nonprofit sector can do to foster for-profit activities for mutual benefits, and the role of government in this entire thing.
The message of this book is loud and clear. I recommend this book as a supplementary textbook for ANY high school and college course. The stories Clinton tells involve people of all races, genders, backgrounds, and professions.
Amavilah, Author
Modeling Determinants of Income in Embedded Economies
ISBN: 1600210465
Book Review: This was a worthy effort, but did not speak to me personally at all
Summary: 3 Stars
This was a nicely-written book about how people in many stages of life, with differing income brackets and abilities, helped others in a big way.
But I'll be honest - it lacked the spark that would have engaged me and gotten me excited and passionate about giving.
Even though I can point to examples throughout the book of how small people made a difference, the majority of the time was spent on the givers with big money. The normal people who he focused on were nearly all in a stage of their lives when they were being cared for by others - a small child, college kids... And then retirees, who have their time to give.
But I am a working person with little time and money, and I had really hoped that this book would show me some concrete ways of making a difference with what I have to give.
I think Clinton did his book a disservice by focusing so much on the big money givers. I think this book could have touched a huge number of people, if done differently. Instead, it reads like a sanitized and agreeable political book more than a real, passionate call to action.
Book Review: GIVING
Summary: 5 Stars
HOW TRUE THIS BOOK IS IF EVERYONE GAVE OF THERE TIME,TALENTS, RESOURCES ETC THE WORLD WOULD BE A MUCH BETTER PLACE. THOSE OF US THAT ARE BLESSED SHOULD SHARE THESE BLESSINGS WITH OTHER. Book Review: It is surprisingly boring
Summary: 1 Stars
This is a little weird; I have written positive and negative reviews on a number of books, but this is the first time a review of mine has disappeared.
I came back to check this, and my second review of this book disappeared, but along with the other 14 as well.
To make full disclosure, I am a conservative and my mother bought me this book probably because I bought her O'Reilly's book. So, I promised her that I would read it and I have been trying to read it.
Now, I do have some problems with Clinton speaking of Global warming several times on a couple of pages, whereas, as president, having Mr. Global Warming himself as VP, he essentially did nothing. But, I will let that pass.
A second observation: Bill used the word "I" in the first couple chapters more than any book that comes to mind.
Here's the problem: this book is BORING!! Apart from the mention of global warming, which I thought was hypocritical, this is a laundry list of various organizations and foundations which do charitable work. Now, I have no problem with the concept of charity nor do I have a problem with naming a number of different charties. I give myself, as do many conservatives. However, the information found in this book would have been better posted on a website so that we could quickly go through the site and find the information that we are interested in.
In person, Bill Clinton is intelligent, engaging, charming and interesting. As a public speaker and communicator, he is no doubt one of the very best of the presidents, and perfect for this age that we live in. I may disagree with most of what he says publically, but he is an excellent public speaker. However, in this particular book, this does not translate. If you don't believe me, pick up his book in a bookstore, read a couple paragraphs in any page, and decide if you want to spend a few hours reading that same thing, over and over again.
I had my previous review REMOVED. I said essentially the same things. Did Amazon remove it in order to sell more books? I don't know. They don't seem to remove negative book reivews of Coulter or O'Reilly. Is it possible that those associated with Clinton had it removed? Should I be that paranoid? He has gotten involved with "The Road to 9/11" and he has affected the final cut of that tv movie, and he has delayed it issue on DVD. Could he be doing the same thing here?
I guess you decide; but how long will this review remain posted? I posted it 11/6/07. Will it stay posted? Will it be modified? To have my previous review on this book removed is somewhat startling.