Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World by Bill Clinton Summary and Reviews
|
List Price: Our Price: $4.74 You Save: $20.21 (81%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.42 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World
Book Review: Giving IS Living
Summary: 5 Stars
I didn't always agree with President Clinton politically. But I certainly agree that to give is to truly live. This book is filled with beautiful examples of how giving freely of ourselves enriches not only the lives of others but our own lives as well.
Also recommended: Christmas Gifts, Christmas Voices--another GREAT book on giving.
Book Review: Felt like the President was speaking with me!
Summary: 5 Stars
I suppose one of the highest compliments I have ever received for my own writing is that my readers felt they were having a conversation with me.
Whether or not you are a fan of Bill Clinton's, this book deserves your attention in that it gives you a degree of insider access to his thinking process, both locally and globally.
There are a lot of opinions about this polarizing American political figure, but one thing stands sure for most of us- Bill Clinton is a very bright man whose voice remains a truly important one in the world.
If you read this book and do not come away from it with a heightened sense of altruism, please book an appointment with me (I'm a psychiatrist.)
Be well,
Dr. Ferraioli
www.drferraioli.com
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.