The Life You Can Save

A practical book arguing that people in affluent countries act wrongly if they do not give to help end extreme poverty. It begins with the drowning child: if you could save a child from drowning in a shallow pond at the cost of ruining your clothes, you obviously should. Singer turns this into an argument. Suffering and death from lack of food, shelter and medical care are bad; if you can prevent something bad without sacrificing anything nearly as important, you ought to; giving to effective aid agencies does this. He answers objections, such as that governments should act or that aid does not work, then examines the psychology that holds people back, such as the identifiable victim effect and the sense that one gift is futile. Later chapters discuss which charities save lives most cheaply. He proposes a realistic public standard that starts at about one per cent of income and rises with income. Critics often reply that such a duty is too demanding.

It is the most direct modern statement of a hard question most of us avoid, and a starting point for effective altruism and practical decisions about giving.