What’s it about:

Making positive change by prioritising is a moral imperative for our time. More info on the dedicated website.

What Lynn learned:

• It’s not uncommon to feel overwhelmed by the amount of causes there are in the world and the pressure to choose The Right One.

• Humanity can be thought of as an imprudent teenager, history as molten glass and the path towards longterm impact as a risky expedition into unchartered terrain (p. 6 and 7).

• That a book can take 10 years to research and two years to write.

• Deciding on a career should have the following considerations: 1. Learn by experimenting in low-cost ways; 2. Build career capital in what you excel in; and then, 3. Use that to do good with effective solutions for the cause you have chosen.

• I learned loads about philosophical ideas and other research – there are 50 pages of additional notes and references in the book. Clearly, Will has had a career in academia.

 Fave quotes:

‘Sometimes people claim that, because the modern world is so complex and inter-reliant, it is therefore fragile, and if one strut is lost, the entire structure will fall in a domino effect. Bu this idea neglects people’s astonishing grit, adaptability, and ingenuity in the face of adversity.’ P. 127

‘History is littered with people doing bad things while believing they were doing good, and we should do our utmost to avoid being one of them.’ P. 240

‘Rather than feeing locked in to one career path, you would see it as an iterative process in which you figure out the role that is best for you and best for the world.’ P. 236

Why relevant right now:

I’m in the middle of an existential crisis. Actually, I think I always have been.

Interest factor: 4/5

Coffee table cred: 3/5

Ignorance of external world while reading: 3/5

Book cover design: 3/5

Help the existential crisis: 5/5