UTOPIA FOR REALISTS

Um Livro mais do que necessário nestes tempos. O Autor lastreado por sólida pesquisa traz diversas possibilidades de novas utopias, utopias reais e possíveis. Como diria Eduardo Galeano “A utopia está lá no horizonte. Me aproximo dois passos, ela se afasta dois passos. Caminho dez passos e o horizonte corre dez passos. Por mais que eu caminhe, jamais alcançarei. Para que serve a utopia? Serve para isso: para que eu não deixe de caminhar.”

Muy recomendado.

Utopia is an ideal place in which everything is perfect and everyone is happy. The term was coined by Sir Thomas More in his book Utopia (written 1516) describing a fictional island society in the south Atlantic Ocean. This book is neither about that island nor is it a fictional story of an utopian country. Instead the author Rutger Bregman lays out realistic strategies of how we collectively can improve our life quality. This includes a basic income guarantee to eradicate poverty, shifting towards 15 hours work-week to increase work satisfaction and opening national borders in order to decrease inequality. Rutger’s ideas are very relevant, especially at this moment with a pandemic that has had a devastating impact on people’s lives. We need to re-examine the current political-, economical- and societal structures and align these to our future needs. Do we want to continue to live in an society in which 8 of the worlds population has a wealth corresponding to 3.5 billion people? Do we want to live in a society in which we work longer hours on work which does not provide any meaningful value to our lives? These are very essential topics covered in this book.

I know little of Mr Bregner but I've been keenly interested in the Utrecht situation so when I heard of this book, I jumped at the chance to read it. Yes there is pie in the sky by the kilo but the primary basis is to get the ball rolling when it comes to rethinking how we can all live and live well with cohesion, dignity and genuine kinetic progress and longevity. In this respect I think Rutger does a great job, bundling a slew of wonderfully subversive ideas in a language that would s accessible without stooping to populist monger ini.

Good read but kind of an airport book. Interesting subjects but not in depth analysis.In the end its a fun and fast read.