How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question

(That headline is a light-hearted dig because I know Mike Schur kinda hated playing Mose on The Office. In the spirit of the book: Mike, I apologize. :-) )I heard about this book on the Office Ladies podcast when they interviewed Mike. They mentioned the title of the chapter about whether you really HAVE to return your shopping cart and I was sold--bought it the next day. I've always seen that as the lowest bar, minimum possible thing that humans can do to make the lives of other humans better--and I'm constantly shaking my head at the fact that so many people have such disregard for others that they don't return their damned carts! It's frustrating!Anyway...this book does not disappoint. Think of it as a humorous Cliffs Notes distillation of the many philosophies of morality. It's a book that makes you laugh and makes you think. And it really does give you some easy to understand (but hard to follow in some cases...that's the nature of being better, it's hard) guidelines for the things one can do to be a better person. It's so worth the read.Great stuff, Mike. I'm gonna go stream The Good Place now.

I was expecting this to be boring but Michael is honestly such a funny guy and always finds a way to tie moral philosophy into our daily lives in humorous ways. A good book to read while watching The Good Place

This is a short, gentle, practical, populist introduction to the world of moral philosophy -- light, funny, irreverent, but entirely serious. I’m glad I read it. It kicked up a lot of dust for me and led me to ponder deeply some big questions. I’m grateful.Fair warning, however – several things bothered me. I found much of the humor flippant to the point of annoying. I also felt the book contains a few too many cheap shots at real-world folks whose conduct the author considers morally repugnant. Most seriously, I think the book’s tone and content is too politically polarizing. The author leans to the left politically (as do I) -- fair enough. But he seems blind to the possibility that there are thoughtful people of good will who see things differently. He seems to presume (unconsciously?) that liberal values are morally superior, spends too much time outlining standard defenses of those values in a tone that suggests no reasonable person could disagree, and is often dismissive of conservative views.On page 142 the author says “we should remember how powerful the simple act of conversation can be, to help us navigate these choppy waters.” I agree. In my view, however, these conversations are most valuable when they take place among people with different views who engage respectfully in a sincere attempt to understand and appreciate other perspectives. Here, I think, the book falls short. But I honor and appreciate Michael Schur’s sincere effort. He cares deeply. He’s trying. And as he makes clear throughout the book, that’s the most important thing of all. At some level it’s all any of us can do. We try, we fail, we try again, and we keep on trying. Before he even begins the book’s introduction, the author allows Maya Angelou to speak beautifully on this point: “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”

A philosophy book written by a comedy writer? Yes, please!First off, if you are a fan of the Good Place, you will like this book. It is almost an extension of the show; a weave of comedy and philosophy.If you don't like the Good Place, you won't like this book.It was fun reading about some deep, old philosophical questions in a lighter book. Other than the author's seemingly endless use of footnotes to make another joke, I enjoyed the book.

I love this author. It’s easy to read a bit at a time for good entertainment.

If you always thought you ought to read a book about moral philosophy or tried and got nothing out of them except piercing migraines, this may be just the book for you. If you slept all through your college philosophy courses and bluffed your way through the essay exams, this will explain what you missed. It is fun, super-accessible, and chock-full of irritating moral conundrums and that we all deal with every day. It is really a great read and truly helpful in navigating today's difficult issues!

Who doesn't want to be perfect? I'd also certainly like to be able to answer every moral question with certainty and grace. As a fan of the show that inspired the book, I was pleasantly surprised at the depth of the information presented in the book. There is a lot to learn about philosophy and life and it is presented in a humourous, joy-filled way. I think it's a great read and I will probably end up reading it a few times for all of the well-researched philosophy to sink in.

Meh

El libro está súper genial y muy bien escrito. Quería leer cosas de filosofía luego de ver The Good Place, pero no quería nada pesado ni complicado de leer. Cuando vi que el creador de la serie tiene un libro de eso mismo, no me resistí. Está súper bien como explica diferentes corrientes filosóficas. Justo lo que quería y buscaba.

Great book, highly recommend it !

Thoroughly enjoyable book. To give you a bit of a background about myself, I'm not someone who's that much into philosophy but nonetheless, it has been a topic that I had been curious to explore. As a major fan of Micheal Shur's work from the office, good place and parks & rec I was very curious to give this book a try. Especially after watching the good place which explores a lot of interesting philosophy concepts, I was keen to understand Schur's outlook.I can safely say that this book did not disappoint and was a delightful read. Books regarding philosophy can be a chore to read however Schur's narrative makes the novel very compelling and at no time did I ever feel like the book was ever too dense or dry. The structure of the novel flows very nicely from one chapter to another and the concepts are really built on nicely on top of one another. Coming from someone who has no context to any real philosophy as such, I found everything very easy to follow. On top of the content and the themes explored, Schur has great humor and his style just makes the book such an enjoyable read. One of the funniest side editions is how he uses footnotes in the book. Usually, footnotes are just for additional context which one tends to pass over but in this case, they're filled with such funny insights and comments that you can't help but read all of them. What's more is that he relates each concept very nicely with personal examples which helps add to the overall engagement when reading.Overall excellent book. Of course if you're looking for a hardcore philosophy read then this is probably not the novel for you, but for most of you who are just looking for something light and have an interest in the subject matter - I cannot recommend this book enough. An extremely interesting book along with Schur's own personal insights and life experiences makes this a very worthwhile read.