An insightful analysis of contemporary philanthropy offered by a perceptive, experienced insider.
Walker, president of the Ford Foundation, argues for a new vision of philanthropy informed by the demands of justice in this nonfiction debut.
The author frets that the current age is marked by “historic disruption,” roiled by such pervasive injustice, inequality, and authoritarianism that we are “staring down existential risk.” Walker contends that a traditional interpretation of charity—one that emphasizes generosity toward the downtrodden—is simply insufficient insofar as it neglects the causes of socio-economic inequality. In short, Walker posits that charity must not be abandoned but rather transformed by a new relation to justice, one that strives to attack “systemic issues, not just their symptoms.” To this end, the author recommends the adoption of a “justice mindset,” which carefully takes stock of one’s various privileges, investigates the biases and ignorance that undermine our philanthropic efforts, and ensures that our own egos don’t get in the way. Moreover, he feels that the effective philanthropist must seek out solutions that are empirically rigorous and resist the temptation of “silver bullets” and grand strategies concocted independent of real experience. Walker’s acumen in professional philanthropy is impressively vast, and he covers the field with great expertise and clarity. Also, he includes edifying interviews with other notable philanthropists like Elizabeth Alexander, the president of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Walker’s discussions can be frustratingly vague—he’s more interested in broadly sketching a general approach to charity than providing immediately actionable counsel—the absence of which he acknowledges. Consequently, the book is filled with platitudinous moral exhortations: “Now is the time for courage. This is our moment to show each other—and the world—that we can rise above the flaws and mistakes of our past, that we are better and stronger than hate, fear, and injustice.” Nevertheless, this remains a thoughtful reflection on the limits and possibilities of philanthropy, one that does not reject capitalism but advocates for a “more inclusive form” of it.
An insightful analysis of contemporary philanthropy offered by a perceptive, experienced insider.Pub Date: March 28, 2023
ISBN: 9781633310773
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Disruption Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular...
A neurosurgeon with a passion for literature tragically finds his perfect subject after his diagnosis of terminal lung cancer.
Writing isn’t brain surgery, but it’s rare when someone adept at the latter is also so accomplished at the former. Searching for meaning and purpose in his life, Kalanithi pursued a doctorate in literature and had felt certain that he wouldn’t enter the field of medicine, in which his father and other members of his family excelled. “But I couldn’t let go of the question,” he writes, after realizing that his goals “didn’t quite fit in an English department.” “Where did biology, morality, literature and philosophy intersect?” So he decided to set aside his doctoral dissertation and belatedly prepare for medical school, which “would allow me a chance to find answers that are not in books, to find a different sort of sublime, to forge relationships with the suffering, and to keep following the question of what makes human life meaningful, even in the face of death and decay.” The author’s empathy undoubtedly made him an exceptional doctor, and the precision of his prose—as well as the moral purpose underscoring it—suggests that he could have written a good book on any subject he chose. Part of what makes this book so essential is the fact that it was written under a death sentence following the diagnosis that upended his life, just as he was preparing to end his residency and attract offers at the top of his profession. Kalanithi learned he might have 10 years to live or perhaps five. Should he return to neurosurgery (he could and did), or should he write (he also did)? Should he and his wife have a baby? They did, eight months before he died, which was less than two years after the original diagnosis. “The fact of death is unsettling,” he understates. “Yet there is no other way to live.”
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular clarity.Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8129-8840-6
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
PERSPECTIVES
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our...
A psychologist and Nobel Prize winner summarizes and synthesizes the recent decades of research on intuition and systematic thinking.
The author of several scholarly texts, Kahneman (Emeritus Psychology and Public Affairs/Princeton Univ.) now offers general readers not just the findings of psychological research but also a better understanding of how research questions arise and how scholars systematically frame and answer them. He begins with the distinction between System 1 and System 2 mental operations, the former referring to quick, automatic thought, the latter to more effortful, overt thinking. We rely heavily, writes, on System 1, resorting to the higher-energy System 2 only when we need or want to. Kahneman continually refers to System 2 as “lazy”: We don’t want to think rigorously about something. The author then explores the nuances of our two-system minds, showing how they perform in various situations. Psychological experiments have repeatedly revealed that our intuitions are generally wrong, that our assessments are based on biases and that our System 1 hates doubt and despises ambiguity. Kahneman largely avoids jargon; when he does use some (“heuristics,” for example), he argues that such terms really ought to join our everyday vocabulary. He reviews many fundamental concepts in psychology and statistics (regression to the mean, the narrative fallacy, the optimistic bias), showing how they relate to his overall concerns about how we think and why we make the decisions that we do. Some of the later chapters (dealing with risk-taking and statistics and probabilities) are denser than others (some readers may resent such demands on System 2!), but the passages that deal with the economic and political implications of the research are gripping.
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our minds.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-374-27563-1
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
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