“If you want to help create a more equitable world but don’t know where to start, Infectious Generosity is for you.”—Bill Gates, GatesNotes
The bestselling author, media pioneer, and curator of TED explores one of humankind’s defining but overlooked impulses, and how we can super-charge its potential to build a hopeful future
Let’s face it: Recent years have been tough on optimists. Hopes that the Internet might bring people together have been crushed by the ills of social media. Is there a way back?
As head of TED, Chris Anderson has had a ringside view of the world’s boldest thinkers sharing their most uplifting ideas. Inspired by them, he believes that it’s within our grasp to turn outrage back into optimism. It all comes down to reimagining one of the most fundamental human virtues: generosity. What if generosity could become infectious generosity? Consider
• how a London barber began offering haircuts to people experiencing homelessness—and catalyzed a movement
• how two anonymous donors gave $10,000 each to two hundred strangers and discovered that most recipients wanted to “pay it forward” with their own generous acts
• how TED itself transformed from a niche annual summit into a global beacon of ideas by giving away talks online, allowing millions access to free learning
In telling these inspiring stories, Anderson has given us “the first page-turner ever written about human generosity” (Elizabeth Dunn). More important, he offers a playbook for how to embark on our own generous acts—whether gifts of money, time, talent, connection, or kindness—and to prime them, thanks to the Internet, to have self-replicating, even world-changing, impact.
“This book was a much-needed gift to my weary and news-battered heart. In a time when we are constantly being told that we are more divided and combative than ever, and that the future will bring only more calamity and despair, Chris Anderson presents an inspiring body of evidence to support the tremendous and transformative power of generosity—that most beautiful of human impulses. Infectious Generosity is a combination of inarguable data and incredibly moving stories. How wonderful to learn that seemingly small and humble acts of kindness can create exponential whirlwinds of benevolent impact, and that generosity is just as contagious as any virus! I flew through these pages with an increasing sense of joy, and was left inspired and hopeful.”—Elizabeth Gilbert, bestselling author of Eat, Pray, Love
“Profound and compelling . . . This book is a masterpiece, and an important one. I want everyone I know to read this—and everyone I don’t know, too.”—Andrew Solomon, author and speaker on culture and psychology
“Truly inspiring! . . . This book is the first page-turner ever written about human generosity. It will change the way you see the world around you.”—Elizabeth Dunn, social psychologist and expert on the science of happiness
“Concise and profound, this truly excellent book is going to have a big impact on the key issues of our times.”—Alain de Botton, author and philosopher
“A beautiful book—lucid, warm, intelligent, and persuasive.”—Steven Pinker, author and professor of psychology, Harvard University
“Warning: Reading this book may give you an irresistible urge to get up and take action. This is simply a wonderful book.”—Rutger Bregman, bestselling author of Humankind
“An inspiring, timely book about ways to bring out the best in people rather than focusing on the worst . . . a joyful road map away from a polarized, selfish society to the hopeful, humane place where we should be.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Chris Anderson has been the curator of TED since 2001. His TED mantra—“ideas worth spreading”—continues to blossom on an international scale, with some three billion TED Talks viewed annually. He lives in New York City and London.
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