Chapter 02: Is it Wrong Not to Help? Read by Paul Simon.

Charlie Bresler, Ph.D., the Executive Director of The Life You Can Save organization, invites you to listen carefully to Peter Singer’s, celebrity-read audiobook by the same name. Dr. Bresler suggests that if you “open your mind” to Singer’s words that show you how you can actually save lives, you can restore your sense of agency within a world that makes many of us feel helpless.

Michael Schur, the acclaimed executive producer and creator of the NBC series “The Good Place,” describes how the first edition of The Life You Can Save, sparked a change in his world view, leaving him with the realization that we each play a critical role in helping those less fortunate than ourselves.

Professor Peter Singer, author of The Life You Can Save, introduces the 10th-anniversary edition. Reflecting on what has and hasn’t changed, he describes his intention to distil what he has learned over his forty-year career, about why we give or don’t give, and what we should do about it.

In this chapter–narrated by Kristin Bell, award-winning actress and star of the NBC series “The Good Place”–Professor Peter Singer asks; “If you saw a child drowning in a pond, would you jump in and save them?” He argues that the same instinct and moral obligation, which would lead most people to act without hesitation, should apply when deciding whether to help children living in poverty.

Marc Evan Jackson–best known for his acting in the NBC series “The Good Place,” and “Brooklyn Nine-Nine”–narrates this Chapter which considers the validity of common objections to charitable giving. Examining global philanthropy, Professor Singer emphasizes that we are not yet doing as much as we should to effectively help those living in extreme poverty. He additionally highlights the vital role of evidence-based charity evaluators, such as the charity namesake of the book The Life You Can Save, the organization.