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The Good-Enough Life
How an acceptance of our limitations can lead to a more fulfilling life and a more harmonious society
We live in a world oriented toward greatness, one in which we feel compelled to be among the wealthiest, most powerful, and most famous. This book explains why no one truly benefits from this competitive social order, and reveals how another way of life is possible―a good-enough life for all.
Avram Alpert shows how our obsession with greatness results in stress and anxiety, damage to our relationships, widespread political and economic inequality, and destruction of the natural world. He describes how to move beyond greatness to create a society in which everyone flourishes. By competing less with each other, each of us can find renewed meaning and purpose, have our material and emotional needs met, and begin to lead more leisurely lives. Alpert makes no false utopian promises, however. Life can never be more than good enough because there will always be accidents and tragedies beyond our control, which is why we must stop dividing the world into winners and losers and ensure that there is a fair share of decency and sufficiency to go around.
Visionary and provocative, The Good-Enough Life demonstrates how we can work together to cultivate a good-enough life for all instead of tearing ourselves apart in a race to the top of the social pyramid.
We live in a world oriented toward greatness, one in which we feel compelled to be among the wealthiest, most powerful, and most famous. This book explains why no one truly benefits from this competitive social order, and reveals how another way of life is possible―a good-enough life for all.
Avram Alpert shows how our obsession with greatness results in stress and anxiety, damage to our relationships, widespread political and economic inequality, and destruction of the natural world. He describes how to move beyond greatness to create a society in which everyone flourishes. By competing less with each other, each of us can find renewed meaning and purpose, have our material and emotional needs met, and begin to lead more leisurely lives. Alpert makes no false utopian promises, however. Life can never be more than good enough because there will always be accidents and tragedies beyond our control, which is why we must stop dividing the world into winners and losers and ensure that there is a fair share of decency and sufficiency to go around.
Visionary and provocative, The Good-Enough Life demonstrates how we can work together to cultivate a good-enough life for all instead of tearing ourselves apart in a race to the top of the social pyramid.
336 pages, Hardcover
Published April 19, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews
June 5, 2023
2nd read:
I had the pleasure of interviewing Avram on my podcast when this book first came out. I loved it so much that I wanted to give it another read, and it still holds up. This book is so well written, and although Avram is humble enough to take his theory from the book and apply it to his own life by saying he got lucky enough to write this book, I still don’t know if someone could have put these thoughts into words in the way he does.
This book is about how our drive for being “the best” along with the competitive nature of capitalism leaves a lot of people behind and is also killing the planet. This book isn’t necessarily about settling, but it’s about shifting our worldview so we don’t leave people behind and that we start thinking about how we can create a more equal society.
I’m probably going to continue reading this book once a year, and I plan on reading it with my son soon because it has so many important lessons in it.
1st read:
This quickly became one of my favorite books of 2022, and I can’t stress enough how important this book is. Avram Alpert shines a line on the fact that we’ve created a culture where we’re constantly striving for greatness in all aspects of our lives, and this causing us a lot of harm. Personally, I was miserable for most of my life until I realized that it’s alright for things to just be “good enough”, and since then, I’ve never been happier and more content. Avram dives into various topics like relationships, careers, financial well-being, and much more while explaining how seeking greatness is only causing us harm. By no means is this a self-help book, but it’ll shift the way you view your wants and needs, which will most likely make you a lot happier.
And just when I thought Avram had provided enough value and wisdom in this book, the final chapters go into how greatness is hurting our society and our planet. The constant competition and maxmimalization of everything is keeping people at the bottom and reducing their chances of ever succeeding. Alpert discusses how this idea of “greatness” undervalues many people in our societies and how we’d be a lot better off if people could just be “good enough”.
This is a must-read book, and I’ll most likely be reading it again in the future.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Avram on my podcast when this book first came out. I loved it so much that I wanted to give it another read, and it still holds up. This book is so well written, and although Avram is humble enough to take his theory from the book and apply it to his own life by saying he got lucky enough to write this book, I still don’t know if someone could have put these thoughts into words in the way he does.
This book is about how our drive for being “the best” along with the competitive nature of capitalism leaves a lot of people behind and is also killing the planet. This book isn’t necessarily about settling, but it’s about shifting our worldview so we don’t leave people behind and that we start thinking about how we can create a more equal society.
I’m probably going to continue reading this book once a year, and I plan on reading it with my son soon because it has so many important lessons in it.
1st read:
This quickly became one of my favorite books of 2022, and I can’t stress enough how important this book is. Avram Alpert shines a line on the fact that we’ve created a culture where we’re constantly striving for greatness in all aspects of our lives, and this causing us a lot of harm. Personally, I was miserable for most of my life until I realized that it’s alright for things to just be “good enough”, and since then, I’ve never been happier and more content. Avram dives into various topics like relationships, careers, financial well-being, and much more while explaining how seeking greatness is only causing us harm. By no means is this a self-help book, but it’ll shift the way you view your wants and needs, which will most likely make you a lot happier.
And just when I thought Avram had provided enough value and wisdom in this book, the final chapters go into how greatness is hurting our society and our planet. The constant competition and maxmimalization of everything is keeping people at the bottom and reducing their chances of ever succeeding. Alpert discusses how this idea of “greatness” undervalues many people in our societies and how we’d be a lot better off if people could just be “good enough”.
This is a must-read book, and I’ll most likely be reading it again in the future.
October 15, 2022
Loved the philosophy of this book. I feel incredibly inspired by the concept of having a life of sufficiency and decency. The book ultimately felt a bit too long and repetitive for me. This might be because I was bought in to the idea from the beginning so I didn't need so much convincing.
June 10, 2023
Well-meaning but lightweight. Best enjoyed by over-ambitious under-achievers.
November 7, 2022
This is a very important book, but surely a controversial one. His ideas will open your eyes and maybe maybe frustrate you as you try to reconcile your beliefs with the unfortunate truth. He almost always go against the grain of the status quo. He makes you think hard about the point of charity , about the illogic of meritocracy (i.e., in. a true meritocracy all children would need to be separated from parents at birth and raised with same resources), and about the motivations of seemingly benevolent philanthropists like Gates (his investments are done to solidify western hegemony) among many other commonly and closely held truths.
However, he does this all to to open our eyes to what a post-capitalism more egalitarian society would look like. Essentially, his argument is: Surely, we will never be perfect but we can do better than this.
For that, this is a very important book because he shows just how much better things could be with marginal improvements. Its important to not that this is not a book that explains how to achieve improvements. He states that in the book and this has been missed by other readers. He's not offering concrete solutions here because as he states there are other much more qualified writers that have done that and this book would have been 100x longer.
However, he does this all to to open our eyes to what a post-capitalism more egalitarian society would look like. Essentially, his argument is: Surely, we will never be perfect but we can do better than this.
For that, this is a very important book because he shows just how much better things could be with marginal improvements. Its important to not that this is not a book that explains how to achieve improvements. He states that in the book and this has been missed by other readers. He's not offering concrete solutions here because as he states there are other much more qualified writers that have done that and this book would have been 100x longer.
June 4, 2023
I went into this thinking it would be a self-help personal improvement story to lighten up on life and reduce stress.
Obviously anyone reading synopses will know that's not it. It was super interesting though although it is completely confirming things I believe in anyway, and echoed studies and such I had heard of before.
The thing I always find depressing about books like these is that the people who would need this information won't read it or be open to its ideas.
Still worthwhile read and a good audiobook.
Obviously anyone reading synopses will know that's not it. It was super interesting though although it is completely confirming things I believe in anyway, and echoed studies and such I had heard of before.
The thing I always find depressing about books like these is that the people who would need this information won't read it or be open to its ideas.
Still worthwhile read and a good audiobook.
February 18, 2023
... Well what a disappointment. I loved the idea, I do believe myself that instead of constantly trying to reach something great we should be as well happy with what we already have, our good-enough lives. However, I don't need to read the same things over and over. I swear that I read a few pages and then when I opened the book randomly - I read a very similar sentences again. It could have been a way shorter book.
Honestly, wouldn't recommend.
Honestly, wouldn't recommend.
June 4, 2023
I'm finding this book dry and a bit of a slog, and it isn't doing much for me, so I won't be finishing it. At the same time that I think I generally agree with the thesis, I am finding the way it is presented rather abstract and difficult to connect with.
August 30, 2022
the ideas here are *good enough* (hahahah) but lordy the tangents this fella flies off on are taxing to say the least
January 3, 2023
المفارقة الأساسية لحالتنا الحالية:
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هناك الكثير ، ولكن ليس هناك ما يكفي . نحن نعيش وسط وفرة وقدرة إنتاجية غير مسبوقة ، ومع ذلك فإن المليارات من البشر تعاني من قلة الملابس والطعام والاهتمام . وهكذا ، في عالم تبلغ ثروته مجتمعة 399.2 تريليون دولار ، لا يزال أكثر من 3.4 مليار شخص يعيشون على أقل من 5.50 دولارًا في اليوم ، بينما يموت 34.5 مليون شخص سنويًا بسبب نقص الرعاية الصحية الملائمة ، ويموت حوالي 9 ملايين شخص بسبب نقص الغذاء . في الوقت نفسه ، تقوم الآلات بالمزيد من العمل الضروري للحفاظ على الحياة أكثر من أي وقت مضى ، ومع ذلك ليس لدينا سوى القليل من وقت الفراغ. هناك أناس على قيد الحياة الآن أكثر من أي وقت مضى ، ومع ذلك فإن الكثير منا مازال وحيدًا.
نحن نستفيد من قرون من الحكمة والتقدم العلمي لتعزيز السعادة ، ومع ذلك فإننا مثقلون بالقلق والاكتئاب. في الواقع ، لا يرتفع عدد الأشخاص المصابين بالاكتئاب فحسب ، بل يرتفع أيضًا متوسط عدد السنوات التي يُبلغ فيها الأشخاص عن شعورهم بالاكتئاب. القلق والإرهاق آخذان في الازدياد. لدينا القدرة على الذهاب إلى جميع أنحاء الأرض ، إلى أعماق المحيطات ، وحتى إلى الفضاء ، ومع ذلك فإن وسائل الاستكشاف هذه تستنزف استدامة كوكبنا الأصلي. كل عام نستهلك ضعف ما تستطيع الأرض أن تجدّده سنوياً.
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Avram Alpert
The Good Enough Life
Translated By #Maher_Razouk
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هناك الكثير ، ولكن ليس هناك ما يكفي . نحن نعيش وسط وفرة وقدرة إنتاجية غير مسبوقة ، ومع ذلك فإن المليارات من البشر تعاني من قلة الملابس والطعام والاهتمام . وهكذا ، في عالم تبلغ ثروته مجتمعة 399.2 تريليون دولار ، لا يزال أكثر من 3.4 مليار شخص يعيشون على أقل من 5.50 دولارًا في اليوم ، بينما يموت 34.5 مليون شخص سنويًا بسبب نقص الرعاية الصحية الملائمة ، ويموت حوالي 9 ملايين شخص بسبب نقص الغذاء . في الوقت نفسه ، تقوم الآلات بالمزيد من العمل الضروري للحفاظ على الحياة أكثر من أي وقت مضى ، ومع ذلك ليس لدينا سوى القليل من وقت الفراغ. هناك أناس على قيد الحياة الآن أكثر من أي وقت مضى ، ومع ذلك فإن الكثير منا مازال وحيدًا.
نحن نستفيد من قرون من الحكمة والتقدم العلمي لتعزيز السعادة ، ومع ذلك فإننا مثقلون بالقلق والاكتئاب. في الواقع ، لا يرتفع عدد الأشخاص المصابين بالاكتئاب فحسب ، بل يرتفع أيضًا متوسط عدد السنوات التي يُبلغ فيها الأشخاص عن شعورهم بالاكتئاب. القلق والإرهاق آخذان في الازدياد. لدينا القدرة على الذهاب إلى جميع أنحاء الأرض ، إلى أعماق المحيطات ، وحتى إلى الفضاء ، ومع ذلك فإن وسائل الاستكشاف هذه تستنزف استدامة كوكبنا الأصلي. كل عام نستهلك ضعف ما تستطيع الأرض أن تجدّده سنوياً.
.
Avram Alpert
The Good Enough Life
Translated By #Maher_Razouk
June 8, 2022
I heard about this book via interview on NPR, which peaked my interest. I really enjoyed the themes explored in the first half of the book, which were more oriented towards the philosophical, moral and ethical implications of "greatness," and how those effects have rippled out into all parts of society. The second half felt a little tedious; if you've read any progressive economic texts or socialist ones, most of this will feel cursory. However for those new to these ideas, this books serves as a helpful introduction. In the end I think this could have been trimmed down a bit, as many of the same quotes and ideas are repeated, often, but still absolutely worth the read, and timely at that.
February 28, 2023
As some others have said, great in concept but not so much in execution. This might have been due to agreeing with the concepts the book was pushing prior to starting. It was a bit repetitive and also hard to follow at times with references to writings of multiple other philosophers at once throughout.
As someone who hasn’t read many of the referenced writings it’s hard to be take anything away from the large swaths of the book dedicated to agreeing or disagreeing with others writings.
Would have enjoyed something shorter and a bit more to the point to suggest for others not familiar with the ideas addressed.
As someone who hasn’t read many of the referenced writings it’s hard to be take anything away from the large swaths of the book dedicated to agreeing or disagreeing with others writings.
Would have enjoyed something shorter and a bit more to the point to suggest for others not familiar with the ideas addressed.
March 1, 2023
There are few interesting points, however I feel that is a bit too academic for my taste. It was a pleasure to find this idea of being good enough (in line with my personal view) on a book when the society's greatness is always the front of the news. Elon Musk, Jeff Besos and the like are the role models of a society that doesn't believe in smelling the flowers blossoms and I find this very sad. However, the book was a true gem of good references to other books that I might want to read.
October 13, 2023
Enjoyed the thorough and earnest presentation of his arguments. I had originally wanted the book to explore the concept of something being good, and being enough. That is not where he went, shooting much higher and trying to change the attitude that collectively we have taken towards greatness. It's a laudable goal, but at the end of the day, I would have loved a chapter on the more personal steps to take that resonated stronger. Most of that expectation was on me and my needs, the book itself is valuable and I do recommend it. The bibliography will keep me going for ages...
March 16, 2024
This is not a book about individuals, but about society, and it recommends a type of egalitarianism where people just live good-enough life and reject greatness. Similar to Sandel's The Tyranny of Merit. The book draws on a wide variety of philosophers and other sources, without going too deeply into any debate. The evidence and arguments may be a bit too broad to be incredibly useful, which is a drawback to the book. But I particularly appreciated the moments when the author talked about his conversations with others, as he seemed like a mostly humble person who was still trying to real.
November 6, 2022
3.5 would be my rating
It's a good book that explores the ethical framework of what it would mean to truly embrace a "good enough" life for everyone. How it would reflect in our personal and communal lives as well as work and planet wise.
While I was of a similar mindset coming into this book it still helped me appreciate and examine how the "greatness" mindset still affected me. Also, I took away from this book the ideas that it's not about a personal journey but the need to work towards creating a world like this for everyone. Moreover, it gave a strong feeling of appreciation that the "greats" aren't that great and it takes a social setting (so many different people) to actually contribute and create something. Everyone's contribution is needed, important, and good and it presents this argument convincingly. No one is great, just lots of people doing good enough things.
I appreciate the book for what it is and the perspective it provides. While this book does not go into depth in how to achieve this world, I did not need this from this book. This answer is for us to find out by working towards this goal.
This book lives up to the idea, it's good enough.
It's a good book that explores the ethical framework of what it would mean to truly embrace a "good enough" life for everyone. How it would reflect in our personal and communal lives as well as work and planet wise.
While I was of a similar mindset coming into this book it still helped me appreciate and examine how the "greatness" mindset still affected me. Also, I took away from this book the ideas that it's not about a personal journey but the need to work towards creating a world like this for everyone. Moreover, it gave a strong feeling of appreciation that the "greats" aren't that great and it takes a social setting (so many different people) to actually contribute and create something. Everyone's contribution is needed, important, and good and it presents this argument convincingly. No one is great, just lots of people doing good enough things.
I appreciate the book for what it is and the perspective it provides. While this book does not go into depth in how to achieve this world, I did not need this from this book. This answer is for us to find out by working towards this goal.
This book lives up to the idea, it's good enough.
December 26, 2022
Well, this book is good enough. There are a lot of good ideas in this book. I particularly liked the chapter on good-enough relationships.
The author has some interesting ideas about how college admissions and government officials might be selected based on g00d-enough criteria. If they could be implemented, it would solve problems with the winner-take-all methods that we use now. The author also recognizes the difficulties in making these changes as a society.
The reading of the book is a little dry, though. It reads like a college term paper or thesis. About the last 20% of the book is devoted to footnotes.
Still, I'm glad I read it. It is quite thought provoking. As I am somewhat recently retired, I connected with the ideas of a good enough life. From time to time, I have a thought along the lines of, "I could make some money doing that." I have to keep reminding myself that I have enough money. That's why I retired.
The author has some interesting ideas about how college admissions and government officials might be selected based on g00d-enough criteria. If they could be implemented, it would solve problems with the winner-take-all methods that we use now. The author also recognizes the difficulties in making these changes as a society.
The reading of the book is a little dry, though. It reads like a college term paper or thesis. About the last 20% of the book is devoted to footnotes.
Still, I'm glad I read it. It is quite thought provoking. As I am somewhat recently retired, I connected with the ideas of a good enough life. From time to time, I have a thought along the lines of, "I could make some money doing that." I have to keep reminding myself that I have enough money. That's why I retired.
December 11, 2022
A "good enough" book that is unnecessarily long. Totally agree with Alpert's premise/argument: we should be focused on getting away from a "greatness orientation" in society (worldwide) and instead find ways to make life "good enough" for the whole -- so everyone has sufficiency, dignity, and a voice/an equally valued chance to contribute. Super! But HOW? There's not much here about how, and I fear that as long as America (for starters) is divided and in thrall to a two-party system, in which both parties are flawed, corrupt, and run by the massively wealthy... well, I don't hold out much hope. A good read to potentially transform/clarify your thinking in relation to your career and/or artistic goals, but somewhat frustrating from an activist "how do we make this happen" perspective. Would have loved more focus on HOW and less on WHY.
May 14, 2022
A truly good enough book
I really enjoyed this book. As if to prove a point, Alpert has written a truly "good enough" book about a vision of the "good enough" life for all. It's a compelling idea, and the author makes a strong case for it. It cuts through many areas and disciples, from psychology, child development, sociology, to politics and environmentalism. Because it is so broad and ambitious in scope, I often felt that some sections lacked the appropriate depth. This is probably an innevitable feature of trying to illustrate the power and promise of "the good enough life" on so many levels. Despite these "imperfections" (on brand for the book's topic) I very much enjoyed the book
I really enjoyed this book. As if to prove a point, Alpert has written a truly "good enough" book about a vision of the "good enough" life for all. It's a compelling idea, and the author makes a strong case for it. It cuts through many areas and disciples, from psychology, child development, sociology, to politics and environmentalism. Because it is so broad and ambitious in scope, I often felt that some sections lacked the appropriate depth. This is probably an innevitable feature of trying to illustrate the power and promise of "the good enough life" on so many levels. Despite these "imperfections" (on brand for the book's topic) I very much enjoyed the book
June 13, 2023
A remarkably easy concept to understand but difficult to make work in today’s society. Alpert presents the arguments that, if one has an open mind, one cannot really counter. We can make due with much less than we have in this world of ours. We need to learn to love ourselves and be satisfied with good. Good for me may mean good for you too. Great for me likely means fair to poor for you. It is such a simple idea. There is nothing of selling yourself short or settling in this philosophy. In fact, it is likely more work to see the good that simpler everyday day things have on the world than to prop up and support “greatness”. More good comes from many people doing a little bit of good that one person doing great. Bonus it feels pretty good too!
March 29, 2024
The description above makes this sound like a cringey self-help guide, which, thankfully, it is not. Instead, it's an examination of notions of greatness and good-enoughness in the thought of different philosophers, thinkers, and authors. It was an enjoyable read, though I can understand how some might feel frustrated with the payoff.
January 27, 2023
It’s an inspirational book for sure but the idea for a collective good-enough life for society, not just as self improvement, seems so improbable in the world we inhabit. Everyone seems to want more - a better house, a second house, a better holiday, higher raise at work, better, more accomplished kids. Even with the environmental destruction that this is causing, we can’t seem to look beyond our nose. To have empathy for the billions of people elsewhere in the world to try and get them to a good enough life, instead is unlikely. Still, a great start and the author does a good job at refuting all these kind of doubts with the idea and the higher purpose we need to aim for.
October 2, 2022
The book is well-written but a little to utopian for my tastes. I agree with the author on the benefits of a good-enough life for all, but he doesn’t give many PRACTICAL ways to get there. (Returning to pre-Industrial Revolution societies isn’t really practical). His ideas make more sense as a personal philosophy than a way to organize society.
It’s still an interesting thought exercise and I’ll try to incorporate some of his ideas into my decisions and interactions with others.
It’s still an interesting thought exercise and I’ll try to incorporate some of his ideas into my decisions and interactions with others.
December 27, 2022
After I got over the narrator’s voice, I really appreciated this book. The idea that will stick with me is that by eliminating the need to quest for greatness (instead of good-enoughness) as a goal, we can restore childhood.
Read
January 20, 2023Some of the points in the book are stronger than others but overall like the message of the book and thought it was an easy read (non academic) and approaches the idea of over competition / “greatness” in all forms for a “good enough” life for all.
March 14, 2023
I thought this was going to be a self help book, there was a little of that in the beginning but it was mostly a large scale sociological argument for equality of resources. I think the author’s ideas are valid I just wasn’t really interested in theoretical governments or economical systems.
February 27, 2023
Good ideas and thorough, and he's probably right. It's also incredibly tangential, unapproachable because it sounds like a dissertation, and rigid. The author is ever-summarizing other people's work.
September 21, 2023
The choice is [between believing] that the narrative of life is a story of winners and losers, or that it is about the struggle to ensure decency and sufficiency for all.Alpert argues in this book for a change in society's orientation from a "greatness" worldview to a "good-enough" perspective. Greatness is characterized by a constant striving for success, whether financial, social, artistic, athletic, relational, or any other realm, a desire to be at the top of a necessary hierarchy. It's about comparing, judging, rating, and ranking people. Some are always better than others. A good-enough orientation, on the other hand, sees us all as connected and interdependent and only successful together, not as individuals. It does not mean just barely sufficient; it means everyone gets at least a good life and all needs are met--decency and sufficiency; good plus enough.
Whatever combination of solutions we rely on, they should all be compatible with the idea that everyone deserves decency and sufficiency, and that no one merits more than others.I love Alpert's ideas, some of the ways he articulates them, and how he applies the worldview across the board at the personal, communal, societal, and natural levels. I'm not convinced his names for the two orientations are effective and feel often he considers his ideas too vaguely and abstractly, having insular conversations with other philosophers and thinkers instead of with readers.
Overall, though, a really good--and important--book.
January 19, 2024
The arguments in this book were very different than what i was anticipating.
I really appreciated the author's perspective around good (being good - decency, humility, etc.) and enough (sufficiency - physically, relationally, etc.). I found the thesis of the book thought-provoking: what would it be like if society was grounded on aspects of human decency vs. achievement/greatness? For example: what if social media companies decided to run their algos to promote human decency, vs. time spent and ad impressions?
That said, a couple of challenges:
(1) Not everything is doom and gloom today - perhaps this is because I just finished a book by Steven Pinker, but I don't think things are as bad as the book's tone kind of conveys. While I agree, we all need a healthier does of decency and humility - having this argument rest on "how terrible things are right now" kind of weakens the discussion (at least for me).
(2) I think this book was a bit longer than it needed to be. I did get a bit lost in the back third of the book, particularly around environmentalism, etc. - but that might simply be because I'm more micro-focused on people to people interactions. If I could talk to the me from a few days ago, I'd probably tell myself to probably stop reading at the 2/3 mark.
I really appreciated the author's perspective around good (being good - decency, humility, etc.) and enough (sufficiency - physically, relationally, etc.). I found the thesis of the book thought-provoking: what would it be like if society was grounded on aspects of human decency vs. achievement/greatness? For example: what if social media companies decided to run their algos to promote human decency, vs. time spent and ad impressions?
That said, a couple of challenges:
(1) Not everything is doom and gloom today - perhaps this is because I just finished a book by Steven Pinker, but I don't think things are as bad as the book's tone kind of conveys. While I agree, we all need a healthier does of decency and humility - having this argument rest on "how terrible things are right now" kind of weakens the discussion (at least for me).
(2) I think this book was a bit longer than it needed to be. I did get a bit lost in the back third of the book, particularly around environmentalism, etc. - but that might simply be because I'm more micro-focused on people to people interactions. If I could talk to the me from a few days ago, I'd probably tell myself to probably stop reading at the 2/3 mark.
January 7, 2023
As others have commented, this book is an interesting thought exercise but lacks suggestions with how one could practically implement his premise of focusing less on greatness and instead focusing on making society "good enough" for the whole. He focuses a bit too much on the "why it needs to be done" and less on "how to get there."
Ironically, when it came to environmentalism he performed enough mental gymnastics to somehow completely go against his whole thesis of being "good enough" and instead went full tilt into how we likely won't achieve a 1.5°C scenario, so we have to do even more (i.e., greatness levels) to stop future environmental catastrophy.
Ultimately, this book lacks serious depth when trying to expand on Alpert's initial thought (an overemphasis on "greatness" undervalues many people in our society and we'd be better off if people could just be focused on being "good enough") into other areas/disciplines. Overall, I wouldn't recommend reading past the first few chapters.
Ironically, when it came to environmentalism he performed enough mental gymnastics to somehow completely go against his whole thesis of being "good enough" and instead went full tilt into how we likely won't achieve a 1.5°C scenario, so we have to do even more (i.e., greatness levels) to stop future environmental catastrophy.
Ultimately, this book lacks serious depth when trying to expand on Alpert's initial thought (an overemphasis on "greatness" undervalues many people in our society and we'd be better off if people could just be focused on being "good enough") into other areas/disciplines. Overall, I wouldn't recommend reading past the first few chapters.
September 19, 2023
The Good-Enough Life presents a wealth of compelling and comprehensive arguments promoting a “good-enough life for all.” The book explores this core idea from various angles: ourselves, our relationships, society at large, and our ecological environment. This is certainly a timely and relevant topic, especially given the current challenges facing society and humanity as a whole.
While I generally agree with the author’s viewpoints, as also noted by other reviewers, I found it somewhat challenging to fully engage with the text. This was mainly because the writing style resembles that of an academic dissertation or thesis, densely interspersed with bibliographical citations and footnotes; there are practically no personal anecdotes from the author; and in large part because many ideas and justifications are repeated verbatim an awful lot throughout the book.
With judicious editing, I believe the book could well be condensed to two-thirds of its current length, thus enhancing the impact of the author’s thesis by allowing the core ideas to stand out more.
While I generally agree with the author’s viewpoints, as also noted by other reviewers, I found it somewhat challenging to fully engage with the text. This was mainly because the writing style resembles that of an academic dissertation or thesis, densely interspersed with bibliographical citations and footnotes; there are practically no personal anecdotes from the author; and in large part because many ideas and justifications are repeated verbatim an awful lot throughout the book.
With judicious editing, I believe the book could well be condensed to two-thirds of its current length, thus enhancing the impact of the author’s thesis by allowing the core ideas to stand out more.
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