Michael Schur

This is a must-read for fans of The Good Place, and a really-should-read for fans of The Office or Parks & Rec.

How to Be Perfect is a distillation of the moral philosophy Mike Schur learned while creating the show The Good Place. I’ve never taken a philosophy course, but who better to present these ideas in a “for dummies” style summary than a long-beloved comedy sitcom writer? I don’t think there’s much other context in which one can laugh out loud repeatedly while learning about Kant.

Get the audiobook, particularly if you’re a Good Place fan, because most of the cast appear on it. But honestly, get the audiobook even if you’re not a Good Place fan, then… become a Good Place fan.… (altro)

Sometimes, The Good Place felt like Philosophy 101 (I say, having never been to a similar class but the viewers definitely learned alongside Eleanor Shellstrop). How to Be Perfect is the equivalent of what Michael Schur learned while plotting and writing the show, though this is less of a Good Place book and more of an ethical overview, with a focus on Aristotelian virtue ethics, utilitarianism, deontology, existentialism and other perspectives that help frame the question: what does it really mean to do good?

Professor Todd May (from my alma mater of Clemson University!) chimes in in the footnotes periodically, and I'm once again ever so curious as to how an audiobook would handle that kind of banter.

This book is decidedly placed in a time period with contemporary examples of Americans failing to take collective action for the benefit of their communities through simple measures during the early years of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic though it's hard to think of a bigger sociological example relevant to now, tbh.… (altro)

Wow, truth in titling! I read this book, effortlessly absorbed the lessons Michael Schur so skillfully boiled down from thousands of years of philosophical writings, and now I'm morally perfect!

Ha ha ha ha, but seriously. Schur pulls off something quite difficult here. He's written a primer on moral philosophy that is deeply meaningful and compassionate, engagingly and intelligently written, and laugh out loud funny on many occasions. There is more insight here than you can shake a stick at -- and more jokes! Five stars from me!… (altro)