How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question
Year: 2022
Author: Michael Schur
Length: 553 minutes / 9.21 hours
The Good Place is one of the best television shows of the last decade. Its approach to morality and ethics may have been more “pop psychology” than anything else, but it presented these questions in a way that was relatable and legitimately funny. Of course, if you have seen this show, may I suggest also reading the companion book written by its creator, Michael Schur? How to Be Perfect is basically the behind-the-scenes notes on how the show obtained its morality subtext.
I appreciate how this book uses humor to soften incredibly difficult concepts but still presents them in a way that’s understandable to the average person. Of course, one of its flaws is that the topic of moral philosophy has been discussed in such depth for so long that there really isn’t a satisfying “conclusion” at the end of it other than to shake our hand and say, “Good luck!” Still, as an introduction to a very complicated area of study, How to Be Perfect is a great primer on these different schools of thought, providing pros and cons for each belief system in a way that isn’t judgmental toward any of them.
While this topic was certainly a heady one, I still managed to follow along pretty well with the audiobook version thanks to the tones that indicated when footnotes were being narrated. It also helped that it had the cast members from The Good Place also narrating examples throughout so it wasn’t just the author nerding out on all the ethical philosophy. I might pick up a physical copy sometime to read through it again so I can ponder the challenging sections more thoroughly.
A funny primer to moral philosophy, I give How to Be Perfect 4.5 stars out of 5.
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