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A review by 11corvus11
Strangers Drowning: Grappling with Impossible Idealism, Drastic Choices, and the Overpowering Urge to Help by Larissa MacFarquhar
4.0
This book was not what I thought it was. I expected more of a psychological study or philosophical ramblings but it was actually a book of stories. I think the author only really interjected her opinions at the end. Most of the stories were very relatable and/or fascinating. I got annoyed with some of the stories about strict Christians at the end but that could just be because I have never been brought up around strong organized religion and did not learn much about Christianity until I took a Bible class in college.
I wish someone had handed me this book during various times in my life. It was as if she dipped into different parts of my existence with each topic she wove together in the book. It was bizarre. I think I could have benefited from it a lot as a new activist when I was completely unstable, insane, obsessed with, and overwhelmed by the hurt and terror going on around us at all times. The way MacFarquhar told the stories of each altruistic person or group really allowed the people to be whole human beings. She showed how altruism can be helpful and positive but also can devolve into authoritarianism and narcissism. These are all lessons I have partly learned over time myself through making a lot of mistakes, judging a lot of people, and burning myself out beyond belief.
I really enjoyed just settling into the lives of these people and hearing their stories. The stories of the people working in India and Japan were especially moving and fascinating. I listened to the audiobook read by the author (I am new to audiobooks but am really into how many more book I can experience now!)
Only negatives I want to note is when the author spoke about the "effective" altruism movement, I wish she would have included critiques of the "science" that movement uses to funnel money places. There are actually huge negative criticisms of the mostly non-science educated men in effective altruism claiming certain organizations do the most good and telling people to donate to them. It has been discovered that their methods are specious and there are a thousand problems with their claims. They end up wasting more money than they send to be used for good.
The other thing is that I just zoned out near the end with all of the stories about the middle class very colonizing, pushy Christian white people. I didn't really want to hear anything more about them and then another story about one would start. But, perhaps they are a good example of how "do-gooders" passion can be pushed in directions that do harm when they are wrong. (Not that everything these people did was harmful, but some of the things they did were.)
I wish someone had handed me this book during various times in my life. It was as if she dipped into different parts of my existence with each topic she wove together in the book. It was bizarre. I think I could have benefited from it a lot as a new activist when I was completely unstable, insane, obsessed with, and overwhelmed by the hurt and terror going on around us at all times. The way MacFarquhar told the stories of each altruistic person or group really allowed the people to be whole human beings. She showed how altruism can be helpful and positive but also can devolve into authoritarianism and narcissism. These are all lessons I have partly learned over time myself through making a lot of mistakes, judging a lot of people, and burning myself out beyond belief.
I really enjoyed just settling into the lives of these people and hearing their stories. The stories of the people working in India and Japan were especially moving and fascinating. I listened to the audiobook read by the author (I am new to audiobooks but am really into how many more book I can experience now!)
Only negatives I want to note is when the author spoke about the "effective" altruism movement, I wish she would have included critiques of the "science" that movement uses to funnel money places. There are actually huge negative criticisms of the mostly non-science educated men in effective altruism claiming certain organizations do the most good and telling people to donate to them. It has been discovered that their methods are specious and there are a thousand problems with their claims. They end up wasting more money than they send to be used for good.
The other thing is that I just zoned out near the end with all of the stories about the middle class very colonizing, pushy Christian white people. I didn't really want to hear anything more about them and then another story about one would start. But, perhaps they are a good example of how "do-gooders" passion can be pushed in directions that do harm when they are wrong. (Not that everything these people did was harmful, but some of the things they did were.)