In strangers drowning, celebrated journalist larissa macfarquhar digs deep into the psychological roots and existential dilemmas motivating those rare individuals practicing lives of extreme ethical commitment. Larissa macfarquhar s new book strangers drowning examines extreme dogooders people who have an overwhelming urge to help. Larissa macfarquhar is an editor and writer who has been working for the new yorker since 1998. But, as maggie helwig writes, goodness is not a simple. Oct 11, 2015 the dogooders in larissa macfarquhars new book, strangers drowning, make these kinds of calculations every day. Larissa macfarquhar is a beautiful writer, and strangers drowning is a beautiful, unique book, full of astonishing and sometimes wild tales of extraordinary altruism.
Her profile subjects have included john ashbery, barack obama, noam chomsky, hilary mantel, derek parfit, david chang, and. Grappling with impossible idealism, drastic choices, and the overpowering urge to help. Strangers drowning by larissa macfarquhar the boston globe. Grappling with impossible idealism, drastic choices, and the overpowering urge to help is a nonfiction book by larissa macfarquhar about the stories of extreme altruists what macfarquhar calls dogooders, who go far beyond the typical range of expectation or desire to help others, many of them relative or complete. Larissa macfarquhar is an american writer known for her profiles in the new yorker. Strangers drowning by larissa macfarquhar books on tape. Clearly some people would be compelled to save the person dearest to them, in this case, their mother. Strangers drowning by larissa macfarquhar penguin random. Through its sympathetic and beautifully vivid storytelling, strangers drowning. Grappling with impossible idealism, drastic choices, and the overpowering urge to help 1 by macfarquhar, larissa isbn. In her first book, strangers drowning, larissa macfarquhar, a staff writer for the new yorker, reports a somewhat similar phenomenon. Why core values should be examined when youre young.
When new yorker writer larissa macfarquhar set out to write about the lives of extreme altruists in her first book, strangers drowning. Sep 25, 2015 larissa macfarquhars new book strangers drowning examines extreme dogooders people who have an overwhelming urge to help. Her profile subjects have included john ashbery, barack obama, noam chomsky, hilary mantel, derek parfit, david chang, and aaron swartz, among many others. Larissa macfarquhar audio books, best sellers, author. Strangers drowning by larissa macfarquhar all good book club. I can imagine larissa macfarquhars strangers drowning being as wonderful to read a hundred years from now as it was this year. Mar 12, 2020 in strangers drowning, celebrated journalist larissa macfarquhar digs deep into the psychological roots and existential dilemmas motivating those rare individuals practicing lives of extreme ethical commitment. At the book s outset, macfarquhar notes that her focus is specifically on the dogooder emphasizing the phrases. In strangers drowning, larissa macfarquhar seeks out people living lives of. Grappling with impossible idealism, drastic choices, and the overpowering urge to help by larissa macfarquhar.
Author larissa macfarquhar at the firstyear experience. Strangers drowning is a book written in a deceptively simple and clear voice about people, about how morality lodges itself in a person not as an abstract idea, or even a value, but as a direction for lifemacfarquhar forgoes the knowing detachment of the interviewer and stays close to her subjects, narrating their lives in her own voice but. They sacrifice little luxuries and add up the lives. Impossible idealism, drastic choices, and the urge to help. But some people are willing to go to those lengths to help others, and new yorker staff writer larissa macfarquhar profiles a diverse cast of such extreme dogooders in her new book, strangers. The donor who offers up her kidney to a complete stranger. Strangers drowning is a book written in a deceptively simple and clear voice about people, about how morality lodges itself in a person not as an abstract idea, or even a value, but as a direction for life macfarquhar forgoes the knowing detachment of the interviewer and stays close to her subjects, narrating their lives in her own voice but. In strangers drowning, larissa macfarquhar explores.
Strangers drowning by larissa macfarquhar, 9780143109785, available at book depository with free delivery worldwide. This is the thought experiment that opens the book, strangers drowning. To ask other readers questions about strangers drowning, please sign up. Her superb book is about extreme dogooders, people. These altruistic people, she observes, know there are crises.
Oct 17, 2015 to order strangers drowning by larissa macfarquhar for. Grappling with impossible idealism, drastic choices, and the overpowering urge to help, she imagined that her impulse was to document the lives of living saints. Larissa macfarquhars facinating encounters with the relentless logic of extreme. Larissa macfarquhar, emerson fellow, is writing a book about the decision to stay, leave, or return to a hometown, how that can affect a persons worldview, and how countless such decisions shift americas politics. These are some of the big questions that larissa macfarquhars book.
The dogooders in larissa macfarquhar s new book, strangers drowning, make these kinds of calculations every day. Strangers drowning is a journey through the am i doing enough world of ambitious altruism and ascetic selflessness. Sep 29, 2015 in strangers drowning, celebrated journalist larissa macfarquhar digs deep into the psychological roots and existential dilemmas motivating those rare individuals practicing lives of extreme ethical commitment. Grappling with impossible idealism, drastic choices, and the overpowering urge to help, by larissa macfarquhar, staff. Strangers drowning audiobook by larissa macfarquhar. In strangers drowning, larissa macfarquhar seeks out people living lives of extreme ethical commitment and tells their deeply intimate stories. Author larissa macfarquhar strangers drowning looks at why exploring your values and ethics early in life can be beneficial as you get older. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. Nov 19, 2015 this is the thought experiment that opens the book, strangers drowning. Grappling with impossible idealism, drastic choices, and the overpowering urge to help by larissa macfarquhar penguin press, 320 pp. Strangers drowning by larissa macfarquhar overdrive. Grapping with impossible idealism, drastic choices, and the overpowering urge to help penguin press are unconventional people who dont care what others think of them. Strangers drowning is a book written in a deceptively simple and clear. Voyages to the brink of moral extremity, a new book by the new yorker writer larissa macfarquhar, we meet a lot of.
Chapter 1 a young man and an older man a philosophy professor and his student are having lunch together in a thai restaurant in new jersey young man. Strangers drowning by larissa macfarquhar a little blog of. Aug 26, 2018 these are some of the questions posed by journalist larissa macfarquhar in her 2015 book strangers drowning. Her profile subjects have included john ashbery, barack obama, noam. Strangers drowning, by larissa macfarquhar the new. The daughter of diplomats, macfarquhar lives in new york and strangers drowning is her first book. The book reports on extreme dogoodersa favorite chapter looks at a couple who adopted 22 childrenbut its detailoriented and nonjudgmental intelligence makes it at once morally complex and. Strangers drowning is a book written in a deceptively simple and clear voice. Sep 29, 2015 in strangers drowning, celebrated journalist larissa macfarquhar digs deep into the psychological roots and existential dilemmas motivating those rare individuals practising lives of extreme ethical commitment. Strangers drowning by larissa macfarquhar paperback. This book is about a human character who arouses conflicting emotions.
Sep 25, 2015 in her first book, strangers drowning, larissa macfarquhar, a staff writer for the new yorker, reports a somewhat similar phenomenon. Strangers drowning by larissa macfarquhar bookforum. Larissa macfarquhar audio books, best sellers, author bio. Strangers drowning by larissa macfarquhar, 9781846143991, available at book depository with free delivery worldwide. Im not sure what the world would be like if everyone thought like me. Prepare for prose thats often like poetry and for some remarkable portraits of the human spirit. This writer spent years studying the most selfless people. Larissa macfarquhar is a staff writer at the new yorker magazine. Between her stories, macfarquhar threads a lively history of the literature, philosophy, social science, and selfhelp that have contributed to a deep suspicion of dogooders in western culture. Strangers drowning, larissa macfarquhar, author and narrator the book addresses the dogooders of the world, those who place the needs of others ahead of their own, those that want to bring compassion to everyone in need, those that want to save others regardless of the risk to themselves, those that do it instinctively and those that do it by. Larissa macfarquhars strangers drowning is one part modernday lives of the saints, one part confirmation that this is no age for saints. A profound and deeply original book, strangers drowning will hold you in its grip and not let you go. Strangers drowning offers a portrait of a dozenodd saints, but it also paints the picture of an individual hidden in the wings.
Grappling with impossible idealism, drastic choices, and the overpowering urge to help new york. All subsequent parenthetical page numbers in the text refer to this edition of the book. The dogooders in larissa macfarquhars new book, strangers drowning, make these kinds of calculations every day. The dogooders macfarquhar writes about in strangers drowning. Impossible idealism, drastic choices, and the urge to help kindle edition by macfarquhar, larissa. These are some of the questions posed by journalist larissa macfarquhar in her 2015 book strangers drowning. Voyages to the brink of moral extremity in which she profiles the true stories of extreme dogooders or those who devote their lives to help strangers rather than people they are close to through a sense of duty. Her profile subjects have included barack obama, the novelist hilary mantel, the poet john ashbery, the philosopher derek parfit, and the internet icon aaron swartz, among many others.
What does it mean to devote yourself wholly to helping others. In college we were given the thought experiment, should you save your mother from drowning, or two strangers. In strangers drowning, celebrated journalist larissa macfarquhar digs deep into the psychological roots and existential dilemmas motivating those rare individuals practising lives of extreme ethical commitment. Strangers drowning by larissa macfarquhar penguin books. Strangers drowning by larissa macfarquhar a little blog. This is such a thoughtful, philosophical book that doesnt beat you over the head.
Moving and provocative, strangers drowning challenges us to think about what we value most and why. Macfarquhar avoids sentimentality or simple lessons. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading strangers drowning. Voyages to the brink of moral extremity, a new book by the new yorker writer larissa macfarquhar, we meet a lot of people who have committed similar, or even more self.
Sep 29, 2016 strangers drowning by larissa macfarquhar, 9781846143991, available at book depository with free delivery worldwide. I dont mean a parttime, normal dogooder someone who has a worthy job, or volunteers at a charity, and returns to an ordinary family life in the evenings. New yorker staff writer larissa macfarquhar quite brilliantly focuses on this second group of individuals she calls dogooders in her thoughtful and wideranging strangers drowning. Larissa macfarquhar has been a staff writer at the new yorker since 1998. Strangers drowning, by larissa macfarquhar the new york times. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. Larissa macfarquhar s strangers drowning is one part modernday lives of the saints, one part confirmation that this is no age for saints. But there are also those who make us feel, as larissa macfarquhar puts it in this chilling and utterly absorbing book, uneasy, whose.
David grann, author of the devil and sherlock holmes and the lost city of z larissa macfarquhar has composed a compelling, lyrical saga of the saintly types that inspire both awe and puzzlement. Oct 14, 2019 these are some of the questions posed by journalist larissa macfarquhar in her 2015 book strangers drowning. Larissa macfarquhars new book strangers drowning examines extreme dogooders people who have an overwhelming urge to help. She is the daughter of the sinologist roderick macfarquhar she has written profiles on barack obama, derek parfit, hilary mantel, robert gottlieb, richard posner, chelsea manning and aaron swartz, among others. Strangers drowning larissa macfarquhar 9781594204333.