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A Review: Infectious Generosity

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Infectious Generosity
by Chris Anderson
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0753560495

I was recommended this book, out of the blue, by a colleague. I am not entirely sure why, but now that I’ve finished it I am looking forward to finding out!

Infectious Generosity looks at the state of generosity in the world and looks at the ways in which it might be improved with lots of real world examples of people who have been generous and a framework for becoming more generous. Most importantly, it explores how being generous, even in small ways which have little cost to you, makes you happy.

It takes a good hard look at the internet, especially social media and how, in the author's opinion, it is a massive source of evil in the world. He examines everything from cyber bullying to toxic masculinity. But then he describes how, with just a few simple changes to the way we approach the internet and social media, we could turn it into an even bigger force for good and encourages the reader to do so.

The part of the book which resonated the most with me was about the pleasure you can get from sharing your learnings with other people in a way that helps them learn about things they are interested in too. A close second was how you can bring groups of people together to help further a cause from the lack of growth funding for small business to aid in other countries and homelessness.

It’s tempting to feel that I am being generous enough, but the book is encouraging me to do more.

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