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Rutger Bregman

Utopia for Realists: And How We Can Get There Kindle Edition

by Rutger Bregman (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER FROM THE VIRAL SENSATION TAKING ON THE BILLIONAIRES

'Listen out for Rutger Bregman. He has a big future shaping the future' Observer

'A more politically radical Malcolm Gladwell' New York Times

'The Dutch wunderkind of new ideas' Guardian

In Utopia for Realists, Rutger Bregman shows that we can construct a society with visionary ideas that are, in fact, wholly implementable. Every milestone of civilisation – from the end of slavery to the beginning of democracy – was once considered a utopian fantasy. New utopian ideas such as universal basic income and a fifteen-hour work week can become reality in our lifetime.

From a Canadian city that once completely eradicated poverty, to Richard Nixon's near implementation of a basic income for millions of Americans, Bregman takes us on a journey through history, beyond the traditional left-right divides, as he introduces ideas whose time has come.

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If you're bored with hackneyed debates, decades-old right-wing and left-wing clichés, you may enjoy the bold thinking, fresh ideas, lively prose, and evidence-based arguments in Utopia for Realists (Steven Pinker, author of 'The Language Instinct')

A wonderfully readable breath of fresh air, a window thrown open to a better future ... Bregman combines deep research with wit, challenging us to think anew about how we want to live and who we want to be. Required reading (Philipp Blomm, author of 'The Vertigo Years')

Brilliant, comprehensive, truly enlightening, and eminently readable (Zygmunt Bauman, one of the world's most eminent social theorists)

Superbly written, upbeat, insightful (Philippe van Parijs, Harvard University professor and co-founder of the Basic Income Earth Network)

If energy, enthusiasm and aphorism could make the world better, then Rutger Bregman's book would do it ... The writing is powerful and fluent ... A boisterously good read (Independent)

About the Author

Rutger Bregman has published four books on history, philosophy and economics. He won the Belgian Liberales prize for best non-fiction book in 2013 and has twice been nominated for the prestigious European Press Prize for his journalism work. His work has been featured in the Washington Post, the Guardian and on the BBC. In 2016 he gave a TEDx talk and in April 2017 he will give a TED talk on the benefits of universal basic income.

Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 2846 KB
Print Length: 300 pages
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing; 1 edition (5 March 2017)
Sold by: Amazon Australia Services, Inc.
Language: English
ASIN: B01MQRQG22
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Customer Reviews: 328 customer ratings
Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #7,177 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
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Kim Wingerei

Should be mandatory reading for anyone remotely interested in how we can make this world a better place for everyone.

Reviewed in Australia on 23 May 2017

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This is not just about universal income, it is a book that challenges almost every antiquated notion about what our affluence is built on. It is a book pointing the way towards an alternative future, a world were we can realistically move towards an end to poverty and inequality. The author bridges the gap between history and present reality, without pontificating, carrying not just many convincing arguments for his beliefs, but doings so with both humility and insight into the human condition. Brilliant.

2 people found this helpful

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the big pen

Read, Think, Change, Act

Reviewed in Australia on 14 August 2019

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A well argued book and great source of ideas for anyone wanting to do things differently.

Bregman shows that what was once thought impossible became the norm. But importantly, he points out that if we don’t have impossible ideas being shared, discussed and refined they will never be implemented. In this he challenges the progressives on the left to move away from the politics of grievance and to start developing ideas on how to improve the future rather than only fight for short term fixes to the problems in front of us.

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Julian Mather

An essential handbook for understanding Universal Basic Income

Reviewed in Australia on 13 October 2018

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I wanted to better understand UBI. This book did that for me and extended my thinking further into new possibilities. Not a heavy read by any means. Lively stories. Big ideas. Challenging views. It's a great read to go with two other books. Factfulness by Hans Rosling and The Complacent Class by Tyler Cowen. In the middle of this triangle of books, you'll get a clearer and more optimistic view of the real world we live in. Get your highlighter ready, you'll need it.

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GEORGE J TLASKAL

Utopia as a way forward

Reviewed in Australia on 19 October 2017

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We, I mean the thinking we, all know that our Western society has lost the way in the world of over seven billion people. Our leaders no longer lead, biological nature of our society is being ignored and the early shocks of the Anthropocene era are upon us. In this book the author not only explains how we arrived where we are but also, refreshingly , what can be done about it. Recommended to everyone.

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Shaheen Badat

A lot of hope and great ideas

Reviewed in Australia on 14 October 2018

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Gives me good vibes in these troubling political times. I do have hope in the next generation and the world will be a better place when they are in charge

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Exellant book

Reviewed in Australia on 5 August 2018

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Well written with a solid understanding of the three basic needs to sort out some of our global problems in the future

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Amazon Customer

It is possible.

Reviewed in Australia on 24 May 2020

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A must read for anyone who values the future. Keep an open mind and think about what you've read. Don't despair, it is possible.

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James Darcy. Author of "Rabid Hound".

Insightful

Reviewed in Australia on 6 September 2017

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I discovered new concepts in this book which really opened my eyes to the possibilities of an overhauled economic system which eradicates the alarming growth of inequality in our current system.

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Digital Pigeon

Utopia for Leftists more like

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 29 May 2018

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This book is OK, nothing more. If you already think that UBI is a great idea, that national borders are a bad idea and that society needs to move substantially to the left then this fairly interesting polemic will confirm your worldview and encourage you to think that anyone who disagrees with you is an idiot. If you're undecided about things like UBI and want to know more to inform your opinion then this is not the book for you.

Annoyingly, the 'how we can get there' part is almost completely missing. Bregman spends 3 chapters banging on about how good UBI would be (who doesn't want free money?!), but completely overlooks to question of how to pay for it, or how it could interact with current welfare systems. He's preaching to the choir, and if you're not part of that choir this book will leave you frustrated.

To be fair, it is very readable, and he has quite an entertaining writing style. If you're looking for something easy to read in your spare time you can do worse. If you're looking for something which really makes you think about how our society can and should be improved I'd recommend 'How much is enough?' by the Skidelsky brothers, which basically covers exactly the same material, but from a balanced non-tribal perspective.

74 people found this helpful

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Mac McAleer

A Narrative of Hope and Progress

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 10 April 2017

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This relentlessly optimistic book offers positive options to counter the current gloomy economic and social outlook. It has already created waves on its initial publication in Dutch. The author, Rutger Bregman, is a young Dutch journalist. He presents a fresh vision of a successful society. His ideas include establishing a guaranteed basic income for all, open borders and no longer using GDP as a measure of prosperity. Many people will read this book with enthusiasm. These will be followed by many more with a sober and depressing critique. This is the whole purpose of the book – to open up a discussion and to lodge these ideas into the global consciousness. This is a book that ought to be read.

The writing style is simple and clear, avoiding complex sentence structures. I was surprised by how many of the book’s examples were taken from the Anglosphere. Some examples were from Holland and Denmark but most were from the US or UK. If I had not known, I would have assumed that the writer was a US journalist.

The main ideas are the introduction of a Universal Unconditional Basic Income, the reduction of the working week, finding a better metric than GDP and the opening of borders. The challenges are globalisation and automation of the workplace for both blue-collar and white-collar employees. Soon there will much less work, no matter how many non-jobs are created. Do we want to create a society with a small wealthy global elite surrounded by permanent mass unemployment, under-employment or pointless employment? Currently jobs are off-shored because the labour in the less developed world is cheaper than automation. What happens when automation becomes cheaper?

When technological change happened in the past new, previously un-imaged jobs replaced them. However, this time may be different. “Slowly but surely, the bedrock of modern democracy – the middle class – is crumbling. And while the U.S. is leading the process, other developed nations aren’t far behind.” (page 191)

“In the end, it’s not the market or technology that decides what has real value, but society. If we want this century to be one in which all of us get richer, then we’ll need to free ourselves of the dogma that all work is meaningful. And, while we’re at it, let’s also get rid of the fallacy that a higher salary is automatically a reflection of societal value.” (page 172)

THE BOOK has 10 chapters and an Epilogue over 264 pages, plus 52 pages of Notes, Index and Acknowledgements. The chapters are:
1. The Return of Utopia
Where the medieval European dream of the Land of Plenty, Cockaigne, is fulfilled by the modern western world’s development, but it is a bleak Paradise
2. Why We Should Give Free Money to Everyone
Where examples of giving away free money to the street-sleeping homeless are reviewed
3. The End of Poverty
How money from a casino lifted Cherokee families out of the cycle of poverty and social problems. How Utah‘s unconditional gifts of money and homes solved their homeless problem
4. The Bizarre Tale of President Nixon and His Basic Income Tax Bill
President Nixon tried to introduce a universal basic income. The successful results of a similar scheme in early 19th century in Speenhamland, England were deliberately misrepresented for political reasons in the 1830s. The idea of a universal basic income was supported by economists Frederick Hayek and Milton Friedman. The State of Alaska gives a universal basic income to its residents from oil revenues
5. New Figures for a new Era
The invention of GDP and its modern limitations
6. A Fifteen Hour Work-Week
7. Why It Doesn’t Pay to be a Banker
On real jobs, well-paid jobs that negatively contribute to the common wealth and jobs that are meaningless
8. Race Against the Machine
The onslaught of automation and intelligent machines
9. Beyond the Gates of the Land of Plenty
Open the borders
10. Ideas Change the World
How some apparently crazy ideas eventually become mainstream e.g. abolishing slavery

SOUCES: The author’s sources include:
The Failed Welfare Revolution;Utopianism: A Very Short Introduction ;Picture Imperfect: Utopian Thought ;Just Give Money to the Poor ;Basic Income Guarantee;GDP: A Brief but Affectionate History;The Overworked American;Time on Our Side: Why We All Need a Shorter Working Week;The Second Machine Age.

44 people found this helpful

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Joseph Cash

A brilliant vision to pursue...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 10 September 2017

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Many people find themselves working for longer hours, for static wages, with less job security than ever. The spectre of Artificial Intelligence looms on the horizon; whilst offering many benefits it may lead to the elimination of half our jobs. Is this our future - more and more work for less and less money (except for the "one per cent")? This book offers a beautiful and practical alternative. This author provides powerful evidence that ideas such as Universal Basic Income could have immense benefits. It provides a compelling, exciting and powerful vision. It is less strong on the transition, on the how to get to implementing the vision, though the author argues a radical vision may have to be articulated for decades before it is implemented. I found some ideas more compelling than others - e.g. I was totally convinced by the case for Universal Basic Income and a much shorter working week, far less so on the case for any movement towards "open borders". Still, overall, this book is a brilliant read and inspires to me to believe that our economic and social future can be much better than our present.

18 people found this helpful

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MickD

A soon as this book closes, the revolution starts!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 11 April 2017

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A real show stopper as far as I'm concerned.
Bregman sets out the case for a shorter working week, universal basic pay and other radical ways of viewing and operating the world we live in. If you are looking for a positive radical way of changing the world and not just tinkering around the edges, you must read this. It is well researched, well referenced, very well written, and full of information that may keep you from getting off to sleep. . It also has what has to be the most weird piece of hidden history in that Nixon almost implemented some of this stuff. Incredible!

I stopped reading two other books until I had finished this one - I just couldn't put it down, but beware, it is crammed full of great examples that you immediately want to tell someone else about.

21 people found this helpful

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David J Warden

Simply boring

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 26 April 2019

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This book was such a let down. The writing style is excruciating - page after page of worn out journalistic riffs and devoid of any critical thinking. It contains no original ideas. Basic Universal Income is probably a good idea whose time has come but there was no in depth analysis of it here. His second utopian idea, a borderless world, is verging on madness but maybe that is his point - mad ideas may well be accepted in years to come but that does not necessarily make them good or sensible. His third utopian idea, a shorter working week, is something best left to individuals. Some people enjoy their work and want to work 80 hours a week. Others prefer to work part-time and so on. These choices are already available.

Bregman is right that we do need a compelling new economic story to replace zombie neoliberalism. But unfortunately this book is not much more than a triumph of marketing over substance.

7 people found this helpful

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Abdiel LeRoy

Breaking Mental Chains

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 22 April 2017

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Bregman lifts the veil on obvious solutions for humanity, but with such clarity and power as to attain the status of a prophet. Moreover, consistent with his call "to be idealist without becoming ideological", his prescriptions are thoroughly grounded in solid data and research. The health, happiness, prosperity, and security of all humanity would be best served with a guaranteed basic income for all, a workweek of 15 hours or less, and open borders.

Nor should we be fazed by claims any of this is "unrealistic". "The end of slavery," Bregman writes, "the emancipation of women, the rise of the welfare state – all were progressive ideas that started out as crazy and 'irrational' but were ultimately accepted as basic common sense… If we want to change the world, we need to be unrealistic, unreasonable, and impossible."

This book breaks, or rather dismantles the mental chains that have so long oppressed us, while imparting conviction and encouragement to enlightened world-changers.

13 people found this helpful

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Mr Clean

Can't remember a better book (& I read a lot)

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 30 March 2017

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Honestly I have been so enthused by this book. I'd read The Spirit Level and also The Weak Suffer What They Must and found that lots chimed with me, but this is more of a clear call to a possible solution to so many problems... A realistic set of ideas for a better future

17 people found this helpful

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Redhead

A great introduction to economic theory with many fascinating case studies

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 21 May 2017

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It's a really interesting read, with a lot of interesting historical information , the style is a bit annoying at times but not sure whether something is being lost in translation from the Dutch - however as an argument for the introduction of the universal income for all it makes sense - alot of interesting case studies from all round the globe illustrate the writer's point that giving a regular income directly to people with no strings attached and no guilt or stigma attached (i.e you are a benefit parasite etc etc - this is eliminated because everyone can claim the universal income) actually leads to a much greater pay off to society both economically and in terms of well being in the long run. Case studies show homelessness problems and street crime and other social problems disappear over night when states in America and various other countries have introduced universal basic income - therefore saving society as a whole millions in court fees, prison sentences and many other related costs . Other case studies show whole towns lifting their 'broken' economies through the introduction of the UBI as well as people being able to train themselves with the extra money and become more skilled and eventually contributing more to their communities and society in the long run. Massively interesting read well worth buying

2 people found this helpful

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Herr Holz Paul

`Be realistic - demand the impossible`

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 20 April 2018

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For me this is the most significant and compelling argument here. It is about opposing the conservatism in the way we are governed which seeps down and imbibes the population with the fear of change and pushing the boundaries.

The arguments in this book have a very contemporary flavour. Change does and will happen. Things might change at an almost imperceptible pace and as Max Planck said;
`science advances one funeral at a time`
the word science could easily be accompanied by the word society. Let`s face it. We want secure predictable comfortable lives and to ensure that the preparation and hard work we have invested in our futures pays dividends. Associated with this argument is the idea that we are essentially stubborn, but also on a subconscious level inasmuch as we hold on to our beliefs with grim determination refusing to consider contradictory views. But then, maybe I am wrong.

But change does seem to be in the air and Rutger Bregman is one of the heralds and advocates of such.

2 people found this helpful

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Davey Wavey

A book for everyone

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 22 January 2019

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Everyone needs to read this book.

If you already have sentiments towards a universal income, removal of borders, shorter working hours, more creative time then you will love being in friendly company here, so just enjoy the ride.

If you are not familiar with these topics and ideas then this is a wonderful readable book that covers the main elements we need to pull together if we are to create a new utopian vision.

This book will not show us how to get there, but at least it describes where 'there' might be. If you want to know how to get 'there' I recommend FREEDOM: THE END OF THE HUMAN CONDITION by Jeremy Griffith and also the VENUS PROJECT videos. Put these three together and, just wow!

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Luke Andreski

Utopia is not restricted to dreamers and fools

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 22 March 2019

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Sometimes you have to ask yourself, why shouldn't we live in a better world? Why must we accept that 'the poor will always be with us' or that realpolitik and a pragmatic acceptance of human fallibility and failings are the armory of anyone with intelligence and sense? In this powerful and compelling but readable book Rutger Bregman focuses on a select number of big ideas which would take our world in a Utopian direction, in the direction of increased human happiness and fulfillment.

Key amongst these are a universal basic income, a powerfully redistributive taxation, a reduced working week, and a realignment of the rewards for specific types of work with the real benefits which that work delivers (i.e. start rewarding nurses, carers, teachers, farmers and those who produce tangible goods which people depend upon and stop rewarding those who push paper around or work out tax avoidance schemes for the rich).

And Bregman is convincing. Solidly, pragmatically and realpolitikally convincing. So I thoroughly recommend reading this book - and, once you've read it, I then suggest you take a look at my own contribution to the conversation: "Intelligent Ethics" ( www.amazon.co.uk/Intelligent-Ethics-Luke-Andreski/dp/1794618732 ). Utopia is not as impossible as it sounds.

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Eric Lee

Good ideas, but not really Utopian

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 8 April 2019

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I admit to being a bit of a latecomer to this party, having only discovered Rutger Bregman following his extraordinary non-interview on Fox News recently. This is his best-selling book laying out the case for a number of reforms, some quite moderate (like universal basic income, which even Richard Nixon advocated) and others far more radical (abolishing borders between countries). These are pretty much all good ideas, but I wouldn't go so far as to call them utopian. And also, for some strange reason, he's not mentioned some of the great experiments in social change including the independent Georgian republic of 1918-21, or the kibbutz movement in Israel. Well worth the read.

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Kindle Customer

A truly inspiring read!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 1 March 2019

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I can't believe it took me so long to find a book like this. FINALLY someone is bringing ideas to the table that I dreamed off, but never had the evidence to back up.
Reading this book was a roller coaster of emotions for me, because while I have always identified with left wing, progressive and borderline socialist ideas, I stuck my head in the sand because I felt alone and unreasonable talking about them. This book has given me a long-lost hope for the future of humanity. A must read!

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Gavin Kirby

Excellent primer on modern progressive ideas

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 17 April 2017

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Bregman summarises the evidence-based arguments for three major ambitious changes to our global society, focussing on empowering individuals rather than formal political changes. Open borders, basic income, and reduced working hours might well become necessities, given the major changes that accelerating economic automation will produce in this century. This book presents a strong case to anyone as yet unconvinced.

My only gripes were stylistic: at times he sounds overly journalistic and chatty (but perhaps this just reflects my own stylistic preferences). It's also a little jarring that a Dutch author writing for a global audience insists on using silly American units of measurement for just about everything.

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Dr. John C. Franklin

Free money? Free movement? Are they possible? Are they desirable?

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 15 August 2019

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A fascinating book full of provocative ideas. I am not sure whether a universal basic income will ever become reality beyond small pilot schemes, nor do I expect open borders to arrive anytime soon. However, the author’s argument that the left needs to champion big, visionary ideas again is compelling. Just being anti everything done in the name of neoliberalism is not enough.

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