If you're a fan of The Good Place or Mike Schur in general, this is a must-read! This book is a very approachable introduction to the complex philosophical concepts Schur touches on in the show. Imbued with his wit and humor, he is able to serve up a kind of Cliffs Notes version of philosophy that doesn't feel pretentious but also isn't "dumbed down" to the point of underestimating his readers. It feels more like a conversation than a lecture. I don't tend to read a lot of nonfiction, but being a fan of The Good Place, I really enjoyed exploring these concepts further.

5 stars for Michael Schur's How to Be Perfect! Reading this book was like going to philosophy class with a famous Actor/Writer/Show Creator as your Professor! Engaging, interesting and funny! Great read!

The title, How to Be Perfect, is misleading, but the sub-title, The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question, fits this book perfectly. A philosophy primer and dummies guide to leading an ethical life which draws from varies philosophical schools of thought & how to apply it everyday life.

I received this advance review copy from from NetGalley for my honest review.

The book opens with the deeply philosophical question:

"Should I punch my friend in the face for no reason?"

I think we can all agree that this should pose no trouble for us to ponder, and that's where the journey starts. Using humor and easy examples, the author guides the reader on an exploration of moral philosophy. I good selection for libraries looking to update their philosophy section with an approachable, entry level title.

Michael Schur, the creator of The Good Place, has written a book of philosophy. There is no one I trust more to write a book about this subject. If you're a fan of the Good Place, you will love this book. Schur does a great job of writing about very complex topics and making it very readable.

“How to be Perfect” was such a warmhearted, wonderful peek into one of my favorite TV sitcom writer’s inner life. And of course, learning about philosophy along the way was definitely a bonus. And I learned a lot! Schur has a talent for presenting difficult ideas in an assessable way, and what more can you ask from a philosophy book? Can not tell you how many times I’ve heard the trolley story referenced but had never done a deep dive to learn more. If you enjoy Schur’s writing on TV, you’ll love this, too. Before the book had even started, the chapter titles were making me smile and do that satisfying nose exhale when you privately chuckle but don’t fully laugh out loud. Such as, “Yes, I bumped into your car. But do you even care about Hurricane Katrina?”

Things that didn’t work for me - the biggest would be Schur’s use of footnotes. Initially it felt like a fun hat tip to the reality of reading philosophy books where footnotes are king. And most of the footnotes were really funny asides ( like a good The Office talking head moment). But by the end I was slightly put off. Some of the footnotes felt like they could’ve easily been not footnoted, and it was the a frustrating back and forth of trying to remember at the end of a chapter what the footnotes referred to. I was also surprised to find that the sections of the book I least enjoyed were the most topical. Not to take away from Schur’s political points themselves, but they were missing the nuance and also philosophical angle that the rest of the book was filled with.

It's clear that a love of love, attention, and time went into crafting this book. It's incredibly well researched, and Michael Schur has really put a lot of thought into writing a philosophy book for people who don't know anything about philosophy. That being said, I'm not entirely sure how I felt about this one. I have no interest in philosophy, I'm just a fan of Michael Schur and most of his television work. This one wasn't for me, but I have plenty of friends that will love it.

Michael Schur's sitcoms are not only hilarious, but they have always shown the heart and compassion that other comedies often lack. This work does more than outline a brief history of philosophy in a succinct and fun way, it tells us how he has used the writings of philosophers to ground his own sense of ethics. Often the problem in trying to make an ethical decision isn't that we don't know the outlines of right and wrong, but that we fail to see them in contextual situations, in situ. Schur helps show us that context by using examples from his own life and examples that could be from anyone's life to provide concrete examples of how to use the ethical foundations established by great thinkers to make decisions in our own lives, such as do we really need to return that shopping cart to the corral?

Thanks to Schur's lifetime of writing comedy, he is also able to boil down complex philosophical concepts into a form that I - a busy "professional" who has left her college and contemplative philosophical musing days behind - can read and digest while on the treadmill. He also repeats concepts in a way that reinforces what you've already learned, so that you don't forget what was at the beginning of the book by the end, as I often do.
I got a free copy of this book to review and I have also ordered a copy for myself. I'm planning on reading it again. It has already made me make more ethical decisions. Though I'm not sure if that was from the actual teachings of the book or just the result of being in the middle of reading a book about ethics. Still, it worked - great job Michael Schur!

Humans inherently cannot be perfect during their time on Earth....or can they?
Whitty, fun, creative, educational, & hilariously........who does footnotes better than Michael Schur?
Highly recommend!

A sincere thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for providing me a copy of “How to Be Perfect” in exchange for an honest review. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to read this story and leave my review voluntarily.

Having enjoyed Mike Schur's work as a writer on The Office and creator of The Good Place (two of my favorite pandemic binges), I was eager to hear what he has to say about how to define a "good person" (explored in some depth in The Good Place), how to live a more ethical life, and how we should embrace failure as a way to learn and grow.

Through a massive amount of self-reflection and research--his resources are laid out in the Notes section--Schur explains the major schools and proponents of Western moral philosophy in a way any reader can understand. And he does it using just the right mixture of serious discussion and light-heartedness. His footnotes alone are often hilarious.

A self-professed "hard-core rules nerd," Mike Schur has made an excellent attempt to find and communicate "the correct answer to every moral question" (the book's subtitle). I was especially touched by the final chapter--a letter to his 10- and 12-year-old children to explain, in simple terms, what matters to him, and what he feels should matter to them.

My thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for the opportunity to read and provide an honest review of this book.

We came to The Good Place late. During the 2020 lockdown my husband and I found The Good Place and loved it. It was funny with great acting and we laughed but it also had depth and made us think, an intelligent show. I also came late to How To Be Perfect , after seeing it promoted as by Michael Schur, creator of The Good Place.

This book is an account of my own journey through moral philosophy, but it’s also about learning to accept failure–or really, to embrace it–as a necessary and beneficial by-product of our efforts to try, learn, and improve.
from How to be Perfect by Michael Schur

Subtitled ‘The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question,’ Schur’s book is a condensation of thousands of years of ethical philosophy. I became interested in philosophy in a high school college prep survey class on World Literature covering philosophy, science, fiction, and poetry. Every week found me in the library, reading the original works my teacher covered in a mimeographed page.

The book is classified as humor! Schur has written some wonderful sitcoms. So, you know he can be funny. He uses this skill to entertain us while explaining the complex moral applications of diverse ethical schools including Aristotle, Kant, Utilitarianism, and Existentialism.

Schur considers moral problems through the lenses of these differing philosophies, trying them on for size to see how they fit. Should we return our shopping cart to the rack? Should I run into a burning building to rescue those inside? (My husband’s great-uncle actually did this and was severely burned and disfigured.) Can we build up ‘ethical credit’ for good deeds to offset our selfish ones? What is the limit of giving–should we help others to our own detriment? Should all people be held to the same standards? He explains why Ayn Rand is a bad novelist and even worse thinker. And, he covers the importance of learning how to apologize sincerely.

He draws from his own experience. While discussing how to handle the disparity between what we love and the morality of the creator of what we love, he considers Woody Allen’s influence him and how to justify continuing to enjoy his work after learning about his personal life.

This is a real issue for me. I constantly find myself avoiding purchases for companies or artists whose values are abhorrent to me. Nearly every week some news comes through that makes me reconsider where I shop and what I buy and who I donate to.

What we do matters. Being good is hard and perfection impossible. In the end, Schur returns to the ancient Greeks and sums up with two bits of wisdom.

Know thyself. And, nothing in excess.

I received a free egalley from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.

I loved watching The Good Place, so it is unsurprising how much I enjoyed How to Be Perfect. I mean, even the footnotes were delightful to read. From dealing with perhaps less impactful actions (do I have to return my shopping cart to the rack?) to more timely serious debates (should I continue to support my favorite piece of art if the creator of said art is problematic?), this was engaging beginning to end. Also, the concept of Moral Exhaustion is very real and I wouldn’t be surprised if it does catch on. This was both thought-provoking and laugh-out-loud funny, an all around pleasure to read.

Thanks to Simon and Schuster and Netgalley (and Libro.fm!) for an advanced copy of this book. Wowee, I loved this book! As a former philosophy major who loves moral philosophy the best, and as a Good Place superfan, this was easily one of my most anticipated books of 2022, and it did not disappoint.

I switched between the ebook and the audiobook, and heartily recommend the audiobook; it’s an absolute delight to hear this out loud, and the talents of the entire Good Place cast are put to phenomenal use.

I studied this stuff in college, and I can honestly say that nothing in my university education in philosophy made me feel as prepared and able to have a real-life conversation about the three major moral systems as this book did. Although I was familiar with many of the ideas and thought experiments, this is a phenomenally cogent and entertaining tour of them; it’s so accessible and endlessly interesting. It’s both practical and lively. Mike Schur is a consummate comedy writer, but he takes his subject seriously. His delight in exploring these ideas shines through.

Schur is never slow to say that something is impenetrable or hopelessly confusing in its original form, and then to explain it clearly, which is much to his credit; a lot of professional philosophers act like it’s totally okay that the source materials are incomprehensible, that their incomprehensibility is a badge of honor even. Schur savily centers the urgency of the project of living an ethical life, and encourages readers to engage with the substance of the ideas. (I was SO RELIEVED that Mike Schur, who wrote a whole TV show around the book What We Owe to Each Other, never finished the book, because, as appealing as I find contractualist ideas, I could never get through that book either!)

I had expected that Schur was way more sympathetic to utilitarians than he turned out to be in this book, both because of some VERY obscure utilitarian jokes in the Good Place, and because he previously narrated an audiobook of Peter Singer’s The Life You Can Save. After reading this, my impression is that Schur thinks of virtue ethics, deontology, and consequentialism as equally valid ideas that can be embraced when they make sense situationally. I admire this approach (...but I’m still a utilitarian!)

Anyway, I would HIGHLY recommend this book (obviously) to fans of The Good Place: if you liked that show, you will love this book. But really, I recommend this book highly to absolutely anyone who likes to be entertained and wants to be a better person but isn’t quite sure what that means or how to do it.

Who would have thought a book on ethics and morality could be such fun! I thoroughly enjoyed every page. If it isn't guaranteed to make you a better person, it's definitely guaranteed to make you laugh. Buy it!

Is there anything Mike Schur doesn't do well? Honestly! I am not one for self-help or motivational books, and normally I would have passed this one right by, but seeing that it was authored by one of the most talented comedy writers today I jumped at the chance to give it a try. It does not disappoint! Told in a very easy-to-digest way, Mike Schur takes a deep dive into the parts of life that we could probably all be doing better. There are so many moments I had to read out loud to my husband along the way, that I've already purchased a copy for my bookshelves at home.

5/5 Stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for providing me with an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Going in, I was a little worried How to Be Perfect would have too many references to The Good Place (even though that's one of my favorite shows of all time), or would be too funny or quippy to really get to the core complicated issues we need guidance on. And it's true that this book is on the whole relatively light-hearted in tone, and Schur definitely includes a fair number of jokes and silly scenarios to keep the book entertaining. But at its heart, How to Be Perfect addresses really serious questions about what it means to be a person living with other people. It's very clear he thinks this is all incredibly important, and has thought about this himself a great deal; after having finished it, I'm grateful to him for sharing this so that readers can use this to become better people.

He addresses so many things I worry about—how much should I donate to important causes vs. how much do I allow myself to spend on things I enjoy? What do you do in situations where you feel hopeless because there's no real ethical consumption under capitalism? Where do you draw the line on consuming art made by people who have done bad things? How and when do you address a family member's racist comments? What makes a good apology? How do you reconcile supporting one thing and condemning another?

Another thing I appreciate is that he doesn't let himself off the hook—even when he explains how he realized all banks are terrible and that switching banks would be really difficult and maybe it's okay to not switch banks, he later looked more into it, found some less terrible banks, and did all the annoying terrible work to switch his account. Then he reflects on how a lot of why he justified it to himself was laziness, and uses that as an example of how we need to do the work to be better, when we can.

And that "when we can" part is important. After going through the major philosophical concepts and how we can use them to think about complicated situations, he also addresses so many important factors in this conversation, like privilege and class and context. This book doesn't ignore *anything*, and I appreciate that so much. I've come across a lot of books written by relatively famous people that just sort of skate across the surface without getting into anything actually challenging, and I was relieved that this was not one of those books.

While How to Be Perfect doesn't actually give you the right answer to every moral question, it does put you in a much better place in terms of how to go about figuring out what you think the right answer is. And it encourages you to keep trying to be better, even though you'll inevitably fail; learn from your mistakes, and do better next time.

Thank you to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for the chance to read and review this ARC.

Finally! A podcast for people who read books! Also I would punch my friend in the face, but not hard. I’m not concerned with ethics.

I’d like to thank Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for the chance to read and review an eARC of How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question.
As a massive fan of The Good Place I knew immediately I wanted to read this book, but little did I realize just how entertaining and educational the book would be. Back when I was in college I took a number of philosophy classes, and no offense to my college professors I can safely say I’ve gotten more out of Michael Schur’s How to Be Prefect than I did any of those classes. Now part of that may because I’m more mature than I was back in college and more interested in learning now than just messing around with friends on campus, but more than likely it’s the wonderfully humorous way in which Mr. Schur imparts his knowledge. Heck, even the footnotes (maybe especially the footnotes) are absolutely hilarious. In How to Be Perfect, Mr. Schur breaks down ethics/morality issues in such a way that anyone should be able to understand them, starting with everyday real world examples and building from there. And as funny as I found the book I can’t deny that it also made me think quite a bit. This is definitely a book I’ll recommend to friends and return to again in the future. I know Michael Schur is going to narrate the audio version of the book and I’m sure he’ll do an excellent job, but I can’t help but think of how he could have used the cast from The Good Place. Part of me thought it would be perfect to have William Jackson Harper (aka Chidi Anagonye) do the narration, after all we are being ‘taught’ ethics/morality, right? But given the book is infused with so much snarky humnor I also thought Kristen Bell (aka Eleanor Shellstrop) would make an excellent choice as well. No matter, I’m sure Michael will do a wonderful job, and whether a fan of The Good Place or not I can’t imagine anyone not getting something out of reading this book. Come for the knowledge, stay for the laughs!

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/how-to-be-perfect-michael-schur/1139794771?ean=9781982159313&bvnotificationId=155e2516-7e69-11ec-b407-0ac87110d7e9&bvmessageType=REVIEW_APPROVED&bvrecipientDomain=gmail.com#review/199331160

https://www.amazon.com/review/R2I66OI5O9CKK/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv

What does it mean to be a good person?

That’s a question that people have been asking themselves since we’ve been capable of asking ourselves questions. There’s a fluidity that comes with moral judgments, a shift of perspective from individual to individual. “Good” means different things to different people, and yet … is it possible that there’s a right answer? Some of our most brilliant thinkers have devoted years of their lives in an effort to figure it out.

And now we can add Michael Schur to the list.

Schur – a television writer/producer responsible for some of the most beloved sitcoms of the past 20 years – has written his first book, titled “How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question.” In it, he delves into the sometimes-thorny realm of moral philosophy – a subject that he explored to great effect in his excellent show “The Good Place” – and finds ways to connect the abstraction of thought with the concrete reality of existing in the world.

The result is a wryly funny book that is also packed with wisdom, a primer of sorts with regard to the semantics of being a good person. Each chapter is headed by a question that addresses moral behavior; these questions are explored and often (but not always) fully answered thanks to Schur’s wit and his willingness to mix it up with some admittedly challenging thinkers, all with the help of some dense philosophical tomes and a few modern-day experts to help guide him along the way.

“How to Be Perfect” is broken up into three parts, whose titles I will reproduce in full because they are both representative of the contents and an absolute delight.

In Which We Learn Various Theories About How to Be Good People from the Three Main Schools of Western Moral Philosophy That Have Emerged over the Last 2,500 Years, Plus a Bunch of Other Cool Stuff, All in Like Eighty Pages
In Which We Take Everything We’ve Learned, and We Start Asking Some Tougher Questions, and We Use the Stuff We’ve Learned to Try to Answer Them, and We Also Learn a Bunch More Cool Stuff
In Which Things Get Really Tough, but We Power Through and Complete Our Journeys, Becoming Perfectly Virtuous and Flourishing and Deontologically Pure Happiness-Generating Super People, and Also There’s a Chapter with Some Cursing in It, but It’s for a Good Reason
Within these three parts are chapters, each headed by a question that will be addressed within. The first question is a simple one: Should I punch my friend in the face for no reason? And yes, that is literally the heading for the first chapter. And no, you shouldn’t. See? Simple.

But as you might expect, things soon get a bit more complicated.

Schur introduces the Trolley Problem, a classic thought experiment involving a runaway trolley. On the tracks are five people, unaware of the danger. On another track, there is one unsuspecting person. There is a lever that will allow you to shift to that other track, saving five but killing one. What are the moral ramifications inherent to A) actively causing the death of one to save five, or B) allowing five to perish due to your inaction?

(Note: This particular experiment is a through thread in the book and Schur definitely takes it to some fascinatingly weird and often hilarious extremes.)

And just like that, we’re off on a journey designed to let us question and explore the extremely malleable notion of what it means to be a good person.

Throughout the book, as our moral quandaries deepen and evolve – from lying to a friend about an unflattering shirt to returning your shopping cart to the corral to saving strangers from a burning building and so on. Schur also delves into the importance of intent, in that the effort to be a good person definitely counts, even if we (inevitably) fail along the way.

And make no mistake – things get a bit sticky. Schur asks us about the morality of embracing art created by bad people and about whether good deeds can be undermined by selfish motives and the moral quandary of caring about the micro above the macro and vice versa.

It should be noted that we get some pretty heavy hitters as far as the philosophers touched upon in these pages. We hit the ground running with Aristotle and his golden mean, exploring the elegant balance of virtues. We spend a good deal of time with Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill, a pair of British philosophers who would be the primary developers of utilitarianism – a school of thought based on the idea that the best action is the one that makes the most people happy. You can’t believe how much Kant we get – deontology (the study of duties and obligations), for instance, a term I haven’t thought about since college.

The three legs of the Western moral philosophy tripod – Aristotelian virtue ethics, consequentialism, deontology – are the foundation here, though Schur proves unafraid to venture down the various primrose paths laid out by each of these schools.

Now, I realize that what I’m laying out here might sound a bit intimidating. I get it. But you needn’t fear. See, Michael Schur is a hell of a good writer, one who proves more than capable of converting these thoughts and concepts into material that is engaging, relatable and hilarious. Even as he guides us through these ideas, he never loses sight of his book’s central tenet – how to be a good person. And with that simple notion as his lodestar, he never loses his way. Sure, there are footnotes and tangents and the like, but that’s part of the joy of the journey. You’ll never laugh as hard at a tossed-off reference to Wittgenstein or heavy shade thrown at Kant’s treatise on wind as you will while reading this book.

Of course, Schur was far from alone in his work here. He spoke to numerous experts in these varying fields, informed guides who could keep him from wandering off (well … from wandering too far off, at any rate). His primary collaborator is Dr. Todd May, a preeminent expert in moral philosophy and professor at Clemson University; May was one of Schur’s primary philosophical advisors for “The Good Place.” While May’s guidance was undoubtedly invaluable to the writing of the book, his presence is most keenly (and delightfully) felt in the gleefully deprecatory footnotes.

“How to Be Perfect” might not be the sort of book you’d expect for Michael Schur’s debut. Honestly, that’s part of the appeal. Think about it – Schur was so enthralled by what he learned in the course of preparing for “The Good Place” that he felt the need to write a whole book about it. Tongue-in-cheek title aside, Schur knows that nobody’s perfect … but we can always try to be better. And considering the world in which we’re currently living, a bit of advice about being a good person is certainly welcome.

4.5 stars
I loved The Good Place, so I was excited to read this book, and it did not disappoint. Schur provides a very informative and funny review of different schools of moral philosophy. There was a lot to think about in terms of why we do the things we do and how we decide what the “best” choice is in any situation. This is a book I will come back to and continue to think about.

Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the ARC.