We are halfway into 2022 and I have finished reading 16 books folks. I'd say that is pretty good by my standards! I have been stuck on One Hundred Years of Solitude by Colombian author Gabriel García Márquezfor the past few weeks that has arrested my reading pace. But a few more books and I am sure to achieve my reading goal for this year.
Utopia for Realists: The Case for a Universal Basic Income, Open Borders, and a 15-hour Workweek (alternatively subtitled And How We Can Get There and How We Can Build the Ideal World) is a book by Dutch popular historian Rutger Bregman. It was originally written as articles in Dutch for a virtual journal, De Correspondent, and was since compiled and published. It went on to become an international bestseller and has been translated into 23 languages.
Utopia for Realists offers a critical proposal that it claims is a practical approach to reconstructing modern society to promote a more productive and equitable life based on three core ideas:
- A universal and unconditional basic income paid to everybody
- A short working week of fifteen hours
- Open borders worldwide with the free movement of citizens between all states
This book came heavily recommended in the non-fiction category and so I had put it on my reading list. Once I was done reading it, I was so glad that I did!
A map of the world that does not include Utopia is not worth even glancing at, for it leaves out the one country at which Humanity is always landing. And when Humanity lands there, it looks out, and, seeing a better country, sets sail. Progress is the realization of Utopias.
Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)
The book starts with a brief history lesson alluding to how everything in the past was worse. It highlights the stupendous progress in humanity that has taken place in the last 200 years. In just a fraction of the time that our species has clocked on this planet, billions of us are suddenly rich, well nourished, clean, safe, smart, healthy and even beautiful. Compared to 1820, where 84% of the world's population still lived in extreme poverty, by 1981, that percentage dropped to 44% and now, just a few decades later, it is under 10%. In today's world, we often work long and hard hours in jobs we don't particularly like, we buy things we don't need, we constantly compete, we struggle with anxiety and obesity among other things so the real question is, even if we are wealthier, are we happier?
This is a compelling book that provides many valid arguments, put forward in simple language addressed to the wider public, and backed by a wealth of evidence to challenge ideas that were previously deemed radical. In short, a collection of revolutionary ideas that can potentially change our world for the better.
