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Product Description
Review
"* My Life: 'His book tells, in an extraordinary way, a truly heartening story of American democracy' - Peter Jay, Evening Standard * My Life: 'Bill Clinton has given an unprecedented story of a White House life and the roads that led to it' - Peter Stothard, The Times"
--This text refers to an alternate
Hardcover
edition.
Book Description
Here, from Bill Clinton, is a call to action. Giving is an inspiring look at how each of us can change the world. First, it reveals the extraordinary and innovative efforts now being made by companies and organizations—and by individuals—to solve problems and save lives both “down the street and around the world.” Then it urges us to seek out what each of us, “regardless of income, available time, age, and skills,” can do to help, to give people a chance to live out their dreams.
Bill Clinton shares his own experiences and those of other givers, representing a global flood tide of nongovernmental, nonprofit activity. These remarkable stories demonstrate that gifts of time, skills, things, and ideas are as important and effective as contributions of money. From Bill and Melinda Gates to a six-year-old California girl named McKenzie Steiner, who organized and supervised drives to clean up the beach in her community, Clinton introduces us to both well-known and unknown heroes of giving. Among them:
Dr. Paul Farmer, who grew up living in the family bus in a trailer park, vowed to devote his life to giving high-quality medical care to the poor and has built innovative public health-care clinics first in Haiti and then in Rwanda;
a New York couple, in Africa for a wedding, who visited several schools in Zimbabwe and were appalled by the absence of textbooks and school supplies. They founded their own organization to gather and ship materials to thirty-five schools. After three years, the percentage of seventh-graders who pass reading tests increased from 5 percent to 60 percent;'
Oseola McCarty, who after seventy-five years of eking out a living by washing and ironing, gave $150,000 to the University of Southern Mississippi to endow a scholarship fund for African-American students;
Andre Agassi, who has created a college preparatory academy in the Las Vegas neighborhood with the city’s highest percentage of at-risk kids. “Tennis was a stepping-stone for me,” says Agassi. “Changing a child’s life is what I always wanted to do”;
Heifer International, which gave twelve goats to a Ugandan village. Within a year, Beatrice Biira’s mother had earned enough money selling goat’s milk to pay Beatrice’s school fees and eventually to send all her children to school—and, as required, to pass on a baby goat to another family, thus multiplying the impact of the gift.
Clinton writes about men and women who traded in their corporate careers, and the fulfillment they now experience through giving. He writes about energy-efficient practices, about progressive companies going green, about promoting fair wages and decent working conditions around the world. He shows us how one of the most important ways of giving can be an effort to change, improve, or protect a government policy. He outlines what we as individuals can do, the steps we can take, how much we should consider giving, and why our giving is so important.
Bill Clinton’s own actions in his post-presidential years have had an enormous impact on the lives of millions. Through his foundation and his work in the aftermath of the Asian tsunami and Hurricane Katrina, he has become an international spokesperson and model for the power of giving.
“We all have the capacity to do great things,” President Clinton says. “My hope is that the people and stories in this book will lift spirits, touch hearts, and demonstrate that citizen activism and service can be a powerful agent of change in the world.”
Bill Clinton shares his own experiences and those of other givers, representing a global flood tide of nongovernmental, nonprofit activity. These remarkable stories demonstrate that gifts of time, skills, things, and ideas are as important and effective as contributions of money. From Bill and Melinda Gates to a six-year-old California girl named McKenzie Steiner, who organized and supervised drives to clean up the beach in her community, Clinton introduces us to both well-known and unknown heroes of giving. Among them:
Dr. Paul Farmer, who grew up living in the family bus in a trailer park, vowed to devote his life to giving high-quality medical care to the poor and has built innovative public health-care clinics first in Haiti and then in Rwanda;
a New York couple, in Africa for a wedding, who visited several schools in Zimbabwe and were appalled by the absence of textbooks and school supplies. They founded their own organization to gather and ship materials to thirty-five schools. After three years, the percentage of seventh-graders who pass reading tests increased from 5 percent to 60 percent;'
Oseola McCarty, who after seventy-five years of eking out a living by washing and ironing, gave $150,000 to the University of Southern Mississippi to endow a scholarship fund for African-American students;
Andre Agassi, who has created a college preparatory academy in the Las Vegas neighborhood with the city’s highest percentage of at-risk kids. “Tennis was a stepping-stone for me,” says Agassi. “Changing a child’s life is what I always wanted to do”;
Heifer International, which gave twelve goats to a Ugandan village. Within a year, Beatrice Biira’s mother had earned enough money selling goat’s milk to pay Beatrice’s school fees and eventually to send all her children to school—and, as required, to pass on a baby goat to another family, thus multiplying the impact of the gift.
Clinton writes about men and women who traded in their corporate careers, and the fulfillment they now experience through giving. He writes about energy-efficient practices, about progressive companies going green, about promoting fair wages and decent working conditions around the world. He shows us how one of the most important ways of giving can be an effort to change, improve, or protect a government policy. He outlines what we as individuals can do, the steps we can take, how much we should consider giving, and why our giving is so important.
Bill Clinton’s own actions in his post-presidential years have had an enormous impact on the lives of millions. Through his foundation and his work in the aftermath of the Asian tsunami and Hurricane Katrina, he has become an international spokesperson and model for the power of giving.
“We all have the capacity to do great things,” President Clinton says. “My hope is that the people and stories in this book will lift spirits, touch hearts, and demonstrate that citizen activism and service can be a powerful agent of change in the world.”
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
A good, practical guide,
By
This review is from: Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World (Hardcover)
In Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World, Bill Clinton explains why he chooses to give. Clinton gives because he understands that not everyone has the same opportunities that he does. By giving, he hopes to help other people meet their potential. Everyone has the capacity to give. Doing so will change the world because it allows people to recognize their common humanity. Clinton's purpose in this book is to encourage everyone to give, whether by sharing time, money, or skills or by supporting ethical business, beginning a social enterprise, or forming an NGO. To meet this purpose, Clinton tells stories about people who give.Giving begins with the idea that equal intelligence and energy exist but equal opportunity, investment, and organization does not exist. This means that billions of people do not have the chance to lead fulfilling lives and that millions of people who shouldn't die, die every year. An adequate solution is found only by the joining of effective governance and effective citizenry. Clinton outlines nine things to give. The first four suggestions are tangible, while the remaining five chapters are more abstract. Most of the chapters begin with big ideas and then become more realistic for the rest of us. Clinton dedicates a chapter each to money, time, things, and skills. I found the idea of giving skills most interesting. Such giving allows sharing knowledge to provide someone with an empowering new ability. Next, Clinton presents more abstract ideas. There are chapters dedicated to reconciliation, new beginnings, gifts that keep on giving, model gifts, and supporting good ideas. That helping people launch an idea as an aspect of giving is something I hadn't considered before. Giving happens because a person who has an innovative plan to help others might not have the money to implement such a plan, but a financial backer would. Clinton then addresses bigger picture ideas. First, he discusses how the for-profit marketplace can support positive change. He focuses on the energy market, fair trade, and hiring practices. Second, he discusses some of the business practices in the business world that are applicable to the non-profit sector. Such organization can help NGOs reach more people. Third, he suggests a partnership between government and citizens, where the government is responsible for laws, regulations, programs, and grants, while the citizen is responsible for actively pursuing good governance. Clinton concludes by asking: How much and why should I give? His answer is straightforward. How much? Whatever we can. Why? If it catches on, the "impact would be staggering." Does Bill Clinton encourage his reader to give and does he provide help in doing so? Giving is persuading. Clinton knows he is weird. Former U.S. presidents are few. One thing that Clinton does to make this book for everybody - rather than just himself, Carter, and the Bushes - is balance big things with normal things. The clearest example of this is the THEA foundation. At the time of writing, this foundation is run by Clinton's friends David and Linda Leopoulos and provides art scholarships in memory of their daughter. The Clintons provide financial support. Clinton then writes, "You may be reading this and thinking, `Well, I have a great giving idea, but I don't have a friend who was president or who's a successful Washington lawyer. What can I do?'" He immediately follows this with a story about the Making Headway Foundation. It raises $800,000 a year to support families who have a child with cancer. The founders of Making Headway are otherwise average people, who are parents of cancer survivors. While the book does highlight the work of Clinton, Bill and Melinda Gates, Bush, Bono, and Carter, stories such as the Making Headway Foundation allow readers to see tangible examples of how people who are not famous give. I found the book helpful. After immersing myself for two years in academic study about social justice and doing good, it is difficult to switch from a theoretical mindset to a practical one. Clinton writes his book for lay people rather than experts. By doing so, this book is a how-to a guide rather than a treatise. Clinton gives me a very practical book and that is a good thing.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Advanced Lessons in Being Charitable,
By Donald Mitchell "Jesus Loves You!" (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 112,000 Helpful Votes Globally) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER) (#1 HALL OF FAME)
This review is from: Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World (Hardcover)
As a retired president of the United States, you can take it easy and enjoy life while drawing big paychecks for speaking . . . or you can start a new career contributing in new ways as Jimmy Carter did. Fortunately, Bill Clinton has aimed his high-powered intellect and passion for the underprivileged towards volunteering and best practice ways of helping those who need it most.I am very engaged in volunteer activities to develop better ways to help the underprivileged. That work makes it hard for me to keep track of what others are doing. I found that Giving gave me several interesting new ideas for ways I can volunteer and share financial resources. I also intend to recommend this book to my students who are working on poverty and disease problems in underdeveloped countries. Some of the ideas presented here would be helpful to them as well, such as providing opportunities for those in advanced countries to loan small amounts of money to entrepreneurs in underdeveloped countries. The chapters are organized around these concepts: 1. Individuals are doing more than ever to help others. 2. You can give money. 3. You can give your time. 4. You can donate items that are needed elsewhere. 5. You can help transfer skills so that others can help themselves. 6. You can help bring peace where there has been none. 7. You can provide gifts that have continuing benefits. 8. You can create ideal methods that others can use to help many more. 9. You can develop and share good ideas. 10. You can assemble economic scale to reduce the cost of helping in either for profit or nonprofit environments. 11. How you can determine how much and what to give. I also enjoyed reading about an update on Bill Clinton's charitable activities around the world. I thought of this book as being a lot like a catalog for giving. Many of the sections may not appeal to you. That's all right. You can gain from this book by just reading about what does interest you. I especially the resource section which gives you a way to check out the giving ideas you like in more detail. I can see this book as a turn-off for some. Let me describe why: 1. There's a lot in here about what billionaires and hedge fund managers do. Their examples aren't relevant for most people. 2. The style is pretty dry. You won't feel so much passion as having received a data dump in several sections. 3. If you don't have a lot of time, you'll be unsure how the time demands of many of the more interesting choices . . . so you'll find the book inadequate to pick a single area with little effort now. 4. There's a lot of international focus in the book. If your heart draws you closer to home, you may find the book to be a bit thin for your interests. If you already like to give and want to give more and in better ways, I don't know of a better book for you to start with. May God bless you as you give.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Making a difference in the world,
By H. Clinton (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World (Hardcover)
Clinton's books message is great - open our hearts and give where we have the greatest chance of success - and contained a lot of statistics. The book tells us about individuals who manage to get past the corruption and really help, mostly by doing all the work themselves. It's nice to hear about these ordinary people doing extraordinary things. It really opens up the possibilities for all of us wanting to give in ways that can change the world. This was a very well written book that I thoroughly enjoyed reading.And for a good book of philosophy try Understanding: Train of Thought.
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