Moral Ambition
Stop Wasting Your Talent and Start Making a Difference – from the presenter of the 2025 BBC ‘Moral Revolution’ Reith lectures
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Moral Ambition
Narrated by:
Boris Hiestand, Rutger Bregman
Buy Now for £12.83
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Narrated by:
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Boris Hiestand
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Rutger Bregman
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By:
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Rutger Bregman
THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
A GUARDIAN BOOK OF THE SUMMER 2025
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'A fierce and brilliant call to arms for anyone who has been wondering whether there's more to life. (There is.) Bregman wants to change you, and he just might succeed. This is a wonderfully dangerous book' TIM HARFORD
'The rare read that might actually help you become a better person' ADAM GRANT
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THE ANTIDOTE TO APATHY FROM THE INTERNATIONALLY BESTSELLING AUTHOR AND 2025 BBC REITH LECTURER RUTGER BREGMAN
Every day we're bombarded with methods, mantras and life hacks that promise us wellness and prosperity - while time and talent remain some of our most squandered resources. The average full-time worker will spend 80,000 hours at their job: are you making the most of them? Do you truly believe in what you do, day in, day out?
What if you want to do something more with your limited time on the planet?
Internationally bestselling author Rutger Bregman shows us that with moral ambition - the will to make the world a wildly better place - we can be both idealistic and successful, and change the world along the way. Uncovering the qualities that made the great change-makers of history so effective, he shows how we too can lend our talents to the biggest challenges of our time, from climate change to inequality to the next pandemic. With moral ambition, we can do more than be on the right side of history: we can make history itself.
This book won't make your life easier, but it should make it more meaningful. The question is: what will you do with it?
As the 2025 BBC Reith Lecturer, Rutger Bregman will present ‘Moral Revolution’, a four part series:
-A Time of Monsters
-How To Start a Moral Revolution
-A Realist’s Utopia
-Zoom Out
Available to listen on BBC Four.©2023 Erica Moore (P)2025 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
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Editorial Review
A deprogramming guide for chronic inconsequence
Rutger Bregman warns you at the start of his book that you might actually regret listening because "once you put it down you might just have to change your life." Not unlike Alan Carr or Annie Grace, who have helped millions tackle addictions with the repeated written insistence that they can, Bregman—the renowned Dutch historian who went viral for outraging the world's rich and powerful at Davos—is here to convince you through repetitive assertion that the world needs your talents. He argues that the point of life isn't to be happy but to maximize your impact, and the unfortunate fact is that most of the world's best brains are being used to maximize ad clicks, not solutions to human suffering. Both a wellness industry antidote and a rich history of effective change, Moral Ambition begs you to think not about "What's my passion?" but rather "How can I contribute the most to the world?" If enough people answer his call, it could be that the most large-scale, measurable impact Bregman will have is with this book.—Emily C., Audible Editor
Critic reviews
I believe [Rutger] calls himself a historian, he’s not. He’s a revolutionary in a sensible coat (Russell Crowe)
Rutger Bregman has become the voice in my head (Jameela Jamil)
A rallying cry ... His appeal is very much to the high-flyer, looking for a cause that will give the fullest moral satisfaction ... Yet he is also admirably realistic about the need to park one's own desire for a certain kind of sainthood, to accept the need for ordinary self-care so as to avoid falling victim either to burnout or - worse - to one's own mythology, and to remain clear about what measurable differences might look like ... Offers a bracingly hopeful perspective, insisting on the necessity of doing all you can to allow yourself to be sensitised and resensitised to that which eats away at the dignity not only of humanity but (an important element in Bregman's argument) of the entire living environment
An impassioned call on those who can to leave 'bullshit jobs' and tackle society's most pressing challenges. Presented as a 'how to guide' to changing the world. studded with insights and calls to action. In pithy pen portraits, Bregman sketches a cast of characters who challenge us to do more, be better and build coalitions for change... A paean to self-actualization and the idea that a small group of committed citizens can, indeed, change the world
A brisk and persuasive case for ditching "mind-numbing, pointless, or just plain harmful jobs" and doing something more meaningful instead ... Bregman's un-preachy and persuasive writing style makes profound change look easy
Bregman's ambitions are admirable. If even a small percentage of those who pick up this book are spurred to action, whether that's a charity run or a complete change in career, it's hard to disagree that it will have been worth his effort
A welcome antidote to self-help books that give readers 12 rules for life, seven habits for success, or surefire methods to achieving that most fatuous of goals, personal happiness
What an inspiring book! A tremendous trumpet call to clear our heads of the current inward looking obsessions with self-realisation and all those selfish life-coaching motivational goals, aims and targets that we are told will bring us happiness, and to think instead about satisfying that part of us that can make a difference to the world. And as Rutger Bregman brilliant demonstrates, that, in the end, is where our true happiness and fulfilment is most likely to be found in the first place
A thought-provoking, transformative and bold book, Moral Ambition challenges you to ask yourself: can you change the course of history? This might seem an overwhelming and impossible task upon first reflection, from reading Dutch historian Rutger Bregman's book, you realise the answer is: yes, you absolutely can
Thoughtful and probing
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So many can act
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Another excellent book and recommended many times over
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great
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Also practically if I’m not going to start a charity for kids with ALS let’s say, what can i do? There’s no discussion of this. He needs to be practical and give people more options. If you don’t they’ll let it slip and forget about it. What were we talking about?
Great stories and arguments, little inspiration or guidance
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