Utopia for Realists: How We Can Build the Ideal World

Written by Rutger Bregman

Narrated by Peter Noble

Universal basic income. A 15-hour workweek. Open borders. Does it sound too good to be true? One of Europe's leading young thinkers shows how we can build an ideal world today.

"A more politically radical Malcolm Gladwell." -- New York Times

After working all day at jobs we often dislike, we buy things we don't need. Rutger Bregman, a Dutch historian, reminds us it needn't be this way -- and in some places it isn't. Rutger Bregman's TED Talk about universal basic income seemed impossibly radical when he delivered it in 2014. A quarter of a million views later, the subject of that video is being seriously considered by leading economists and government leaders the world over. It's just one of the many utopian ideas that Bregman proves is possible today.

Utopia for Realists is one of those rare books that takes you by surprise and challenges what you think can happen. 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, and beyond the traditional left-right divides, as he champions ideas whose time have come.

Every progressive milestone of civilization -- from the end of slavery to the beginning of democracy -- was once considered a utopian fantasy. Bregman's book, both challenging and bracing, demonstrates that new utopian ideas, like the elimination of poverty and the creation of the fifteen-hour workweek, can become a reality in our lifetime. Being unrealistic and unreasonable can in fact make the impossible inevitable, and it is the only way to build the ideal world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Hachette Audio
• Release date: Jun 27, 2017
• ISBN: 9781478921448

Rutger Bregman

Rutger Bregman (Westerschouwen, Países Bajos, 1988), historiador formado en las universidades de Utrecht y California, es autor de seis libros, entre los que destacan History of Progress (Premio Belgian Liberales como mejor obra de no ficción de 2013), Utopía para realistas y este que ahora publicamos. Ha sido nominado en dos ocasiones para el European Press Prize por sus contribuciones periodísticas en The Correspondent. Sus artículos se han publicado también en medios como The Washington Post, The Guardian y la BBC. Ha impartido conferencias en las TED Talks y en el Foro Económico Mundial de Davos.

Reviews for Utopia for Realists

[librarycin · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

3.5 stars

People with a basic income. No stings attached money for poor people. 15 hour workweek. These are some of the things suggested by the author to make life better for all. There are studies to back him up and, though we have been conditioned to think differently, it does not cost more to just give poor people money to do with as they will and they don’t (the vast majority) spend it on drugs or alcohol. In fact, for the most part, they do use it to better their lives in an ongoing way.

These are just some of the things the author talks about. Of course, I already agree with much of this, but there are economic reasons, too – reasons we wouldn’t immediately think.

[paul_s-289480 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It's all quite sound but kept me asking: so what? Not the manual it sells itself as on cover.

[swmproblems · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Went through 3 of the books main points (universal basic income, 15-hour workweek, and open borders) and how all of these things would contribute to overall growth for people worldwide (and not just economic growth) and the elimination of extreme poverty.

[Dean Moriarty · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book seemed to me an appropriate epilogue to Caparrós's excellent treatise on Hunger, and although the style differs greatly, that is how it has been. While Caparrós's book presents a diagnosis that hints at some recipes for combating poverty, in this essay, Dutch author Rutger Bergman fully immerses us in the kitchen of ideas whose time has come. Universal basic income, open borders, a 15-hour workweek, may initially seem to us to be ideals without grounding in reality. This book is dedicated to denying this prejudice and provides reasons and data supported by abundant bibliography, demonstrating how their implementation is not only a matter of social justice but also of efficacy. It is merely a question of political will. A reading filled with future. (Translated from Spanish)

[ericlee_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

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.

[cookbooknic · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

very thought provoking

[fizzypops-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A work that challenges you to critically examine the status quo, and your part in it. Bregman's bold ideas about the feasibility of a better society and a brighter future made me feel more positive and optimistic, but at the same time, depressed about the state of the world today. He finishes with a bright, uplifting 'manifesto' for bringing Utopia to life. Above all, challenge the status quo, believe in the possible, and never stop projecting the change you want to see in your world.

This world needs healing, and these elegant and compassionate ideals are a path toward a happier tomorrow. This book gave me hope.

[davidwineberg · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Utopia For Realists is a Left manifesto. It explores three policies guaranteed to enrage right wingers: a guaranteed income, a shorter work week and open borders. Rutger Bregman does it with splendid panache. The book is a totally positive, upbeat read – most unusual for a defensive, defeatist Left. The studies and the facts are all there. Deny them at your peril, he seems to say.

To appreciate and enjoy Utopia For Realists, you must buy into the initial premise that our problem is we can’t come up with anything better than the way things are now. We have run out of goals. We have run out of ideas. We are all about cutting back, servicing less, and ignoring various elephants in the room, like automation overloading us with leisure time. Western society is so wealthy in historic terms that we don’t realize we have reached Utopia. Even at our worst, we are infinitely better off than our forebears. What we need now is a new Utopia to aim for.

Guaranteed income sounds impossibly expensive, but everywhere it has been tried – dozens of places, it has worked spectacularly. For one thing, every dollar spent saves three in less supervision of beneficiaries (eg. Police and court services, pointless workshops, training sessions and reports on everyone all the time). For another, the poor don’t drink away the income; they hang onto it dearly, measuring it out only as needed for the biggest impact. Poverty is not an attitude; it is a shortage of cash.

Two hundred years ago, we worked 70 hour weeks with no days off. And we were miserable. Today, we can be miserable with 40 hours weeks, two days off and 2-5 weeks’ vacation. Soon, we must face the reality of 15 hour weeks, because artificial intelligence will pick up where automated looms, assembly lines and robots have left off. We can massage it into a Utopia, or let it destroy our fabric. Our choice, but we need to start acting now.

Borders prevent development and trade. Mexicans used to return from the USA at the rate of 85%. Now they have to stay put. Finding new markets or even just work is enlarged with a larger territory. Artificially compartmentalizing everyone is stultifying. Economically, politically, and socially. Passports and visas – a totally artificial construct recently invented, benefitting no one.

Bregman doesn’t get into the self-imposed need for growth, though he does criticize the concepts of GNP/GDP. He says governing by numbers is the last resort of a country that no longer knows what it wants, a country with no vision of utopia.

He ends with sound advice for the Left: stop caving to right wing dogma. You have access to dramatic facts. Use them. There are gigantic, proven solutions waiting to be implemented if only someone would sponsor them. He points out that the accepted issues of the day, like voting by women, same sex marriage and abolition of slavery were outrageously radical and completely unacceptable just a few years ago. So be impossible and have a thick skin.

David Wineberg