How far do you go to honor the Golden Rule, to “do unto others”? Chances are you don’t go nearly as far as the people profiled in journalist Larissa MacFarquhar’s new book. The donor who offers up his kidney to a complete stranger; the activist who abandons his normal life to care for lepers; the couple that gives most of their income to charity. These people truly live to help others. MacFarquhar joins us Wednesday to explore what extreme altruists can teach us about what it means to be human.
Larissa MacFarquhar has been a staff writer at The New Yorker since 1998. Previously she was a senior editor at Lingua Franca and an advisory editor at The Paris Review. Her new book is called Strangers Drowning: Grappling with Impossible Idealism, Drastic Choices, and the Overpowering Urge to Help [Amazon|Indiebound].
