Infectious Generosity

From the bestselling author, media pioneer, and curator of TED, an inspiring book about one of humankind’s defining but overlooked impulses, and how we can super-charge its potential to build a hopeful future

Recent years have been tough on optimists. Hopes that the Internet might bring people together have been crushed by the divisiveness of social media. But as head of TED, Chris Anderson has had a ringside view of the world’s boldest thinkers sharing their most uplifting ideas. Inspired by them, he believes there's a pathway back from outrage to optimism. It all comes down to reimagining one of the most fundamental human virtues—generosity. What if generosity could become infectious generosity?

Anderson shows how the same technologies that have bred negativity can also be mobilized as an exponential force for good, to create chain reactions of generous behavior. Gifts of money, time, talent, connection, and kindness have always been part of what it is to be a good human. But today—when stories of these acts are shared online—they can have world-changing, self-replicating impact, not to mention make people happier in the process. Consider:

• The story of London-based hairstylist Joshua Coombes who began offering haircuts to people experiencing homelessness. By telling their stories online, Coombes inspired an entire movement.
• The story of the “Mystery Experiment”: How two anonymous donors gave $10,000 each to 200 strangers and discovered that the recipients overwhelmingly “paid it forward” with their own generous acts.
• The story of how TED itself transformed from an annual summit into a global beacon of ideas by giving away its TED Talks online, allowing millions access to free learning.

In Infectious Generosity, Anderson tells these and other inspiring stories, offering a playbook to fine-tune your actions to take generosity from invisible to transformative, and challenging readers to ensure that they are giving more to the world than they take from it.