Book Review: A Decent Life by Todd May
This book review contains spoilers for The Good Place.
Yesterday, I finished reading A Decent Life by Todd May. This is technically the second time I read it, since I listened to the audiobook in 2024. When I finished it back then, I remember thinking that it was so useful that I should get myself a physical copy, which I ended up doing early into 2026.
I found this book through searching for philosophy audiobooks, and upon researching A Decent Life, I found out that May had worked on the NBC show The Good Place. I love this show, and that fact was a big reason I decided to buy the audiobook. If you're someone who also loves The Good Place, I should make it clear that neither the book nor the show spoiler the other. Sure, they come to similar conclusions, but they way they get there are two different paths. The Good Place takes you through moral challenges posed to the main cast. Meanwhile, A Decent Life explains and offers critiques to popular moral theories that have already been explored in depth.
May establishes the observation that probably leads every reader to his book: as much as we may try, most of us cannot be the moral cream-of-the-crop (extreme altruists), either because of our own responsibilities or because of our own lack of resources. In other words, being extreme altruists is not an easy task, and it would require great sacrifice.
Something The Good Place tackles well that A Decent Life leaves out is the systemic reasons that prevent us from being altruists. In season 3 of The Good Place, the judge heads down to Earth to try to live an altruistic life, only to find that things outside of humans' control prevent them from doing so. There's exploitation everywhere, and when someone themself is being exploited, it's not like they can afford to avoid the exploitation of others. Not everyone can grow their own food, make their own clothes, donate to charities, volunteer, while also having a job that pays enough to live that way. Instead, A Decent Life is there to help us do the best we can within our circumstances.
If you're looking for a to-do list, May does provide one at the end of his book. But skipping to the last page, just like it would for any other book, would ignore the point of it all. This book gives you reflections on how you can be a more decent person to those around you, on the same planet as you, and those who will eventually live on this planet. It's slow paced, but if that's a problem for you, get the audiobook and listen at 1.25x speed. This is a book that I see myself re-reading every few years to see if I have been living decently.