Book Review - Utopia for Realists

Read Utopia for Realists: And How We Can Get There by Rutger Bregman.

Not sure why but my expectations weren't high here at first. Maybe because the author wrote the title in Dutch originally and the book I held in my hands was translated into English. Maybe because current affairs are depressing me and I tend to be a more pessimistic bloke these days. In the end I was wrong. It is highly informative, entertaining even, and positive.

The first version was published in Dutch in 2014 (Gratis geld voor iedereen: en nog vijf grote ideeën die de wereld kunnen veranderen). The English version I read is from 2016 and was apparently slightly changed by the author. 2016 means there is not much of Brexit and Trump in the book.

Ideas take shape over time and so do their acceptance. Throughout history, the ideas of basic income and the fifteen‐hour work week seemed radical. However, the author presents plenty of promising data that shows that these ideas are not only doable but actually useful and beneficial.

The book is a quick, fun read with lots of positive thoughts. It doesn't transform you into a socialist or radical leftist in case this worries you. Instead you get some historical context of some of the bigger financial transfer policy proposals.

Verdict: if you skip over the plenty of references and footnotes—this book is a fluent and quick read during the daily commute. Recommended.

Side note: take working‐from‐home as an example. It became to be quite the norm for a (privileged) few of us during the pandemic. I remember that I still had to quit a job in 2018 because I needed to move to a different city. A couple of years later this sounds absurd. What is now a cultural norm doesn't necessarily need to be tomorrow's. Indeed, ideas take shape over time, but when they become reality it's usually fast.