202 Extraordinary Ideas to Make Your Life Better

The book opens on the «Before You Begin» page by putting questions to the reader: what brought you to this book, what proposals do you have for making the world more liveable, are problems growing because of the large number of those who say «I», why does the «We» awareness attract so little interest. Alexander Winterman asks the reader first to write down their own aims and after reading to note how many of them they found in the book. Then comes the list «Twenty Interesting Psychological Facts»: that one cannot tickle oneself, that your favourite song is paired with an emotional moment, that rejection is perceived by the brain as physical pain, that facial expressions are universal for six emotions (happiness, anger, sadness, fear, surprise, disgust), that spending money on experiences makes you happier, and so on.

The next tips are geared to the idea of «We»: «Do Good and Donate» — pity that merely eases the conscience is not enough, and donating to institutions matters more than individual help; «First Make Peace with Yourself» — the story of a gold prospector who fought with everyone (murder, poisoning, prison) and the prison doctor's words «first make peace with yourself, the rest will follow»: the man looks in a mirror and sees the anger and fear on his face, learns to smile and speak politely, then has a school and a home for the elderly built; when he dies half the town attends his funeral. «Respect Human Rights, Animals and Nature» and «Organ Donation»: the body is the soul's «garage», and once the soul has left, the organs are needed by others.

Other tips: «Donate Blood», «Volunteer» (32 million people volunteer in Germany), «Take Control of Your Time» (if everyone gave two weeks a year to helping), «Be Loyal» (visit the sick, call old friends), «Take Part in Social Projects» (Mrs Anne, a volunteer story-reader in California), «Laugh and Make Others Laugh», «Live Differently Every Day» and «Don't Just Love Animals»: in China a sage tells his pupil «when you beat the horse you have struck me». «Take Care of Street Children», «Help Abused Women», «Plant Trees» (if every adult planted one tree a year, 60 million trees).

The author writes in plain language with an exhortatory tone; each section is short, a page or two, and often ends with an anecdote or legend. Some claims — for example that those who help «are remembered most for their good deeds in life and after death» or that «donation prevents disasters» — are given without sources. The stories (the gold prospector, Mrs Anne the story-reader, the Chinese sage) are at the level of tradition and have not been verified.

• Each tip opens with a short heading and fits on a page or two
• The book uses examples from anecdote, legend and news (the gold prospector, the Chinese sage)
• At the end of each section there is a direct call to the reader («What do you say?»)
• The language is plain and direct, and a strong emotional tone is built with many exclamations