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The Price of Life

In Search of What We're Worth and Who Decides
Brief Description
We say that life is priceless. Yet the cost of saving a life, creating a life, or compensating for a life taken is routinely calculated and put into practice. In a world in love with data, it is possible to run a cost-benefit analysis on anything... Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
$2999
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In stories that take us into the worlds of hitmen, insurance frauds and modern-day slaves, Jenny Kleeman explores the value of human life.

In surprising stories that take us into the worlds of hitmen, insurance frauds and modern-day slaves, Jenny Kleeman explores the value of human life. Now in B Format.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

We say that life is priceless. Yet the cost of saving a life, creating a life, or compensating for a life taken is routinely calculated and put into practice. In a world in love with data, it is possible to run a cost-benefit analysis on anything – including life itself. For philanthropists, judges, criminals, healthcare providers, and government ministers, it's just part of the job. In The Price of Life, journalist, broadcaster, and documentary-maker Jenny Kleeman takes us on an adventure to meet some of the people who decide what we're worth.

In a series of extraordinary encounters – with people who have faked their own death or lost a loved one to terrorism, with hitmen and with modern-day slaves – she discovers more questions than answers. What does it mean for our humanity when we crunch the numbers to decide who gets the expensive life-saving drugs, and who misses out? What do we learn about ourselves when philanthropic giving by the effective altruists in Silicon Valley is received by some, while others are left to suffer? Are some lives really worth more than others? And what happens when we take human emotions out of the equation? Does it make for a fairer decision-making process – or for moral bankruptcy?

Exploring the final frontier in monetisation, Kleeman asks what we lose and what we gain by leaving the judgments that really matter up to cold, hard logic.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781035004980

Publisher: Pan Macmillan

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 27 March 2025

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Picador

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 21.0mm

Width: 130.0mm

Height: 197.0mm

Weight: 244g

Pages: 352

About the Author

Jenny Kleeman is a journalist and broadcaster. She writes for The Guardian, The Sunday Times, Tortoise and the Financial Times Magazine. She has presented programmes for the BBC, Channel 4 and VICE News Tonight on HBO, as well as making thirteen films from across the globe for Channel 4's Unreported World. The Price of Life is her second book.

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