$250K books sold. $250K to save lives.

2023 UPDATE: see “$575K of books sold. $575K to save lives.”

Six weeks ago I emailed my private email list with a secret link to buy my new books.

They’re not even officially released yet, but they’ve already sold over $250,000.

I made 5000 limited edition hardcover copies of each, but those have sold out now.

I’ll admit, it made me ridiculously happy to make $250,000. I was expecting way less than that, so it was a big surprise. I had a spring in my step for days.

Then I thought about what to do with the money. There’s nothing I want to buy. Should I put it in an investment account? Eh. For what purpose? I don’t want more money.

So, I decided to donate it to charity. Which charity? I want to save the most lives. So I let GiveWell decide.

Yesterday I wired the entire $250,000 to the Against Malaria Foundation. That will buy 125,000 malaria nets, protecting ~225,000 people, averting ~65,000 cases of malaria, preventing ~125 deaths.

Yeah. That’s worth doing.

Afterwards, a friend reminded me that I had just repeated my “232 sand dollars” story, so go read that if interested.

You can buy the books now, directly from me. They won’t be available anywhere else for a couple more months.

• “Your Music and People” is a philosophy of getting your work to the world by being creative, considerate, resourceful, and connected.
• “Hell Yeah or No” is a collection of thoughts around what’s worth doing, fixing faulty thinking, and making things happen.