I’m just about finished (finally) with a reasonably polished draft of my next book, The Origins of Altruism: How the Teachings of Jesus Transformed the Moral Conscience of the West.  We have decided to turn the moment into a fund-raising opportunity for the blog.

Unlike our other fundraisers, where we suggest an amount but accept whatever you can pay, for this one we are asking for set donation amounts for anyone who can and wants to participate.  If you can’t afford this, no fears! The book itself will eventually be published and you can read it to your heart’s content.  But if you want to see it in its prepublished state, make comments on it for me, and be acknowledged by name in the Preface (if you choose; this is not a requirement!), then this is the fundraiser for you!

I will also be sending it out to colleagues in the field who are expert in one or another of the areas I cover in my discussions (there are a lot of them).  But since it is a book written for a broad audience, not scholars, I would like members of the human race at large to read it as well, to let me know what they think.  Wanna be one of them?

My idea is to use this as an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone: get a few people to read it and to use the opportunity to raise some extra funds for the blog.

So here’s the (possible) deal.  There are  I will give anyone who is willing to donate $1000 to the blog the opportunity to read my draft of the book and make comments on it.  I will then consider the comments as I make further revisions, prior to submitting the book to my publisher.  (I did this with my last book if you recall; and I found it extremely useful.)   If you do this, I will acknowledge you by name in the Acknowledgements in the book.

This is a win-win-win situation, if you have the funds to make it possible.  You get to see the book before it goes into production; I get the benefits of your insights; and most important, we raise more money for the charities that the blog supports.  No one loses!

I know it’s a lot of dosh and most of you can’t do it, even if you want.  BUT, never fear: the book will be published in a year or so and I can assure you the published copy will not cost a cool grand.

But suppose you are interested.  I would get the book to you electronically in a couple of weeks.  All it would take would be a donation on your part in advance.

Everyone who wants to give it a go, let me know, not here by way of a comment on the blog, but in a personal email, to [email protected].