Thank you to Travis Rieder, Duckworth and NetGalley for this ARC Copy!

Catastrophe Ethics is a great introduction to the study of ethics, where people have the feeling that they are never doing the right thing. As he writes in the book: "modern life is 'morally exhausting,' where everything we do 'seems to matter,' and yet 'nothing we do seems to matter.'"

The book excels in making complex philosophical and academic theories accessible for the everyday individual who has a general understanding of some of the topics that are discussed, like abortion, climate change and exploitation from the establishment, etc. The main point of the book is to encourage readers to act according to their moral code and values, not because doing that simply will change the world presently, but for their integrity.

However, some of the later chapters feel muddled as the book tries to connect vastly different issues that don’t always seem meaningfully related. That being said, the topics covered are familiar to most readers, which makes the book relatively easy to move through.

This is an outstanding book for those who want to learn the theory about ethics.
Rieder goes into the great debates, which he calls a "the puzzle."
He spends most of the book discussing what the puzzle is and what are some proposed ways of solving it.

He spends about 10% of the book digressing into the topic of abortion, even though this book is supposed to be about climate change.

Although he tries to link the two issues, it feels like a distraction or a way to get something off his chest.

If you're hoping to get practical tips on what you should do to minimize climate change, you'll be disappointed.

This book is full of nuance, which is nice, but it feels like a nothing-burger.

He rightly points out that having kids is perhaps the most profound, ethical question we face. Each child has enormous impact. Yet few environmentalists bring up the elephant in the room.

He has one child.

He is mostly a vegan, but not militant.

You can see his perspective from these two data points: his point is we must do our best but not be purists because being a purist is a fool's errand.

This would have been a great article.
For a book, it's a bit too long unless you enjoy learning about how he reached his conclusions.