Bob Harris was on an assignment to visit luxury hotels around the world, when he became more aware and concerned about the difference in "birth lottery". When he looked for ways to help, he stumbled upon Kiva, a non profit that helps link people needing a financial help in mostly developing countries to people who can offer help. After several loans, he decided to visit the field partners and borrowers in different cities to see how these loans have impacted lives.

I've read Muhammad Yunus's book, and there's a small overlap here. Yunus was able to give a more detailed, personal look into the lives of borrowers, to tell moving stories of how the small amount of money can improve the life of one family or even the whole village. Harris made short trips to many countries, and spent mere hours with most borrowers, so the life stories he told lack depth.

Harris partly makes up for this with discussion of the operations of microfinancing, how they can fail, the fatigue of non-profit organizers, and more. He also tries to explain things in simple terms, though at times this feels almost like talking down.

This is now going to Dancing Dog, who won it in the BookObsessed readathon.

Looking forward to reading this - thanks Azuki!