Conversations on Kindness: How the Power of Kindness Can Change the World

Hello, and thank you in advance for reading this book. It’s about the experiment I undertook after I decided that I would do a kind thing for a stranger every single day for a year.

This story I’m about to tell is a pretty messy one. Some of it is sad. Some of it is joyful. Bits are funny, silly, surprisingly, unlikely and infuriating. Some parts might irritate you. Sometimes the protagonist (me) is annoying and makes very bad choices. But along the way I have conversations with many wonderful people, for whom kindness is at the centre of their work and lives. These scientists, artists, activists, and academics have helped me dive deeper into what kindness is and the real power it holds. They have helped me to answer the question at the heart of all of this: ‘Can kindness really change our lives – and the world around us – for the better?’

About the Author

Bernadette Russell is an expert on hope and kindness, as well as a writer, performer and activist who plants a lot of trees – and helps others do the same. She is author of The Little Book of Kindness and The Little Book of Wonder, both published by Orion and in multiple foreign editions around the world. Since 2012, she has toured the US and UK speaking about the importance and life-changing experience of practicing kindness, including for BBC Radio 4 Saturday Live, Action for Happiness, Birmingham School of Philosophy, People United’s Kindness Symposium, The Roundhouse, Tate Britain, Turner Contemporary, Sunday Assembly and the Southbank Centre, where she was nominated as one of sixty-seven change makers for her project 366 Days of Kindness. Since 2018 she has worked with the Royal Albert Hall, producing performances with kindness and creativity at their heart.