Out of Poverty
What Works When Traditional Approaches Fail

The author has interesting ideas about how to get out of poverty. However, he is incredibly redundant and the only support that he has for his theory is his own NGO and their experiences. It provides a different way of approaching poverty elimination, but it comes across as propaganda for his own NG......more

Paul Polak makes his argument for ending poverty through empowering the impoverished to increase their income. While the book at times reads like an ad for IDE, the organization he founded, it's insights into poverty gained through direct observation and interaction makes this book a great read. Pol......more

Paul Polak is brilliant. His philosophy is simple about how to help most of the world out of poverty - and proven. He's helped 17 million people move out of extreme poverty with his ideas and intervention. That's ONE man. He's like Norman Borlaug - one of the most effective humanitarians in modern t......more

This book focuses on one very specific idea, which is that rural people living on less than a dollar a day should use low-cost drip irrigation to grow labor intensive produce out of season. According to Polak, if we can just help them get started with that, all the problems associated with poverty w......more

I am not really someone who gets excited about books on poverty, poverty alleviation, and “social” work in general. Not out of callousness or unconcern with those affected by these issues. I just find most writing on this subject very intellectually shallow, and filled with do-good rhetoric without......more