Rutger answers “Are there two versions of this book - with...”

Kim asked this question about Utopia for Realists: How We Can Build the Ideal World:

Are there two versions of this book - with the chapters and even subsections reordered?

Rutger Actually, yes! This has everything to do with the history of the book. The first version was published in 2014, in Dutch. In 2016, my (very small) Dut…moreActually, yes! This has everything to do with the history of the book. The first version was published in 2014, in Dutch. In 2016, my (very small) Dutch publisher decided to translate it into English. This meant I had the chance to update the book - so I included a new chapter (the one on bankers and garbage collectors) and removed another one.

Then my Dutch publisher put the English edition on Amazon Create Space. We sold a few thousand copies, but the book wasn't a big success. I had already lost hope that the book would reach more readers, until my Dutch publisher proposed to contact a literary agent.

This was the week before the Frankfurt Book Fair 2016. Everything happened pretty quickly - two weeks later my book was sold to 10 countries. Now it's sold to 30 :)

So obviously, I had another chance to update the book. I included a new epilogue and (on the advice of my brilliant American and British editors) changed the order of the chapters, and added a few paragraphs here and there.

So there's the answer to your question - there are actually 3 versions of this book, and I much prefer the last one! (less)

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