Why We Lie

Description

Deceit, lying, and falsehoods lie at the very heart of our cultural heritage. Even the founding myth of the Judeo-Christian tradition, the story of Adam and Eve, revolves around a lie. Our seemingly insatiable appetite for stories of deception spans the extremes of culture from King Lear to Little Red Riding Hood, retaining a grip on our imaginations despite endless repetition. These tales of deception are so enthralling because they speak to something fundamental in the human condition. The ever-present possibility of deceit is a crucial dimension of all human relationships, even the most central: our relationships with our own selves.
Why We Lie elucidates the essential role that deception and self-deception have played in evolution and shows that the very structure of our minds has been shaped from our earliest beginnings by the need to deceive. Smith shows us how, by examining the stories we tell, the falsehoods we weave, and the unconscious signals we send out, we can learn much about ourselves and our minds.

DR. DAVID LIVINGSTONE SMITH is the author of Why We Lie as well as a professor of philosophy and co-founder and director of the Institute for Cognitive Science and Evolutionary Psychology at the University of New England. He and his wife live in Portland, Maine.

“Self-deception is one of the most powerful ideas in psychology, indeed, in human affairs, and David Smith’s Why We Lie is an excellent synthesis of this crucial topic. The biology is up-to-date and accurate, the psychological implications are clearly worked out, and the writing is inviting and accessible.” —Steven Pinker, bestselling author of The Blank Slate and The Language Instinct
“With an ‘aha!’ moment on every page, Smith’s inquiry is stimulating and unsettling.” —Booklist“Deliciously tantalizing, with morality as the Grandest Deceit of them all.” —Kirkus Reviews“Why We Lie is written with snap, panache, and the sort of insights that stop you in your tracks.” —Howard Bloom, author of Global Brain and The Lucifer Principle
“David Smith has pulled off a beaut. Why We Lie is a wonderfully blended cluster of arguments to support the painful truth that we are a species whose skills at deceiving others is matched only by our ability to deceive ourselves.” —Arthur S. Reber, author of The Penguin Dictionary of Psychology and The New Gambler’s Bible
“Why We Lie is a fascinating book about a fascinating subject. . . . rich with stories, anecdotes, and psychological as well as sociological analyses.” —Tamar Frankel, S.J.D., The Human Nature Review

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