Customer Reviews

Telling Lies: Clues to Deceit in the Marketplace, Politics, and Marriage, Third Edition

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Dr Eckman may disappoint his readers by not giving them what they want: A simple protocol for determining whether or not someone is lying. There is a simple reason: There isn't one.

Other books will defraud the reader by giving them techniques that in reality don't work. Dr Eckman pounds in one central point - that there is no one single way to detect dishonesty. He calls any belief to the contrary "the Brokaw Hazard," named after Tom Brokaw, who believes that circumlocution is the omnipresent sentinel of a lie. He also develops the concept of the "Othello Error," that cautions the reader against actually causing lie signals by accident (named after the literary Othello, who assumed that his wife's sobbing was for her lover, but in reality she was sobbing because of her husband's rage over the incorrectly presumed affair.). He gives many tips, including a checklist in an appendix that might help the reader to detect lies, but most of the material is embedded deep within the text. He helps the reader to develop a dynamic approach to detecting lies; approaches that are developed as detection begins. He exhorts the reader to use NUMEROUS well-defined clues to develop the case for the conclusion that someone is lying.

The biggest flaw in the book is on its cover. The cover suggests that this is a practical book. It is more of a research paper. This is what makes it reliable - the fact that such a complete study is contained within. But the average reader will look for a standard protocol for detecting lies - but the Brokaw Hazard tells us there is none.

The title of this book suggests a practical approach: "Clues to deceit in the marketplace, politics and marriage". However the actual content is very different. Thorough the whole book the author mainly explains the results of some experiments he has done at the university. The results are interesting but non practical at all. Actually, it seems to me that the main conclusion of the book is that there are no reliable methods or tests to find out if someone is lying. The references to marriage, politics and the marketplace are just anecdotical and non substantial to the book.

I am not saying that the book is not interesting. What I'm saying is that the title is deceiving and seems to be only a marketing strategy to make it attractive to more people. That is not exactly honest, specially for a book dealing with lies and deceit.

The book is fascinating, to say the least. I think people need to take a "realistic approach" to applying the knowledge acquired by reading the book. My one big fault with the book is that whoever actually "wrote" the book is terrible with regard to constructing sentences and expressing ideas! I had to read some things twice in order to make sure I was receiving the information as intended. Dr. Ekman needs to invest in a professional writer who can more clearly express his thoughts, intents and ideas. Hard reading and unneccesarily so!

This book has lots of important information, not the least of which is to correct many misconceptions about signs of deceitfulness and the distinction between signs of anxiety and signs of deceit.

Ekman does a good job of defining important categories of non-verbal behavior and correlating increases or decreases in each of the categories with different emotional states. However, the specific facial changes associated with genuine versus feigned emotional expression identified in this book offers nothing new.

I particularly liked the author's narrative style. It was reminiscent of accounts written by 19th Century scientists who were trying to discover fundamental principles by observing natural phenomena and describing them in careful, objective language. The bonus to the reader is the raw data provided with specific conditions carefully and objectively described. The studies employ ingenious designs to elicit desired emotion and, because of the detailed description, allow the reader to formulate hypotheses and draw conclusions -- some of which may differ from those of the author.

Much of the information about deceitfulness presented here is just common sense, but Ekman does a good job of categorizing this information and presents well-described objective data from which his conclusions are drawn.

I really enjoy Dr Ekman's writings. He could easily include too much medical training/lingo, but he avoids it well. His methods are easy to follow and reveal the steps he used to come up with his conclusions. He even includes the information that seemed to contradict his conclusions, but explains his thoughts on it all. He also invites others to review his work and critique it.

This book won't help you become a human lie detector. Honestly, it's just a tv show. But, it does provide additional skills that some may need when dealing with people at work, ect....

I will be looking for more of his work. Fun and engaging. Well worth the read.

Paul Ekman dives deep within the recesses of the human psyche to uncover the truth and meaning behind lying. He witfully draws parallels between what lying is, and how one can detect it. Ekman engages in thought-provoking arguements and ideas about why people lie, and the neurosis that lying truly is and possible ways to treat it. This is a fantastic view that casts doubt upon those who deem themselves "honest."

If you're looking for a surefire, foolproof signature of deception, then do not read this book. Read the dozens of others mouthwatering books on the market that make such promises. You will remain the naive, overconfident person who believes he can detect a lie better than most. You will not grow, improve, or learn anything except misinformation (if you read other books on the subject).

One of the fascinating points he makes is that people who watch only the body of the liar, without hearing the words, do the best at detecting a lie...about 65% success.. The most accurate judges of deceit (who could identify 85% of the liars) were highly experienced psychotherapists with reputations for being expert clinicians.

The machines sold that are supposed to detect lies by analyzing the voice do no better than chance, but that hasn't affected sales.

Most people pay the most attention to what is the least trustworthy source of deception-words. More reliable sources are facial expressions and voice (taken in comparison and contrast with the words spoken).

This reminds me of how most people are more persuaded by a moving anecdote than a research study of thousands of people, even though the latter is far more reliable a source for drawing conclusions and controlling for confounding factors.

This book is a very good resource for separating the truth from popular fiction (e.g. eye contact) regarding detecting deception. The reading gets very bland at times, but the person bent on becoming a good detector will find it very useful.

This work by Paul Ekman is absolutely fascinating. It is amazing that more than 65% of human communication occurs without speaking a word!!! Although Mr. Ekman writes in a detail oriented manner, the information he provides is astounding. I have very much enjoyed this book and will certainly purchase more works by Mr. Ekman and others that have more information on this spellbinding subject!! Bravo!!

very watered down book, just common sense, nothing remarkable. I looked & bought the Dummies book & it too is a major waste of time. Possibly I am expecting too much.
sorry