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Lying by [Harris, Sam]
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Lying Kindle Edition

4.2 out of 5 stars 561 customer reviews

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"Messy: The Power of Disorder to Transform Our Lives"
Read award-winning author Tim Harford's provocative big idea book about the genuine benefits of being messy. Learn more | Kindle book
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Product Details

  • File Size: 183 KB
  • Print Length: 108 pages
  • Publisher: Four Elephants Press (October 23, 2013)
  • Publication Date: October 23, 2013
  • Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B00G1SRB6Q
  • Text-to-Speech: Enabled
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  • Word Wise: Enabled
  • Lending: Not Enabled
  • Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #50,551 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
Having briefly glanced at the previous reviews for Sam Harris' long-form essay, "Lying", I felt the need to clarify a few points of error:

- One might argue that this piece pales in comparison to Sam's denser work but to do so is to draw a comparison between strikingly unlike works of literature: In "Lying", it would seem that Sam Harris seeks to make no revelatory claims about this common phenomenon in social culture but instead seeks to effectively outline how and why to combat the insidious force laying dormant at the heart of our relationships.

- To call Harris a huckster or charlatan for charging a mere $2 for this eBook is to overlook one obvious point: We've all purchased the item of our own volition. Not coincidentally, neither Harris nor his editors deceived about the contents of the book. It may be brief in form and function but it is...

- Effective and necessary. In theory, the necessity to avoid fatuous white lies and instead supplant them with integrity and honesty may seem so self-evident that one need not read about them from scholarly sources. Yet in practice and principle, deceit is so engrained in social culture that many view it as unavoidable. Sam Harris, in a mere 26 pages, inexorably highlights how and why we should view the practice of lying with utmost caution.

For what it's worth, I enjoyed the book and want to send out a congenial thanks to all those involved in its authorship.
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Format: Kindle Edition
This short essay tackles a catastrophic and, and the same time, seemingly harmless issue. Lying. We've all done it. Some more than others. Most of us are oblivious to the far reaching implications of telling a lie, and Sam does a great job explaining the networking of falsehood, and how one little lie could exponentially lead to something devastating. I definitely recommend this read, especially since it's only 2 bucks!
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Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
I bought this book for two reasons: I sometimes tell white lies in certain situations and wanted to see what Harris had to say about this, and I wanted to see what he had to say about lying in extreme situations (the hitler/anne frank example).

I have to say that I'm disappointed. Sam, I feel, does a poor job of investigating this topic deeply. He also made the basic mistake of confirmation bias. For example, he says that he asked friends to share stories where white lies got them into trouble, and these stories constitute the bulk of his discourse and conclusions on white lies. This is a rather ridiculous thing to do when one is concerned about making such wide-reaching statements and conclusions as "do not lie" (ever). He looks at only the evidence he wants to see. He doesn't bother to see whether there are any situations in which telling a white lie led to a positive outcome, or conversely, whether there are situations where telling the truth resulted in severe and long-term negative consequences. I personally have experienced such situations so I was curious to see what Sam had to say on this, but alas, apparently the thought didn't occur to him.

In one of the stories he shares, a woman called Sita tells her friend that the gift she got for her friend, a bunch of shower-related products, were purchased by her in a hotel gift shop. The truth is that they were simply the complimentary products that came with the hotel room she was staying at. Her daughter overhears this lie and calls it out in front of the two women, leading to a bit of awkwardness. On this basis, Sam makes a judgement call about Sita, saying there is something distasteful about her because she will lie when it suits her needs.
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Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
It's hard to judge the length of a kindle book, but this one is short enough to be considered a good chapter. It's Sam Harris, so it's well put, succinct, and a pleasure to ponder. He makes some excellent points about the effects, costs, and alternatives to lying - even small lies - and I believe I may become an even more honest person because of it.

Lying, he says, is "almost by definition a refusal to cooperate with others. It condenses a lack of trust and trustworthiness into a single act. ... To lie is to recoil from relationship." This is a brilliant observation, and it's almost seems like common sense. Harris goes on to make a case for vigilant truth-telling, quite well.

It is a strong argument, but it's not airtight. State secrets present an exception, he points out; espionage sometimes requires a complex set of lies. But spies, Harris says, operate under the ethics of war and therefore the "ethics of emergency," and are therefore not only exempt from the golden rule of truth-telling, they are irrelevant exceptions. "We can draw no more daily instruction from the lives of spies than we can from the adventures of astronauts in space. Just as most of us need not worry about our bone density in the absence of gravity, we need not consider whether our every utterance could compromise national security." This begs a question. Without a limiting definition of "emergency," emergency ethics *are certainly relevant to daily life. There is a spectrum of emergencies. I've had emergencies. If on one end lying is ok, the other end not -- doesn't that suggest a spectrum of wrongness to lying, as well?

As I read through it, interesting questions arose for me which unfortunately were not addressed.
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