Lying. By Sam Harris. Kindle. $2.99
Reviewed by Maia Szalavitz
I
won’t lie: I didn’t much like Sam
Harris’ ebook Lying, and had I paid
money for it rather than received it as a free download, I might have felt
cheated. While I’ve enjoyed some of his
earlier work, this book felt flimsy and overly simplistic.
Harris
offered the free download when Jonah Lehrer’s deceptions were just beginning to
be seen as part of a larger pattern:
many of my colleagues felt that this was a cheap shot and an obnoxious
type of self-promotion, but I wasn’t offended and thought it might offer
insight into Lehrer’s deceit.
I
was wrong: what we have here is a book
that tries to make the case that lying is virtually always wrong, with little
more nuance than a “Just Say No” campaign.
The few scraps of science that are included— for example, a studies
showing that one tenth of the information shared by husbands and wives involves
deceit, and a full 38% of conversations among college students include at least
one lie— are fascinating.
But
they go nowhere. Given the high level of
deception found, it seems clear that lying is common human behavior and often serves
some useful purpose, a discussion of which could have been informative. Instead, we get lectures on why we should
always share difficult truths. We’re even given the classic example of learning
of an affair of which one partner is unaware, with nary a thought to the
possibility that the couple could have an open marriage or a mutually agreed
“don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.
Moreover,
Harris actually wants us to tell people that they do “look fat in that,” in
order to spur better wardrobe choices and/or weight loss and to avoid “robbing”
our friends or partners of a chance to change for the better. (No mention is
made of the possibility that such truth telling can be a form of hostility).
There’s
no discussion of the developmental significance of lying in a child’s
understanding of the minds of others, no look at the evolutionary aspects of
deception, no exploration of why social lies are so common— nothing here but
moralizing with little subtlety, let alone material that could guide understanding
of the sad situation that undid a promising journalist. Honest!
Maia Szalavitz is a neuroscience journalist for TIME.com and the author of five books, most recently Born for Love: Why Empathy is Essential—and Endangered, with Bruce Perry, M.D. Ph.D.
Kevin says:
I agree entirely with your assessment, and I think it was all the more disappointing because of how well Harris typically writes. I’ve gone through many of his books where I started out disagreeing with his premise, but was convinced by the force of his arguments. This e-book felt more like a rant than an argument, without clear evidence to support his hypothesis.
I also paid for it when it first came out, so I was especially disappointed that it didn’t actually involve any insight.
matt. says:
“But they go nowhere. Given the high level of deception found, it seems clear that lying is common human behavior and often serves some useful purpose, a discussion of which could have been informative. Instead, we get lectures on why we should always share difficult truths. We’re even given the classic example of learning of an affair of which one partner is unaware, with nary a thought to the possibility that the couple could have an open marriage or a mutually agreed “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.”
don’t you think, at least a little bit, that Harris would have included any and all pertinent information? it’s not like he would lie to get his point across here. sheesh. i guess the overall impression that being tactful with your truths, and not just barging in without reserve, escaped you? this is a terrible review.