Hardcover Book on the Art of Lying

Amazon Customer: Even if we all agree that lying is bad, this book helps us lay a very foundation upon which only truth can remain. Harris presents convincing arguments and opinions that allow us to think twice before engaging in “innocent white lies”.

Highly recommended, plus you can finish it in one sitting.

Mexico on Dec 13, 2022

Tvh: Highly recommended to anyone to understand and examine “lies”.

Germany on Apr 23, 2022

marcin: Pathetic… maybe if I was teenager it would make me think for a day or two.First book on Amazon which reviews didn’t match the real quality of the book content. Well actually it isn’t a book…..kind of an essay

Poland on Mar 26, 2022

A person: Short and sweet! This could if course went on forever, I think people will always attempt to have that one excuse/reason for a white lie, but it was nice to read the many reasons and ideas to remain truthful. One of my core values is truthful so this book quite honestly feeds my inner soul. It gives me hope for the human race and reminds me there is much good in the world!! Thank you!!

Canada on Dec 10, 2020

Marcelo: The book enlightened me about an ethical principle that I imeadiately adopted as mine: to never tell a lie, enven “white” lies.

Brazil on Mar 25, 2019

Cakes Green: This is a simple work by Sam Harris and perhaps the least controversial. Although not a exhaustive discourse, Harris provides that lying is both socially and personally damaging and should be avoided.

By no means is it easy to remain truthful, amongst a world with double speaking politicians and a competitive job marketing, but that doesn't curtail Harris' conviction. He says "We are talking about a culture poisoned by lies. And that is a culture worth changing. " Although not easy, truth will bring about a redeemed culture.

I am familiar with ethics, having read Benthram, Kant , and the like. For those like myself, Harris doesn't say anything new. Although his power of rhetoric stands out as compelling of this impertive.

The most insightful point of Harris' which I believe society would do well to remember revolves around alturistic white lies.

Harris says "When we presume to lie for the benefit of others, we have decided that we are the best judges of how much they should understand about their own lives—about how they appear, their reputations, or their prospects in the world."

This continues with the problem of flattery when Harris says...

United States on Sep 18, 2016

Walter E. Kurtz: This is a short essay on why we should not lie. At first, this appears redundant, like beating a dead horse. We all know that lying is wrong. So why write an essay telling us what we already know and agree on. Maybe because we all lie every day?

Why do we lie if we know it is wrong? What do we gain from this? Do we benefit more from lying than from telling the truth?

The author starts by defining what he means by lying. Most people would define lying as telling something that is not true. However, by this definition, an actor playing a character on stage is lying because he is telling us that he is someone else, and he is pretending to feel emotions and think things he is not really feeling and thinking. If I say something that is false but I don’t know that it is false, am I lying? What if I am saying things that are technically speaking true, but that will create a false impression in the other person’s mind? What if someone asks me a question and I give an evasive answer? Is changing the subject lying?

The author defines lying in the broader senses as engaging in willful deceit. For him lying is any situation when through my words and actions I am...

United States on Jan 24, 2014