A BRIEF HISTORY OF LIES:
The Most Brilliant Book Ever Written!
By Daniel Nanavati
106 pp. CreateSpace $8
I expected A Brief History of Lies to be whimsical, and it is—and funny, too, with delightful British humor. But it’s also, philosophical and … surprisingly wise. If it appears simple at first glance, that’s deceptive.
Nanavati lives in Cornwall, UK, where he writes children’s books, novels, plays, film scripts, and poetry. Impressive! I find all that hard to believe, but would an author who writes about liars, lie on his own book cover? Probably not.
Nanavati astutely assesses the lies we tell and why. Yes, we, as in you, too. If you say you don’t lie, you’re lying to yourself. We all lie to ourselves, says Nanavati. If you’re honest, you’ll acknowledge that you lie—many times daily, even to those we love most. And sometimes we want to be lied to, as well.
The book provides a lengthy list of the various types of lies, which are legion. You’ll recognize them all, and that you’ve committed most. I’ve committed all but perjury, pathological and vindictive lies … well, possibly a vindictive lie once in childhood.
The book is about politicians and lies, lovers and lies, kids learning to lie, lies told in war and business—of which Nanavati says, “Without lying there would be no war and business would always be good. Business is war without the bloodshed…” Nanavati makes no judgment toward us lying humans—it’s evolutionary, he says. Survival based.
His list of behaviors of liars is telling. Have you noticed someone “mirroring” your words to answer your question? Be suspicious.
“Did you eat the last cookie?”
“No, I did not eat the last cookie.”
I’d love to quote examples of Nanvati’s take on human nature and the rationale he gives for lying—especially the politicians—but they’d suffer out of the larger context. You’ll enjoy it better following Nanavati’s irreverent, satirical, logical, thought-provoking, albeit homespun path on your own.
A Brief History of Lies: The Most Brilliant Book Ever Written
Filed in Humor - Nonfiction on June 30, 2010 with no comments
By Daniel Nanavati
CreateSpace, $8.00, 100 pages
Everybody lies. We lie to protect ourselves, to protect others, to prevent hurt feelings, to get what we want, to stay out of trouble. We lie for reasons both selfish and selfless. There are big lies and little lies, and statements that are lies to some but truths to others.
A Brief History of Lies examines the culture of lying, focusing on not only how pervasive lying is, but how it has become a fundamental part of human interaction. There are catalogues of different kinds of lies and liars, all in an attempt to understand the importance of lying. This is reinforced by a quotation on every page (some of which become rather repetitive as the book progresses).While the book has some funny moments, I'd have to say the facetious tone of the subtitle is misleading; overall, Navavati's work is profoundly bleak. Because money, relationships, and countries are social constructs, they are lies. I find this unnecessarily pessimistic. A few jokes and lighthearted jabs here and there can't mitigate that sort of oppressive tone.
As a scholarly treatise, A Brief History of Lies succeeds admirably, but it could do with a bit more heart.
Reviewed by Glenn Dallas
A Brief History Of Lies
The Most Brilliant Book Ever Written
A survey of a wicked, irreverent, serious, harmful, cruel and enjoyable (for some) side of human civilization. Including quotes on lies and lying (good, bad and indifferent) from famous people who should know better.
Recent research has discovered possibly connections with our frontal-brain cell structures and our ability to lie well, giving a whole new series of answers to the question, Why do we lie? and more importantly Why Do We Lie To Ourselves?
An easy read, amusing look at the bedrock of civilization.
Fully illustrated by the UK Based Freelance Illustrator, Cartoonist, Artist & Animator, Calvin Innes.
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Paperback black and white, 100 pages with 8 cartoons. $8.00
This is what you get when an author can't decide if their book is "funny" or "serious"...
An unashamedly unabashed subtitle proclaims this non-fiction title to be "The Most Brilliant Book Ever Written!" for a book that professes to educate us on lies and why we tell them – the irony could not be more transparent, or maybe it could. Whether you place it in the category of a 'jest', 'exaggeration' or 'propaganda' depends on your understanding of the various (and many) constructs of lies.
The slenderness of this book belies the depth of research that has clearly been done. One can only imagine the inordinate amount of information, both useful and negligible, that the author trawled through for this creation. It is the kind of book that you will to be good... and in some part, it lives up to expectations: I particularly appreciated the final section, detailing how to recognise a liar, a reasonably thorough account of the key physical giveaways that liars trip themselves up with. The plethora of quotes on the subject of lies from a vast array of individuals from poets to philosophers, from politicians to Adolf Hitler (a classic, by the way), are a nice touch if nothing new.
And therein is the crux of the issue: A Brief History of Lies doesn't offer anything original and any non-fiction title that proffers up conclusions based on others' data really must include a bibliography, which is astonishing in its absence. The author does acknowledge the purveyors of his quotations, he invariably omits to tell us where he found said quotes. A bibliography would essentially give the book more credence as legitimate non-fiction. But our consternation at the lack of originality fades in comparison to our bemused bewilderment at the scant historical background into lies themselves.
On the plus side, the illustrations are a wonderful source of humour and light relief from an occasionally dry text, even if they are incongruous against the quasi-serious tone of the content. Besides, there are only eight illustrations by the talented, Calvin Innes, which is not nearly sufficient! A Brief History of Lies is useful as a concise revision of the key past and present hypothesis on lying, but ultimately fails to deliver. It is neither funny enough to be found humorous, nor significant enough to be taken seriously.
A Brief History of Lies, The Most Brilliant Book Ever Written takes both a serious and humorous look at lying; the good, bad, and the ugly. It shockingly reveals research that shows 1 in 5 things human say in social situations lasting more than 10 minutes are generally lies, and goes into classifying the different types of lies and reasons we lie. Specifically, the book looks at lying in children, adults, politics, relationships, business and war, and finally talks about how to spot a liar. I was at first put off by the title, but shortly into the book realized it was a play off the very subject of the book, one that I think was brilliantly written, easy to read, and a disarming journey into the ethics and understanding of lying.
Nanavati classifies lies into the following categories:
ambiguity
bluff
brazen
conceit
contextual
dissembling
emergency
equivocate
exaggeration
fabrication
fraud
gender specific
institutional
jargonese
jest
linguistic
noble
omission
pathological
perjury
propaganda
relationship
to children
vindictive
white.
As you can see, it is an exhaustive list.
The thing I find most interesting about this list is it really makes you think about your own propensity to lie, and even if you think 'not me,' you listen to the description of exaggeration or jest and relate. Nanavati speaks of the types of lies all of us willingly cooperate in without hesitation, including Santa Claus, the tooth fairy, other mythical characters, divorce, and talking to children about penises and vaginas. And while we usually associate lying with 'bad,' this book presents it in a light that actually excuses lies in certain circumstances and considers it a good thing in others.
A Brief History of Lies also discusses research into the physiology of lying. This includes an MRI study by the University of Southern California in 2005 that showed that pathological liars had significantly more "white matter" in their brains and slightly less "gray matter" than those they were measured against. The suggestion is that if this is further studied in the future it can be used in a variety of ways including the court system, human resources, and others.
The review of lying in relationships is exhaustive. It really makes you think about your ability to have an honest and open relationship. Lies cited include flirting, past relationships, physical appearance, career, feelings, beliefs, financial issues, and enjoyment. So if you tell your girlfriend her shirt looks nice or your husband he is the most handsome man you have ever seen, you are included in this list of liars.
Interestingly enough, Nanavati thinks that lies in war and business are basically the same. As he so eloquently states:
War is business by another name and business is war without the bloodshed – although in criminal business one should assume a certain amount of bloodshed.
The same language often is used in business and war: tactical meetings, making a killing on a stock, hostile takeovers, propaganda. Military strategy really is the art of lying, in which we figure out ways to justify killing others for our own means.
According to the police services, about four percent of people are accomplished liars and can lie very well. They are expressionless, rarely move hands and fingers, and avoid eye contact so as not to be discovered. They blink less, touch their face, throat, and mouth as they talk, and will scratch their nose or behind their ears. They may place objects between you, get defensive when challenged, show delayed emotional reactions, and use contractions less often when they speak. They also often fail to make direct statements, so that their answers may be implied and not come back to haunt them. Liars don't like writing things down.
Needless to say, the book is very intense yet a quick and easy read at less than 100 pages with some funny cartoons along the way. In many ways it will shake your fundamental beliefs about how we function as a society, and question what is really the truth vs. what we think is the truth. So while I found it very interesting, I thought it was quite disturbing at the same time.
Are we really that awful? Who do we trust? How do we keep our faith? What do we protect that is really legitimately important vs. what we only perceive to be important? Can we ever trust politicians?
I would have liked to have seen a bit of a balance of hope at the end, possibly something we can do about the lying or ways to live life more truthfully. The book does a great job of raising awareness of the issue of lying, but does little in terms of suggesting how we can reconcile this with reality. Is lying really the only option? Are we all liars? Are there any people in history that are admired for their truthfulness?
