Liespotting Summary

Liespotting

Pamela Meyer

As a child, your parents likely taught you to tell the truth simply because lying is 'bad.' But what we primarily think of as morally poor behavior can cause more quantifiable damage. Deception costs American businesses roughly $994 billion per year. That's 7% of the country's gross domestic product. At the same time, entering business negotiations in full honesty is often unimaginable.

In Liespotting: Proven Techniques to Detect Deception, Pamela Meyer postulates that mildly deceptive behavior is a social adaptation. It allows us to coexist with others on an everyday basis. Problems arise when we take our lies too far and harm one another, for example causing them to lose money or betraying their trust. In times when we are flooded with information, it is impossible to cross-reference every fact that reaches us. That's why the skill of liespotting is invaluable in navigating our decisions.

Liespotting not only teaches us how to detect deception but offers advice on how to interact with people so that they tell us the truth from the start.