Never Be Lied To Again : How to Get the Truth In 5 Minutes Or Less In Any Conversation Or Situation
Author: David J. Lieberman
List Price: $12.95
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ISBN: 0312204280
Publisher: Griffin Trade Paperback (10 September, 1999)
Sales Rank: 1,251
Average Customer Rating: 3.7 out of 5
Customer Reviews
Rating: 1 out of 5
A Disaster in Principles
It is rare that I find a book as disturbing as this one. I purchased this book because I have an overall principle against lying and a strong dislike of liars. Many times I found myself quite uncomfortable reading the "advice" this book offers because most of the tactics used to discover the lies involve LYING! And I don't mean white lies, I mean outright, in-your-face, complete misstatements of facts or invented stories. At some point, a principled human being must ask him/herself whether the ends justify the means.If I tell a lie to catch a liar, what have I taught the liar? I've reinforced the idea that caused the person to lie in the first place - that telling a lie to achieve something is acceptable. I can't imagine a more unethical approach to discovering an ethical shortcoming. Furthermore, what if you're proven wrong and the person WAS telling the truth? Now YOU have committed a lie. Many of the lies the author would have you commit are easily revealed as such if the accused is, in fact, telling the truth. For example, you're encouraged to basically state that you know the person did it and you have proof. If they really didn't, you will look like a fool!
If you work in Loss Prevention or Law Enforcement perhaps these ends DO justify the means, but for most daily interactions (the types most exemplified in this book) they do not, in my opinion.
The author states right up front, "This book focuses on the truth and how to get at it." I'd argue that it instead focuses on lies and how to tell them to discover them.
If you're willing to lie to catch a liar, this is the book for you. But if you, like me, detest lying, you will find this book troubling and regret purchasing it.
Rating: 2 out of 5
Use at your own risk.
While the book contains a few useful (if commonsense) hints, mostly it encourages quick judgments based on limited and unreliable observations, as well as the use of manipulative and sometimes deceptive techniques to determine whether other people are lying. This is likely to do more harm than good in just about any situation.I also find the warnings about the limitations and ethical implications of the techniques inadequate, and even though the book claims to be based on "the latest research", it lacks references or further readings.
If you find yourself frequently in situations where you are concerned about whether other people are lying to you, that should indicate to you that there are other problems in your life or business. A book on communications, relationships, contract law, negotiation, and/or business organization is likely to serve you better.
In a kind of circular logic, the book may have some value in letting you recognize when other people are trying to apply the techniques it describes. While the techniques are hardly subtle, identifying them specifically as indicators of suspicion and insecurity in a relationship may let you address the underlying issue more constructively (assuming, of course, that the suspicions are unfounded).
Rating: 3 out of 5
a manual of cut-throat strategies
Unlike other books which just deal with reading body language, this book contains specific strategies to use in digging out the truth from suspects. If this sounds like something that would be useful for law enforcement officers in obtaining confessions from known offenders, you wouldn't be far off. The book doesn't really deal with the prospect of using these techniques on someone who ultimately proves to be innocent, and the underhanded nature of many of them could likely backfire. More than a few of these strategies are a bit questionable, and one would have to have a little experience and intuitive insight in using the right technique at the right time. He also makes the common mistake of pigeonholing specific behaviors as indicators of certain states of mind (his information about reading eye movement is just wrong). The cover claims "How to get the truth in 5 minutes or less." I'm not so sure.Nit-picking dept.: His story about Churchill and the bombing of Coventry is wrong, as there is no evidence the Prime Minister had advance knowledge of the attack.
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