The Liar in Your Life: The Way to Truthful Relationships
By Robert Feldman
Chances are you've forgotten—or never even noticed—the dozens of lies you've encountered just today. From your coworker's false compliment to the disgruntled grocery bagger's unconvincing "my pleasure," lies are everywhere, and we couldn't survive without them, says Feldman, a psychologist at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, who studies deception. This book is light on relationship advice but heavy on research. The average person lies three times in a 10-minute conversation with a stranger, and we lie even more on the Internet than in person. An alarming prospect, but Feldman shows us there is more to a lie than meets the eye. A child who can fib proves she is socially aware and cognitively developed, teens who are good liars tend to be more successful socially, and cancer patients who can deceive themselves into believing a falsely sunny prognosis are better at combating the disease. Most often we lie with good—or at least not ill—intentions: to make someone feel better, to make conversation flow, to be more impressive or likable. Would we want to live in a world without these social smoothers, where every flaw, every passing emotion, is made readily apparent? —Courtney Hutchison
The Philosophical Baby
By Alison Gopnik
Babies can't even say "Aristotle," so what can they teach us about philosophy? Gopnik, a psychology professor at Berkeley and mother of three, draws from neuroscience, psychology, and philosophy to show us the world through the eyes of an infant. Babies aren't tiny, inept adults; in some ways they're more conscious of their surroundings than grown-ups. They demonstrate nearly pure awareness, the pinnacle of spirituality for some Buddhist monks, by not filtering what they hear, see, and feel. Holding onto other youthful traits—curiosity, imagination, and an immense capacity for learning—may be advantageous too; people who stay young at heart tend to have high IQs. —Joshua Gowin
The Anatomy of Evil
By Michael Stone
What makes us call a crime—or a person—evil? Stone, a Columbia University psychiatrist and former host of Discovery Channel's Most Evil, probes the lives and crimes of a vast array of murderers, rapists, and torturers. He identifies biological and social factors that put individuals at risk for going bad. The worst offenders tend to be shaped by a combination of genes and early abuse. Stone concludes by reflecting on the possibility—or impossibility—of rehabilitating evildoers. Although those on the lower part of his evil scale may have salvageable personalities, he says, true psychopaths remain unable to empathize with others and must be sequestered from society permanently. —Clayton Simmons
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