Post-truth : why we have reached peak bullshit and what we can do about it / Evan Davis.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Low-level dishonesty is rife everywhere, in the form of exaggeration, selective use of facts, economy with the truth, careful drafting - from Trump and the Brexit debate to companies that tell us 'your call is important to us'. How did we get to a place where bullshit is not just rife but apparently so effective that it's become the communications strategy of our times?

This brilliantly insightful book steps inside the panoply of deception employed in all walks of life and assesses how it has come to this. It sets out the surprising logic which explains why bullshit is both pervasive and persistent. Why are company annual reports often nonsense? Why should you not trust estate agents? And above all, why has political campaigning become the art of stretching the truth? Drawing on behavioural science, economics, psychology and of course his knowledge of the media, Evan ends by providing readers with a tool-kit to handle the kinds of deceptions we encounter every day, and charts a route through the muddy waters of the post-truth age.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

In a "dysfunctional era in public and private communication," this critique of bullshit is vital. The issues here are to understand the "sheer volume" of bullshit and its "irrational appeal." The text has three sections: what are the forms of bullshit? How can kinds of bullshit be explained--that a lie may reveal a truth, that humans are not rational beings and can be psychologically exploited, that truth may emerge in the long run though people be fooled in the short term, and that when a culture of bullshit becomes the norm, people may irresistibly conform? Why do people need to protect them selves from attempts to deceive and need to be open-minded and care about evidence? Many examples from real life clarify and confirm. Very clearly written, well organized, and insightful, this text is an important examination of the current "peak" in bullshit rhetoric. Here bullshit is defined in a "broader context" than that of Harry Frankfurt, whose pioneering works made study of bullshit respectable. Endnotes. Highly recommended for the general public and all levels of classroom use: English, rhetoric, communication, political science, and business classes. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty. --Therese B. Dykeman, formerly, Fairfield University

Kirkus Book Review

A British news anchor and economist turns a gimlet eye on the "post-truth era."Lying, writes BBC2 Newsnight main presenter Davis, is a species of bullshit. But so, too, is "trying to deceive without lying" as well as "the myriad forms of padding that are designed to impress, obfuscate or attract attention." All these are myriad indeed, and ubiquitous; whether fake news or bullshit that has been accepted as truth, they fill our heads every day. Usefully, the author observes that facts are like construction beams: not only does it matter what a fact is made of, but it also must be "capable of bearing the weight that is being loaded upon it." In a time of bullshit coupled with intense, willful intellectual laziness, all kinds of not-up-to-code constructions are being built on bad faith and bad information. Yet, as Davis holds in this dense but accessible argument, there is sometimes a use in that bad informatione.g., as a means of solidarity-building, "a way of strengthening a sense of membership of the tribe." Thus, one supposes, Fox News and Breitbart. As the author adds later in the discussion, even knowing that a bit of information or argument is bullshit does not necessarily protect us from swallowing it. Throughout, Davis' approach is unquestionably British, and it will help if readers have a sense of British politicssome conversational fluency in, say, the issues surrounding Brexitand geography. The latter is useful in understanding why "more trains to Hammersmith" might be a desirable development even if, as Davis uncovers, it means reducing service to other destinations on the Circle Line. One hopes that the author's assertion that we have, in fact, reached "peak bullshit" is not wishful thinking; after all, there are entire industries devoted to producing the stuff, and their energies do not seem to be flagging.Useful fodder for the factually inclined and politically disgusted. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.