Post-truth
Subtitle: why we have reached peak bullshit and what we can do about it
By: Evan Davis
Publisher: Little, Brown, an imprint of Little, Brown Book Group
Published: 2017
Language: eng
Number of pages: 347
ISBN-13: 9781408703311
Copyright date: 2017
Subjects: Persuasion (Psychology); Interpersonal communication; Deception; Honesty; Disinformation; Truthfulness and falsehood
Description: 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.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 303-332) and index.