Why We Lie : The Source of Our Disasters

Rowe, Dorothy

ISBN 10: 0007278853 / ISBN 13: 9780007278855

Published by HarperCollins Publishers Limited Fourth Estate, London United Kingdom, 2010

About this Item

First edition hardback xx + 364 pages Fine condition in fine unclippe dust jacket No inscriptions.

Seller Inventory # 055341

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Why We Lie : The Source of Our Disasters
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Limited Fourth Estate, London United Kingdom
• Publication Date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0007278853
• ISBN 13: 9780007278855
• Binding: Hardback
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Printing: 1st Printing
• Condition: Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Fine
• Weight: 700 grams

About this title

Synopsis

Why do we lie? Because we are frightened of being humiliated, being treated like an object, being rejected, losing control of things, and, most of all, we are frightened of uncertainty. Often we get our lies in before any of these things can happen. We lie to maintain our vanity. We lie when we call our fantasies the truth. Lying is much easier than searching for the truth and accepting it, no matter how inconvenient it is. We lie to others, and, even worse, we lie to ourselves. In both private and public life, we damage ourselves with our lies, and we damage other people. Lies destroy mutual trust, and fragment our sense of who we are. Lies have played a major part in climate change and the global economic crisis. Fearing to change how they live, many people prefer to continue lying rather than acknowledge that we are facing a very uncertain but undoubtedly unpleasant future unless we learn how to prefer the truths of the real world in which we live rather than the comforting lies that ultimately betray us. We are capable of changing, but will we choose to do this?

About the Author

Dorothy Rowe was born in Australia in 1930, and worked as a teacher and child psychologist before coming to England, where she obtained her PhD at Sheffield University. From 1972 until 1986 she was head of Clinical Psychology. She is now engaged in writing, lecturing and research, and is world-renowned for her work on how we communicate and why we suffer. Her books include ``Wanting Everything', ``Beyond Fear' and ``Time On Our Side'.