The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It … Every Time
by Maria Konnikova
Buy on AmazonWhile cheats and swindlers may be a dime a dozen, true conmen -- the Bernie Madoffs, the Jim Bakkers, the Lance Armstrongs -- are elegant, outsized personalities, artists of persuasion and exploiters of trust. How do they do it? Why are they successful? And what keeps us falling for it, over and over again? From multimillion-dollar Ponzi schemes to small-time frauds, Konnikova pulls together a selection of stories to demonstrate what all cons share in common, drawing on scientific, dramatic, and psychological perspectives. The book brings readers into the world of the con, examining the relationship between artist and victim.…
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"How con artists take advantage of this human hubris is what New Yorker columnist and psychology writer Maria Konnikova explores in The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It … Every Time ( public library ) — a thrilling psychological detective story investigating how con artists, the supreme masterminds of malevolent reality-manipulation, prey on our hopes, our fears, and our propensity for believing what we wish were true."
Best Science Books of 2016 · themarginalian.org