Shop New Baby Products
You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.
Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions
Added to

Sorry, there was a problem.

There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. Please try again.

Sorry, there was a problem.

List unavailable.
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

  • Lying

Follow the authors

Get new release updates & improved recommendations
Annaka Harris
Follow
Sam Harris
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Lying

by Sam Harris (Author), Annaka Harris (Editor) Format: Kindle Edition
4.3 out of 5 stars (3,471)
As it was in Anna Karenina, Madame Bovary, and Othello, so it is in life. Most forms of private vice and public evil are kindled and sustained by lies. Acts of adultery and other personal betrayals, financial fraud, government corruption—even murder and genocide—generally require an additional moral defect: a willingness to lie.

In Lying, best-selling author and neuroscientist Sam Harris argues that we can radically simplify our lives and improve society by merely telling the truth in situations where others often lie. He focuses on "white" lies—those lies we tell for the purpose of sparing people discomfort—for these are the lies that most often tempt us. And they tend to be the only lies that good people tell while imagining that they are being good in the process.
Read more
Previous slide of product details
  1. Print length
    83 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Four Elephants Press
  4. Accessibility
    Learn more
  5. Publication date
    October 23, 2013
  6. File size
    337 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
Next slide of product details

Great on Kindle
Great Experience. Great Value.
iphone with kindle app
Putting our best book forward
Each Great on Kindle book offers a great reading experience, at a better value than print to keep your wallet happy.

Explore your book, then jump right back to where you left off with Page Flip.

View high quality images that let you zoom in to take a closer look.

Enjoy features only possible in digital – start reading right away, carry your library with you, adjust the font, create shareable notes and highlights, and more.

Discover additional details about the events, people, and places in your book, with Wikipedia integration.
Get the free Kindle app: Link to the kindle app page Link to the kindle app page
Enjoy a great reading experience when you buy the Kindle edition of this book. Learn more about Great on Kindle, available in select categories.

Customers also bought or read

Page 1 of 1Start over
Previous page
  1. Book cover Free Will
    Free Will
    Kindle Edition
    $10.99
  2. Book cover Letter to a Christian Nation
    Letter to a Christian Nation
    Kindle Edition
    $13.99
  8. Book cover On Having No Head, Kindle Unlimited
    On Having No Head
    Kindle Edition
    $9.99
  10. Book cover Mortality
    Mortality
    Kindle Edition
    $11.99
  15. Book cover Jesus Christ Superstition
    Jesus Christ Superstition
    Kindle Edition
    $7.99
  26. Book cover Reasons and Persons
    Reasons and Persons
    Kindle Edition
    $29.22
Next page
Loading...

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Albeit with tongue in cheek, Mark Twain once wrote: "No fact is more firmly established than that lying is a necessity of our circumstance--the deduction that it is then a Virtue goes without saying." Well, Sam Harris begs to differ. And differ he does, with an impassioned, straight-shooting argument not only that lies are "the social equivalent of toxic waste," but also that each of us is capable of, and would benefit from, a life led free of the lie. Harris takes his time defining and stratifying types of lies--from adultery to government cover-ups to the seemingly innocuous little white lie--but insists that at any scale, a lie "condenses a lack of trust and trustworthiness into a single act." Worse, the gravest danger is the liar's inability to contain its effects; when we gamble on deception, we can't anticipate how far the lie will spread, and thus we limit the informed decision-making of who knows how many others. Conversely, Harris argues, even if we're motivated only selfishly, lying less frees us to trust others more. And that's the truth. --Jason Kirk

Review


"This essay is quite brilliant. (I was hoping it would be, so I wouldn't have to lie.) I honestly loved it from beginning to end. Lying is the most thought-provoking read of the year."
— Ricky Gervais

"Humans have evolved to lie well, and no doubt you've seen the social lubrication at work. In many cases, we might not think of it as a true "lie": perhaps a "white lie" once in a blue moon, the omission of a sensitive detail here and there, false encouragement of others when we see no benefit in dashing someone's hopes, and the list goes on. In Lying, Sam Harris demonstrates how to benefit from being brutally—but pragmatically—honest. It's a compelling little book with a big impact."
— Tim Ferriss, author of the New York Times bestsellers, The 4-Hour Body, The 4-Hour Workweek, and The 4-Hour Chef

"In this brief but illuminating work, Sam Harris applies his characteristically calm and sensible logic to a subject that affects us all—the human capacity to lie. And by the book's end, Harris compels you to lead a better life because the benefits of telling the truth far outweigh the cost of lies—to yourself, to others, and to society."
— Neil deGrasse Tyson, Astrophysicist, American Museum of Natural History

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00G1SRB6Q
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Four Elephants Press
  • Accessibility ‏ : ‎ Learn more
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 23, 2013
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 337 KB
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 83 pages
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1940051017
  • Page Flip ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Best Sellers Rank: #113,771 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 out of 5 stars (3,471)

About the authors

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Previous page
  1. Annaka Harris

    Annaka Harris

    Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    Annaka Harris is the New York Times bestselling author of “CONSCIOUS: A Brief Guide to the Fundamental Mystery of the Mind” (HarperCollins, June 2019). She is an editor and consultant for science writers, specializing in neuroscience and physics, and her work has appeared in The New York Times. Annaka is the author of the children's book “I Wonder,” a collaborator on the “Mindful Games Activity Cards,” by Susan Kaiser Greenland, and a volunteer mindfulness teacher for the Inner Kids organization. Visit her online at: annakaharris.com

    twitter.com/annakaharris

    facebook.com/annakaharrisprojects/

    instagram.com/annakaharrisprojects/

    See more on the author's page
  2. Sam Harris

    Sam Harris

    Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
    Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

    Sam Harris is the author of five New York Times best sellers. His books include The End of Faith, Letter to a Christian Nation, The Moral Landscape, Free Will, Lying, Waking Up, and Islam and the Future of Tolerance (with Maajid Nawaz), The Four Horseman (with Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, and Christopher Hitchens), and Making Sense. The End of Faith won the 2005 PEN Award for Nonfiction. His writing and public lectures cover a wide range of topics—neuroscience, moral philosophy, religion, meditation practice, human violence, rationality—but generally focus on how a growing understanding of ourselves and the world is changing our sense of how we should live.

    Sam’s work has been published in more than 20 languages and has been discussed in The New York Times, Time, Scientific American, Nature, Rolling Stone, and many other publications. He has written for The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Economist, The Times (London), The Boston Globe, The Atlantic, and The Annals of Neurology, among others. He also hosts the Making Sense Podcast, which was selected by Apple as one of the “iTunes Best” and has won a Webby Award for best podcast in the Science & Education category.

    Sam received a degree in philosophy from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in neuroscience from UCLA. He has also practiced meditation for more than 30 years and has studied with many Tibetan, Indian, Burmese, and Western meditation teachers, both in the United States and abroad. Sam has created the Waking Up Course for anyone who wants to learn to meditate in a modern, scientific context.

    See more on the author's page
Next page

Related books

Page 1 of 1Start Over
Sponsored
Previous page
  1. Shop the Store on Amazon ›
    Lost in Time
    Lost in Time
    4.44.4 out of 5 stars26,185
    $11.89
Next page

Report an issue


Does this item contain inappropriate content?
Report
Do you believe that this item violates a copyright?
Report
Does this item contain quality or formatting issues?
Report