We have all lied at one time or another and we have all been lied to as well. We are lied to routinely — by our family, friends, the government, corporate and even religious figures. Some of these are obviously harmless, but many are not and some can have positively disastrous consequences. Consider for instance, the fib about “weapons of mass destruction” that Iraq allegedly possessed has resulted in thousands of deaths. Lies of the now discredited bankers of the Wall Street and elsewhere have pushed millions into misery. We often “lie” to ourselves as well — many of the shamed bankers don’t see anything wrong in their acts. Closer home, we have seen a surfeit of scams and scandals hit several respected and not so respected institutions in the past few weeks. Why We Lie is, perhaps, an appropriate question, and a book for the times that we live in. The book tries to answer the question that has been posed in the title — in a little over 300 pages. Unlike the physical sciences however, the affairs of the mind are open to multiple interpretations. The question however gets answered somewhere around page 50 — “every lie we tell, no matter how small and unimportant, is a defence to our sense of being a person”. So why should the diligent reader go on beyond page 50 The subsequent part of the book tries to trace the evolution of lying behaviour — how we learn to lie, the types of lies that exist — and the actions that they lead to, are rather entertaining. The serially adulterous behaviour of poet Cecil Day Lewis is linked to the collapse of the financial system. Just as he knew his wife will always be there for him, American banks “knew” that the government wouldn’t let them fail. Then there are the lies that we tell ourselves to maintain our self-image or self-esteem. A child may do this after being unjustly punished by a parent. However, adults resort to such lies too. For instance, the refusal of bankers such as Sir Fred Goodwin to accept that their actions had anything to do with the loss of £20 billion loss that the Royal Bank of Scotland incurred — and which was eventually footed by taxpayers. At other places, the author analyses the behaviour of other big lies of the 20th century — National Socialism or Nazism in Germany and the USSR. The author also identifies the kind of enabling behaviour that allowed these — and several other lies to go unchallenged — and grow ever larger. As is usual on a subject concerning the human mind, the reader may also have his/her own views on many of the questions raised by the book. A lack of jargon makes the text more readable as well. All of it is not plain sailing however. At several occasions, the author goes off into relating her own experiences — of her troubled relationship with her mother and how it has an impact on her. It is inevitable that authors look back at their own experiences to derive conclusions, but repeated references are a put off. This is something that an average reader may find boring. On the other hand, the author refers to her own troubled marriage at just one occasion, crisply analyses it and moves on. Like many pop-psychology writers, Dorothy also gives out a lot of prescriptions in the last chapter, along with her take on the world as she views it — be it the Afghanistan war, oil price or the shifts in world economy. This makes what’s an otherwise engaging read into a self-help manual. Avoid it if you wish, because these too, are open to multiple interpretations!
