The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It . . . Every Time (Unabridged)
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- $16.99
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
"It’s a startling and disconcerting read that should make you think twice every time a friend of a friend offers you the opportunity of a lifetime.”
—Erik Larson, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Dead Wake and bestselling author of Devil in the White City
Think you can’t get conned? Think again. The New York Times bestselling author of Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes explains how to spot the con before they spot you.
“[An] excellent study of Con Artists, stories & the human need to believe” –Neil Gaiman, via Twitter
A compelling investigation into the minds, motives, and methods of con artists—and the people who fall for their cons over and over again.
While 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? These are the questions that journalist and psychologist Maria Konnikova tackles in her mesmerizing new book.
From multimillion-dollar Ponzi schemes to small-time frauds, Konnikova pulls together a selection of fascinating stories to demonstrate what all cons share in common, drawing on scientific, dramatic, and psychological perspectives. Insightful and gripping, the book brings readers into the world of the con, examining the relationship between artist and victim. The Confidence Game asks not only why we believe con artists, but also examines the very act of believing and how our sense of truth can be manipulated by those around us.
Customer Reviews
Great stuff
End to end
Fluff, not stuff
The author is clearly not an expert, so I have to wonder if the author of a book about cons is somebody other than the one named.
3 Stars
The author and narrator did a good job. After listening to the book I remember very little about the subject matter and think I would have learned more by a detailed academic outline of the stages of the confidence game. I know that the progression of a con were discussed, but the many stories of various con men and women distracted me and made following the intricacies of the confidence game difficult to follow.
A printed book could have diagramed these stages of the con and would have been helpful.
Reading this book has motivated me to read Dale Carnegie’s book “How to Win Friends and Influence People,” referenced as (to paraphrase) a confidence man’s favorite book.