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Book of the Week: Born Liars: Why We Can't Live Without Deceit

Book of the Week: Born Liars: Why We Can't Live Without Deceit: Episode 1

Factual: History

Factual: Science & Nature

Born Liars: Why We Can't Live Without Deceit

Episode 1

BBC Radio 4 - Book of the Week, Born Liars: Why We Can't Live Without Deceit, Episode 1

We don't approve of lying, but we all do it. How did humans get to be such good liars?

4 Extra Debut. We don't approve of lying, but we all do it. How did humans get to be such good liars? Tim McInnerny reads Ian Leslie's book.

Ian Leslie traces the line from the great apes - who are no mean liars themselves - to humans and documents studies which suggest that becoming human wasn't a simple evolutionary process of the best forager and builder surviving, but the building blocks came from our social contacts and our understanding of deceit.

Ian Leslie was born in 1972 and lives in London. He combines careers in advertising and writing. His first book, To be President (Politicos, 2008), an account of the 2008 US presidential election, was described by Adam Boulton as 'brilliantly capturing the drama and emotion of Obama's successful run for the White House' and was extracted by Granta. He regularly appears as an analyst of American politics on Sky and the BBC. He has written about politics, culture, marketing and psychology for Prospect, the Guardian, the Times and the BBC. He also blogs about all these things at Marbury, named one of the fifty 'Most Powerful' blogs in the world by the Observer. 

'Consistently startling and fascinating. Most popular psychology books follow a depressingly familiar path: there's some dodgy theorising at the beginning, then a raft of dubious statistics with a few anecdotes to back them up. Born Liars, however, is in quite a different league. It's erudite yet wears its learning lightly and is full of terrific stories. It will also make you see yourself, and the world around you, in a new light.' - 'Book of the Week', Daily Mail

Written by Ian Leslie
Abridged by Pete Nichols 

Reader: Tim McInnerny

Producer: Rosalynd Ward 
A Sweet Talk Production for BBC Radio 4.

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Ian Leslie explores deception, and the role it has played in human evolution

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