This Thursday evening I'll be hosting a discussion on 'Why We Lie', at the School of Life in Bloomsbury, London. If you're in town and at a loose end, come along. Here's the blurb:
We all hate it, and yet we all do it. Lying is intrinsic to being human. But, rather than resist this uncomfortable truth, can we learn from taking an honest look at why we lie?
Leading us on fascinating tour through psychology, anthropology, literature and history, Ian Leslie discusses why it is that we all need to lie to each other - and to ourselves - to get by. Along the way he analyses the lie detector, how parents shape their children’s untruthful behaviour, Bill Clinton’s presentational style, Wonder Woman’s lasso of truth, the philosophical ambivalence of being truthful, how we have thrived as a species because of our ability to lie, and why we should distrust anyone with more than 150 friends on Facebook. His lively and witty talk will provoke us to consider our own attitude to truth, the relationship of creativity to being a good fibster, and the question of what makes a ‘necessary’ lie.
Lively and witty. Oh.
We'll also discuss why we lie to ourselves, and why that's good as well as bad.
It's at 7pm. You can book tickets here.
(And if you haven't read Born Liars yet, I mean really, you have no excuse.)
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