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  • Published: 25 April 2024
  • ISBN: 9780241630174
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 336

May Contain Lies

How Stories, Statistics and Studies Exploit Our Biases - And What We Can Do About It




How to understand our human biases to separate fact from fiction, identify misinformation when we see it and make smarter decisions.

A ground-breaking book that reveals why our human biases affect the way we receive and interpret information

Our lives are minefields of misinformation. Statistics, stories and studies lie to us on a daily basis. Not only this but, as Professor Alex Edmans reveals, our brains lie to us too. He argues that we need to acknowledge and understand the role that our own human biases play in interpreting and digesting the information that we consume. It's only when we do, that we can actively resist being manipulated, and make informed choices that improve our lives.

  • Published: 25 April 2024
  • ISBN: 9780241630174
  • Imprint: Penguin eBooks
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 336

Praise for May Contain Lies

A powerful and punchy explanation of why misinformation is a problem that affects us all - be that in finance, politics, media, business or anywhere else. Edmans offers clear ideas about how to counter this, not just in our own lives but also across society as a whole. Timely and very provocative!

Gillian Tett, Editor-at-Large, Financial Times

A masterpiece! A must-read book that is both a delight to consume and sure to improve the quality of your thinking’

Katy Milkman, Professor, The Wharton School, author of How to Change

Mass disinformation and poor understanding of basic statistics are the hallmarks of our 'information age'. Alex Edmans’ book is the much-needed antidote

Vaclav Smil, Author of How the World Really Works and Numbers Don't Lie

Brilliantly researched and written [and] immensely practical in helping guide us through this thicket of (mis)information … I am already drawing on its insights in my everyday decision-making

Andy Haldane, former Chief Economist at the Bank of England

A passionate and dispassionate call to truth – and how to achieve it - in a world of growing disinformation in which truth and common ground are the casualties

Will Hutton, President of the Academy of Social Sciences, author of The State We’re In

A fascinating account of how to navigate through lies and misleading statistics to arrive at a reasonable approximation of the truth. A valuable aid to make sense of our confusing world

Raghuram G. Rajan, Professor at the University of Chicago, former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India and former governor of the Reserve Bank of India and Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund

A hard-hitting book with some great stories

Andrew Gelman, Professor of Statistics and Political Science, Columbia University

A clear-headed guide to the exaggerations, sloppy research and the occasional downright lies peddled by companies, universities, authors and Ted Talk gurus. … It’s a timely book and, despite the nerdy statistical theories, is often quite funny

Harry Wallop, The Times

A road map for how to separate myths from the real thing and come to a better understanding of the world, drawing on the approaches of academic research. [Edmans] is well placed to share what professional thinkers can teach us about examining our subjectivity to think more clearly about topics from income disparity to cancer cures

Jonathan Moules, Financial Times

Entertaining, thorough and full of current examples … It’s excellent!

Jason Zweig, Recommended Summer Reading, Wall Street Journal

Alex Edmans is such a crisp, sharp salutary voice – and a great guide to the bullsh*t of the modern world

Rory Stewart
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