Liespotting

Proven Techniques to Detect Deception

By: Pamela Meyer

Narrated by: Karen Saltus

People - friends, family members, work colleagues, salespeople - lie to us all the time. Daily, hourly, constantly. None of us is immune, and all of us are victims. According to studies by several different researchers, most of us encounter nearly 200 lies a day. Now there’s something we can do about it. Liespotting links three disciplines - facial recognition training, interrogation training, and a comprehensive survey of research in the field - into a specialized body of information developed specifically to help business leaders detect deception and get the information they need to successfully conduct their most important interactions and transactions.

Some of the nation's leading business executives have learned to use these methods to root out lies in high stakes situations. Liespotting for the first time brings years of knowledge - previously found only in the intelligence community, police training academies, and universities - into the corporate boardroom, the manager's meeting, the job interview, the legal proceeding, and the deal negotiation.

©2010 Pamela Meyer (P)2012 Gildan Media, LLC

Extremely useful

Extremely useful. Good and practical tips. A must read to everyone who wants to prevent themselves from being misled.

mostly very good but padded

first two thirds of the book was excellent. A lot of very important research reported. last third clearly padded with a lot of checklists about corporate procedure that one could have found in a lot of other places put more succinctly.

Basic techniques on spotting lies

The beginning of the book provides useful information on spotting lies -- identifying baseline behavior and noting "tells" and cluster of behaviors when a person is lying. It is followed with chapters that diverge somewhat from lie spotting, such as negotiation techniques and conducting a deception audit at work. The information is still useful in that the reader can apply the techniques to build trusting relationships and avoid dishonest people. I think the reason why the book hasn't received higher ratings is because the author's TED Talk and the book description give the impression that this book can help the reader become an expert on spotting lies. It is not case. It provides an overview and basic techniques to practice.

Title doesn't match book.

What did you love best about Liespotting?

How to look for suspicious behavior that may indicate lying.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

Most: The couple of chapters that were about how to detect if somebody may be lying. Least: The lists of areas you could be deceived in corporate life.

What’s an idea from the book that you will remember?

Watch peoples overall mannerisms and not just in the moment.

Any additional comments?

The title should be changed to "Corporate areas of trust, and a couple of ways to tell if somebody may be lying to you." I was expecting the book to go into more detail about lie spotting.

Good review of current theory

If you could sum up Liespotting in three words, what would they be?

Research augments ability

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

This work is a fine overview of current deception detection theory. If applied carefully it can provide a basis for increasing your own natural deception spotting. While no technique is one hundred percent foolproof, if you already have some natural ability this can take you to the next level. That said, nothing new is presented here per se, it's simply the collected theory of many years of research presented more or less in one place.

What insight do you think you’ll apply from Liespotting?

Where the author's style comes through is in the notion that lie spotting is not best used when attempting to 'catch someone red handed' and show them up. Rather, it is intended to promote the realization that lying happens all the time. It's part of the fabric of our society. Rather than focusing on rooting out individual incidents, it's more productive to use it to promote a truthful atmosphere in all of your associations, and yourself and with it you can choose to surround yourself with people of integrity and honesty. That doesn't mean you'll never be lied to again, or even that there aren't good reasons for lying, but at least, you can be on your guard... and you can choose how to respond to deceptive situations.