The Art of Recognizing Bullshit. How Not to Be Misled and Make the Right Decisions

Now everywhere—from advertising videos and conversations with friends to declarations by public figures and academic articles—you can encounter deliberately false, distorted, or unverified information. We consume it more and more, hardly ever thinking about its reliability simply because it’s easier.

John W. Petrocelli, a social psychologist and professor of psychology at Wake Forest University, founded the Laboratory for the Study of Bullshit to find out what makes a person resort to dubious data and mislead other people. He found the answer through controlled experiments and conversations with leading specialists across different fields—from a financial analyst to a car enthusiast—and produced recommendations on how not to become a victim of bullshit (not only receiving it, but also spreading it).

This book will help you build the habit of constructively evaluating everything you hear and say, find the truth in information chaos, learn how to communicate with people who cannot be convinced of anything, and make rational purchases.