May Contain Lies - by Alex Edmans

Book Synopsis

Adam Grant's "8 New Idea Books to Start Spring"
Next Big Idea Club's Must-Read Books for May 2024
"A wonderful litany of the myriad ways in which we can be deceived, and deceive ourselves."--The Guardian
"Entertaining, thorough and full of current examples. . . . It's excellent." --The Wall Street Journal

How our biases cause us to fall for misinformation--and how to combat it.

Our lives are minefields of misinformation. It ripples through our social media feeds, our daily headlines, and the pronouncements of politicians, executives, and authors. Stories, statistics, and studies are everywhere, allowing people to find evidence to support whatever position they want. Many of these sources are flawed, yet by playing on our emotions and preying on our biases, they can gain widespread acceptance, warp our views, and distort our decisions.

In this eye-opening book, renowned economist Alex Edmans teaches us how to separate fact from fiction. Using colorful examples--from a wellness guru's tragic but fabricated backstory to the blunders that led to the Deepwater Horizon disaster to the diet that ensnared millions yet hastened its founder's death--Edmans highlights the biases that cause us to mistake statements for facts, facts for data, data for evidence, and evidence for proof.

Armed with the knowledge of what to guard against, he then provides a practical guide to combat this tide of misinformation. Going beyond simply checking the facts and explaining individual statistics, Edmans explores the relationships between statistics--the science of cause and effect--ultimately training us to think smarter, sharper, and more critically. May Contain Lies is an essential read for anyone who wants to make better sense of the world and better decisions.

From the Back Cover

"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, Bank of England

"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, University of Chicago, former Governor, Reserve Bank of India, and former Chief Economist, International Monetary Fund

"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 a delight to consume and sure to improve the quality of your thinking."--Katy Milkman, Professor, The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, author of How to Change

"Mass disinformation and poor understanding of basic statistics are the hallmarks of our 'information age.' Alex Edmans's book is the much-needed antidote."--Vaclav Smil, author of How the World Really Works and Numbers Don't Lie

"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, Academy of Social Sciences, author of The State We're In

"A hard-hitting book with some great stories."--Andrew Gelman, Professor of Statistics and Political Science, Columbia University

"How should we determine what to believe and when to be skeptical of what we read and hear? Professor Alex Edmans has written a brilliant, engaging book about how to deal with our age of endless information. With terrific examples throughout, this is a book we all would benefit from reading."--Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean, University of California, Berkeley, School of Law

"May Contain Lies should be required reading for anyone venturing an opinion near a microphone or a screen. It's a lucid, honest, and vital guide to statistical reasoning, and a life raft of clarity in an ocean of lies."--Raj Patel, Research Professor, Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin

Review Quotes

"While written for a general audience, May Contain Lies is also valuable for educators teaching college courses on misinformation, causal inference, or critical reasoning about social and behavioral science, and would serve as an excellent resource for a freshman seminar."-- "Journal of Economic Literature"

"Entertaining, thorough and full of current examples. . . . It's excellent."-- "Wall Street Journal"

"A practical-minded approach to various forms of mangled logic, appeals to bogus authority and other commonplace forms of cognitive distortion. . . . Besides identifying the problem, the author offers clearly formulated approaches to countering it. Every high school freshman should take a one-semester course with this as its textbook."-- "Inside Higher Ed"

"May Contain Lies is focused on identifying what is and isn't reliable information. In a time when it feels like we are surrounded by more and more sources of misinformation and disinformation, this is certainly a welcome lesson."-- "GeekDad"

"Elegantly structured around an ascent up the ladder of 'misinference.' "-- "RealClearEnergy"

"Confirmation bias can seem so engrained in us that it's difficult to shake. But Edmans highlights how first recognizing our biases and then taking small but intentional steps to overcome them can have an outsized effect on the quality of our decisions."-- "Inc."

"Shows us how to be more discerning with evidence. . . . Is a statement a fact, is a fact truly data, is that data genuinely evidence, and is that evidence proof? The book provides tips for sussing that out."-- "Times of India"

"A wonderful litany of the myriad ways in which we can be deceived, and deceive ourselves."-- "The Guardian"

"Edmans is out to help us better understand and analyse the data we are fed, and to aid us in becoming more sceptical. . . . The appendix ("a checklist for smarter thinking") should be required reading."
-- "New Scientist"

"Edmans might believe that we're post truth, but he also proposes that it is in everyone's grasp to become smarter thinkers."-- "Financial Times"

"A clear-headed guide to the exaggerations, sloppy research and the occasional downright lies peddled by companies, universities, authors and Ted Talk gurus. . . . Edmans is determined to make us better, more critical thinkers."-- "The Times"

About the Author

Alex Edmans is Professor of Finance at London Business School. His TED talk "What to Trust in a Post-Truth World" has been viewed two million times; he has also spoken at the World Economic Forum, Davos, and in the UK Parliament. In 2013, he was awarded tenure at the Wharton School, and in 2021, he was named MBA Professor of the Year by Poets&Quants. Edmans writes regularly for the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, and Harvard Business Review. His first book, Grow the Pie, was a Financial Times Book of the Year. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences.