The Confidence Game by Maria Konnikova

The Confidence Game by Maria Konnikova

It's a startling and disconcerting read that should make you think twice every time a friend of a friend offers you the opportunity of a lifetime.
--Erik Larson, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Dead Wake and bestselling author of Devil in the White City

Think you can't get conned? Think again. The New York Times bestselling author of Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes explains how to spot the con before they spot you.

An] excellent study of Con Artists, stories & the human need to believe -Neil Gaiman, via Twitter

A compelling investigation into the minds, motives, and methods of con artists--and the people who fall for their cons over and over again.

While cheats and swindlers may be a dime a dozen, true conmen--the Bernie Madoffs, the Jim Bakkers, the Lance Armstrongs--are elegant, outsized personalities, artists of persuasion and exploiters of trust. How do they do it? Why are they successful? And what keeps us falling for it, over and over again? These are the questions that journalist and psychologist Maria Konnikova tackles in her mesmerizing new book.

From multimillion-dollar Ponzi schemes to small-time frauds, Konnikova pulls together a selection of fascinating stories to demonstrate what all cons share in common, drawing on scientific, dramatic, and psychological perspectives. Insightful and gripping, the book brings readers into the world of the con, examining the relationship between artist and victim. The Confidence Game asks not only why we believe con artists, but also examines the very act of believing and how our sense of truth can be manipulated by those around us.

Maria Konnikova is the author of Mastermind and The Confidence Game. She is a regular contributing writer for The New Yorker, and has written for The Atlantic, The New York Times, Slate, The New Republic, The Paris Review, The Wall Street Journal, Salon, The Boston Globe, Scientific American, Wired, and Smithsonian, among many other publications. Her writing has won numerous awards, including the 2019 Excellence in Science Journalism Award from the Society of Personality and Social Psychology. While researching The Biggest Bluff, Maria became an international poker champion and the winner of over $300,000 in tournament earnings. Maria also hosts the podcast The Grift from Panoply Media and is currently a visiting fellow at NYU's School of Journalism. Her podcasting work earned her a National Magazine Award nomination in 2019. Maria graduated from Harvard University and received her PhD in Psychology from Columbia University.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780143109877
ISBN 10	0143109871
Title	The Confidence Game
Author	Maria Konnikova
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Penguin Putnam Inc
Year published	2017-01-10
Number of pages	352
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable