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Spy the Lie: Former CIA Officers Teach You How to Detect Deception
Three former CIA officers—among the world’s foremost authorities on recognizing deceptive behavior—share their proven techniques for uncovering a lie
Imagine how different your life would be if you could tell whether someone was lying or telling you the truth. Be it hiring a new employee, investing in a financial interest, speaking with your child about drugs, confronting y...more
Imagine how different your life would be if you could tell whether someone was lying or telling you the truth. Be it hiring a new employee, investing in a financial interest, speaking with your child about drugs, confronting y...more
ebook, 288 pages
Published
July 17th 2012
by St. Martin's Press
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Feb 05, 2013
BetseaK
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to BetseaK by:
nobody
This audiobook was a light, informative and entertaining listen, with some good tips and illustrative life examples. After a bit slow start, a very good narration kept me interested and entertained. I was a little surprised to learn that the good-natured, nice guy type is better at detecting deception than the cold, dispassionate one. I particularly liked the descriptions of the three categories of lies (the lies of commission,the lies of omission and the lies of influence) and the part on popul...more
Certainly a topic that piques curiosity, but a lot of it seems like common sense. Mostly, this is a look at how there are several verbal and non-verbal cues that might tip off whether someone is lying under questioning. I say "under questioning," because the impression that simply asking a one-off question of someone isn't necessarily going to help the person asking a question whether their subject is lying. If you ask your spouse, "How was work today?" and she says, "It was a good day," you've...more
It may be nerdy to admit it, but I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The writer, Don Tennant, manages to take the experience of three authoritative CIA operators and turn it into a very readable account of how to get better at detecting deceit.
This doesn't re-hash popular, generalized, untrue myths that already exist about certain types of body language. It exposes their weakness. But what it does do is provide a detailed and extensive template of both verbal and non-verbal behaviour linked to possi...more
This doesn't re-hash popular, generalized, untrue myths that already exist about certain types of body language. It exposes their weakness. But what it does do is provide a detailed and extensive template of both verbal and non-verbal behaviour linked to possi...more
This book will explain which clusters of behaviors you should look for when detecting deceit. It gives plenty of real examples as well as transcripts of public figures caught in sticky situations.
You would not believe how common these clusters of behavior are:
• Hiding the mouth or eyes
• Throat clearing or swallowing
• Hand to face activity
• Grooming gestures
• Reluctance or refusal to answer
• Repeating the question
• Non-answer statements
• Inconsistent statements
• Going into attack mode
• Overly s...more
You would not believe how common these clusters of behavior are:
• Hiding the mouth or eyes
• Throat clearing or swallowing
• Hand to face activity
• Grooming gestures
• Reluctance or refusal to answer
• Repeating the question
• Non-answer statements
• Inconsistent statements
• Going into attack mode
• Overly s...more
I am hopelessly addicted to anything spy-related. That means that I am predetermined to like books like this - but also that my expectations are going to be higher than average. This was a quick read for me, but there was nothing that stuck out as particularly earth-shattering. At the same time, it's been a number of months between reading the book and writing this review, and I'm noticing that I have a bunch of notes marked in my e-book, so perhaps I'm being unfair should give this a second rea...more
As someone who likes cognitive psychology, spy stories, and has an insatiable curiosity for knowing the truth behind anything, this was right up my alley. How fortunate that I should oversee one of the authors promoting the book on a morning talk show right when I was dropping my car off for maintenance.
In addition to detecting deception, this book is about techniques for eliciting the truth in an interview scenario. The authors' core approach is to conduct the interview in a non-oppositional ma...more
In addition to detecting deception, this book is about techniques for eliciting the truth in an interview scenario. The authors' core approach is to conduct the interview in a non-oppositional ma...more
Truthfully, this is an interesting book! The author includes many case studies of well known politicians and others who have been caught lying. There are transcripts of the interviews done with those people and then the author breaks down the words that reveal the person was lying. I picked up this book on a whim and enjoyed it much more than I had expected to! The interviews are all very current so I actually knew of the people they were describing...Jerry Sandusky, Anthony Weiner, Susan Smith....more
CIA agents teach you how to be deceptive, so you can detect deception in others. Along the way, readers may dissect transcripts of a police interview of O.J. Simpson, the Bob Costas interview of Jerry Sandusky and the Dana Barrett grilling of Anthony Weiner.
If ever one had doubts about the wisdom of talking to authorities without the benefit of a lawyer, this book should put those doubts to rest. This is a short, readable, authoritarian, pro-interrogator handbook.
If ever one had doubts about the wisdom of talking to authorities without the benefit of a lawyer, this book should put those doubts to rest. This is a short, readable, authoritarian, pro-interrogator handbook.
I was given this book by a friend for research purposes for a manuscript I'm working on. Some of the information was very informative. However, the examples were a bit cumbersome and lengthy. I also hate any book that says this is an example of ... (but we'll discuss that later in chapter 10). This was done quite a few times in the first couple of chapters. It makes me feel like you stuck a commercial in your book to try to keep me interested.
What a fascinating book! I highly recommend this book. You learn how to spot deception (when you're looking for it) and the methodology works even if you're very well versed in spotting deception but trying to deceive someone. "Our methodology for detecting deception is structured around the way we're wired as human beings to respond to a stimulus." (page 192) A one sentence summary and what made the book so fascinating to read.
Mastering the model won't turn you in to a "human lie detector." The book provides simple descriptions and explanations of the deception-detection model that they have developed and what to identify to suggest that additional questioning might be appropriate. The goal is to uncover the truth. And make sure that if that is your goal, be prepared for what the truth is. Easy reading, but I think I will need to read it again and practice practice practice, as the authors suggest. Some suggested ques...more
This is an easy-to-read book which offers some good tips for spotting deceptive behavior. In the back there are some useful tools for parents or employers to use in specific situations.
The down-side of the book is that it is pretty watered down which makes it accessible to the general public but not as useful as you would hope.
It is a good read however and worth the time.
The down-side of the book is that it is pretty watered down which makes it accessible to the general public but not as useful as you would hope.
It is a good read however and worth the time.
Surprisingly easy to follow. Very practical model that is objective/behavioral in it's approach. Only down-side is the lack of actual studies to to support the findings - all proof of the model is anecdotal based on the authors' own experiences. It's easy to think your model works when you're sample is full of successes. I would like to have seen a blind study of some kind.
A very interesting book on a remarkably important subject. Lies! The authors seem to possess the know-how and put forward a sizable number of examples to that end. Unfortunately they chose to provide a limited amount of details on those examples which impairs the ability of the reader to fully grasp the concept being advanced. I concede that there is a chance that was precisely the goal.
In any event, a good book for non-experts (like me) in the subject of deception and interrogation.
In any event, a good book for non-experts (like me) in the subject of deception and interrogation.
I found this manual to be insightful enough that I want to try these methods out. It takes practice to see the underlying structures during an interview/interrogation. I would hope the facts to be told outright, but a certain tact and insight can decipher most any behavior of deception using this model of dialogue. It would be a useful tool for parents.
Insightful and useful foray into what lying sounds like and looks like, and how to spot it. I found myself wanting to take lots of notes for future reference (and I did!). Three former CIA officers teach you how to detect deception, and illustrate their points with transcripts of famous liars like OJ Simpson and Jerry Sandusky. Fascinating.
This was a very easy but informative read. I think it would take a lot of practice to become competent at detecting deception. I would consider rereading this book and taking notes. I don't consider myself a big liar, but it was uncomfortable reading about the various methods of deception and recognizing that I do those too!
Dec 24, 2012
Tom Grace
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Tom by:
Vincent Liuzza
Interesting, though short, book that attempts to teach teach techniques for ferreting out when people are being untruthful. The only problem is, this system works when suspects (or others) are subject to cross-examination techniques; the techniques do no work in ordinary life, as the authors explicitly state.
Interviews with three CIA polygraph experts. How to determine if someone is lying to you, by analyzing speech patterns, responses, body language. With good examples of the techiques in action taken from interrogations and media interviews featuring a real rogues gallery: OJ, Anthony Weiner, Jerry Sandusky.
How to tell if someone is telling a lie. More than 80% of human communication is non-verbal so we already know how to do this but this brings the techniques into consciousness. it calls into question the use of torture as an interrogation technique.
This will definetely help you in your daily life.
This will definetely help you in your daily life.
Working with victims of crime I found this book immeasurably valuable. A victim is like any other person. They will nuance there version of events to fit a given situation for a variety of reasons.
It is very important to teach the truth quickly. This book provides useful tools to get at that truth.
It is very important to teach the truth quickly. This book provides useful tools to get at that truth.
Fascinating book. A lot about the body language is obvious based on basic communications studies, but even more of the book provides a variety of information to look at, presented in a usable way. It will take a couple of reads to get all of the information into my brain--it's all that good!
In the interest of time, I refer you to Max's August 17, 2012 review which I think sums up this book quite well, e.g.,
"This book was a good introduction to finding deception in interviews. It discusses what lies sound like, and what they look like in terms of body language. The information was simple to understand, and they have good practical examples."
"This book was a good introduction to finding deception in interviews. It discusses what lies sound like, and what they look like in terms of body language. The information was simple to understand, and they have good practical examples."
This book is a must read for everyone; especially parents, bosses, teachers, and anyone else that wants to know if they are being lied to. Very informative.
My favorite part of the book was the story of a female agent's (Susan Carnicero?) son who had lied to his mom, and as usual, she caught him in the lie. Her son asked her how she always knew that he was lying. She said "it's my job; that's what I do" and exasperated, he said "you need to get a new job".
My favorite part of the book was the story of a female agent's (Susan Carnicero?) son who had lied to his mom, and as usual, she caught him in the lie. Her son asked her how she always knew that he was lying. She said "it's my job; that's what I do" and exasperated, he said "you need to get a new job".
This was interesting. It uses a lot of examples of people that we've seen on the news, and breaks down exactly how "the method" works to determine that the speaker is most probably lying. If it's good enough for the CIA, it's good enough for this mother of a teenager.
This book is extremely interesting and is very useful even if a person is not in the CIA or law enforcement. If knowing the truth and being able to spot a lie is useful to you, this book is an excellent and effective tool.
I'm not particularly interested in the subject matter but enjoyed this easy read. The author explains basic deception methods in an easy to understand way with interesting examples. I would suggest this book as a simple weekend read.
This book was a good introduction to finding deception in interviews. It discusses what lies sound like, and what they look like in terms of body language. The information was simple to understand, and they have good practical examples.
really good for both personal and professional use. Cuts the wheat from the chaff in how to manage deflection and other communication techniques that keep us from the truth.
Becky Strandberg
Becky Strandberg
Know all those things you hear about what people do when they lie? (Break eye contact, sweat, smile). Yeah, those things aren't reliable, according to these former CIA officers. This book will show you what is.
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