Paul Ekman is without a doubt one of the top experts in the world on facial expressions in humans. His research is careful, painstaking, and intelligently done. He has honestly subtitled this book "Clues to Deceit in the Marketplace,Politics, and Marriage." It is not his fault that the book has been hyped and is advertised as being able to teach us unfailingly when someone is lying.

No book can teach anyone to be positive that someone else is telling the truth. No book can tell anyone proof-posi More...

In terms of data, this is a very good book. Ekman is clearly very researched in his area, and he is able to break down the information in a way that it is possible for a layperson (such as myself) who has little to no information on the psychology behind lying. He goes through the possible motivations behind lying (and really, lying isn't always negative), the facial and behavioural clues, and even points out areas that people may not even notice. I particularly liked the appendix, where tables More...

A maelstrom of original and ground-breaking information never seen before it was published some 30 years ago; by the man who "Lie to Me" was based upon. The first three chapters can be dry and redundant but they lay the foundation for what a lie is and what types there are. Chapter 4 gets into the meat of identification and can leave you exhausted after just a few pages; the 3 pages that describe a chosen 18 types of smiles, for example. And the long chapter on polygraphs (which I thought I'd en More...

Once again this book is a bit of a slog because the author's writing is pedantic and doesn't say a lot. I'm sure he means well and I'm glad he takes the time to think through the implications of his findings (and opinions), but I have a hard time reading what I've already easily inferred from the text, and many of the ideas are repeated.

Unlike Emotions Revealed: Recognizing Faces and Feelings to Improve Communication and Emotional Life, this book is more philosophy than psychology. When Ekman wr More...

The title of this book is a little misleading, as it is really about the psychology of lying, the physiological reactions that occur when someone is being deceptive, and an analysis of the profession of lie catchers (polygraph examiners, investigators, interrogators, etc.) and their efficacy. Interesting read from an intellectual curiosity standpoint, but I wouldn't put it on a list must reads.

I do love to go sit at the bookstore downtown during lunch, grabbing a bite at Lizard's. Whenever I step inside, I browse and then feel compelled to buy something. And every time I've made such an impulse purchase, I've been disappointed! Support your local indie, though, seems to be an affair with more misses than hits. And I'm wondering what's up with that. The last two books I bought at B&N on impulse were fine books. I think it is the indy bookstore's less than desirable stock. Not sure. More...

Because the TV show Lie to Me is based on the work of Paul Ekman, the casual reader may expect something a bit more fun and glamorous. There is nothing wrong this text per se, but there are very few diagrams to illustrate his points. Instead, you should be ready for a rather dry, academic discussion of the non-verbals, psychology, and language behind lying. Some background in at least one of these areas would be an advantage, or the reader may become quickly bored. For reasons I could not ascert More...

interesting book...in some ways leaves more questions than answers...long and short, lie detector tests are crap...they just show that someone is having an emotional response which could be for any variety of reasons and many true sociopaths show no emotion so can get through one with flying colors...the facial expressions would be most interesting to study as they would show something is off, but again you don't know the motivation why...end take there is now definitive way to tell if someone i More...

A I explained in Paul Ekman's other book, Ekman is a master at reading facial expressions to see different emotions, his other masterful skill is telling when someone lies. This book is a lot more informational about how-to, rather than the last book where it's more about the background info and how seeing emotions can help. This book gets straight to it, strategies on how to tell if someone is lying and where they can be used. There's not that much dilly - dally, so it's not hard to read either More...

The book is good. For something that is summarizing scientific research, it is readable. No one should feel uncomfortable or intimidated.

To sum up the entire book: if you want to know if someone is lying you need to know the person well, and, even if you have read the book and practiced on his website, you can never be sure.

The title is misleading - at least the subtitle is. In the end the purpose of the book is to enhance your ability to read people, understand them better, and, therefore, rel More...

Воодушевившись после просмотра первого сезона сериала "Теория Лжи"и узнав, что прототипом главного героя является известный американский психолог, специалист в области психологии эмоций, межличностного общения и распознавания лжи Пол Экман, я, как человек, интересующийся психологией эмоций (с осени 2010 года особенно, ибо весьма захватывающими были у нас семинары по психологии эмоций), решил полистать в книжных магазинах труды Экмана. Полистал, полистал, пришёл домой - и заказал 3 его книжки, об More...

Книга несомненно интересная и заслуживает внимания, но прежде всего адресована не тем людям, которые хотят просто научится определять ложь или наоборот научиться лучше лгать, а тем, кто хочет понять КАК и ПОЧЕМУ происходит ложь, какие эмоциональные и психологические признаки свойственны ей, и уже отталкиваясь от этих знаний можно попытаться лучше разобраться в происходящем. Пол Экман описывает эмоционально-психологическую составляющую основу лжи, и таким образом, на мой взляд, переведенное назва More...

When I was reading this book for a research project, I realized that everything I was reading is completely TRUE. From this book, I learned who my real friends based on how truthful they are. Sure, I didn't become an automatic lies detector, but I picked up details that I never would have sen before. My advice is to read this book.It'll make you question whether or not someone is pulling your leg.

Книга хорошая и интересная. Она даёт ответы на вопросы лишь о самой психологии лжи, но не учит её определять. Хотя как утверждает автор, что с помощью достаточной практики можно научиться качественно определять ложь, но уже не в рамках данной книги. А также автор заставляет задуматься надо ли это нам вообще, так как это может повлечь за собой и разочарование от таких способностей.
Впрочем, кому интересно читайте, думаю понравится.

Most of his research was done 30 years ago, so that's kind of a buzzkill. And it's pretty dry: spotting lies, it turns out, so says Ekman, is much more about understanding the context of the situation and the motives of the person potentially lying, than it is about instantly recognizing micro-expressions, like they do on the show. But still fascinating.

Great book with great information. You will definitely learn skills necessary for detecting deceit of any sort; however the author does allow that in some situations deceits are pulled of flawlessly. I would have given it a 5 but it's a little dry in some parts and a little heavy on the anecdotes.

This book paired with "How to Help Your Spouse Heal From Your Affair: A Compact Manual for the Unfaithful" was just what I needed after discovering my husband's affair. I proudly displayed this on my nightstand for him to see. Surprisingly, I enjoyed the book and would recommend to others.

This book was brilliant!! I especially appreciated the way that Ekman points out howm many reasons that you can't use this information at face value. Everything must be taken in context. I felt that the information was very credible because of this. I learned so much from reading this book.

Ho trovato molto interessante il libro, soprattutto perché non si sofferma soltanto alla teoria delle microespressioni ma fornisce chiari esempi (talvolta illustrati) di situazioni in cui può essere utile guardare il viso di una persona per comprenderne i sentimenti e i pensieri.

Paul Ekman has been studying emotions and lying for decades. His research is the basis for the TV show Lie to Me. While the show makes lie detection look easy, Ekman admits that there is no universal cue for lie detection. This was written in a scientific format so it might turn off some readers and fans of the show.

While the subject matter was interesting, the book itself was too repetitive, and the material didn't have enough study to back it up. The other does acknowledge that fact, though. Also, I expected the book to be more prescriptive: I thought literally be better able to tell when someone is lying or hiding information after reading this book, but I don't think that's the case. It was not a bad book, but it could have been much better.

There is a ton of helpful information about the real science behind deception detection. My only gripe is that some of Dr. Ekman's historical examples tend to get long-winded. The detail didn't seem to lend itself to proving any of his points any further.

*yawn*
This book suffers from two flaws - the first is not its fault - it's out of date. Published in the 80s, it promises so much potential for breakthroughs in lie detection in the near future that, well, we know never panned out. We're still at the 'maybe kinda sorta if you really study this one person specifically you might be able to tell when they are lying, maybe' phase.

The second flaw is in the anecdotal material, which is painfully limited. He talks about the same one book and one movie More...

Intriguing topic. Can you spell t-e-d-i-o-u-s? His discussions of the misuse of the lie detector are good and insights into diplomatic/international relations lying are fascinating, but too much detail on exact facial muscles and shatteringly complicated terminology. And I like science.

This is not a great read. The writing reflects a lifetime of writing for psychology journals. But the subject of human deceit is juicy, even when the writing is dry.

This one should have been really interesting. It's written by one of the scientists whose work serves as the inspiration for "Lie to Me", yet you haven't really experienced boring until you read upwards of 40 pages describing minute facial expressions. Also, I was disappointed that there was really nothing in here I hadn't already seen presented in a more interesting and engaging way. Were this a documentary, it would have been awesome. As a book, I just wanted it to end.

Me pareció un planteamiento interesante, pero la lectura en ocasiones se torna lenta y un poco aburrida.

I thinking most people will find a quick skim of this book just as edifying as a close read.

fascinating but very dry. thorough and analytical in scope, but not...well...engaging?

This book provides a wealth of information on the behavioral, verbal, tonal, and facial clues to deceit. Paul Eckman's research is well thought out, and he structures his experimental studies very well. My only criticism of this book is that it is a bit dated, most of the book originally being written in 1985.