Saturday, August 4, 2012

Six top books about, or by, liars

Dan Ariely's latest book is The Honest Truth about Dishonesty: How We Lie to Everyone--Especially Ourselves.

One of his six top books about, or by, liars, as told to The Week magazine:
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Huck begins his narrative with the nature of lying and authorship: “There was things which [Mark Twain] stretched, but mainly he told the truth. That is nothing. I never seen anybody but lied one time or another.” We can learn a lot watching Huck navigate the tricky nature of truth and deception as he navigates the Mississippi, which is, incidentally, an adventure he inaugurates by faking his own death.
Read about the other entries on the list.

Huckleberry Finn is among Josh Lacey's top ten pseudonymous books, Katie Couric's favorite books, James Gray's six best books, and John Mullan's lists of ten of the best literary men dressed as women, ten of the best vendettas in literature and ten of the best child narrators in literature. It is one of Stephen King's top ten works of literature. Director Spike Jonze and the Where the Wild Things Are film team tagged Huckleberry Finn on their list of the top 10 rascals in literature.

--Marshal Zeringue