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3.6 AVERAGE
3.6 AVERAGE
A fascinating and detailed description of the con artist's game. She sprinkles each chapter with a story and how and why we fall for it every time. So fitting especially in this political climate.
informative
informative
medium-paced
I have a fascination for con artists and this was an excellent book on the topic - clear, well-written, detailed with research into the psychology of both conman and victim, and with plenty of good stories to illustrate.
challenging
informative
slow-paced
Absorbing look at what makes a good "con" and why we are so prone to falling for their tricks, but it was a bit repetitive.
Terrific insight into how cons work and why con men get away with it all so often.
"Cons work so widely because, in a sense, we want them to. We want to believe the tale. And we want to believe things that are too good to be true more than anything. Cons aren’t about money or about love. They are about our beliefs. We are savvy investors. We are discerning with our love interests. We have a stellar reputation. We are, fundamentally, people to whom good things happen with good reason. We live in a world full of wonder—not a world of uncertainty and negativity. We live in a world where good things happen to those who wait. The teller of the tale has us hooked."
This is a really interesting look at confidence games and some "white collar" crime. Konnikova demonstrates the way in which these cons work in part by appealing to our innate psychology and our trust of others. There's not a ton of advice here on not getting conned, indeed as many of her stories show, there's a chance you've already been conned and because the con didn't blow up in your face directly (and even then people resist the evidence) or because it was fairly low level, you might not be aware that you were even conned.
There's someone I went to high school with that I follow on social media, and it seems like they are definitely running/involved with some kind of con/pyramid scheme, and lots of this made me think of their posts. I see their posts and think, who can really be falling for this, and this book helped me answer that question, and also think there but for the Grace of God go I, unconned, that I know of.
This is a really interesting look at confidence games and some "white collar" crime. Konnikova demonstrates the way in which these cons work in part by appealing to our innate psychology and our trust of others. There's not a ton of advice here on not getting conned, indeed as many of her stories show, there's a chance you've already been conned and because the con didn't blow up in your face directly (and even then people resist the evidence) or because it was fairly low level, you might not be aware that you were even conned.
There's someone I went to high school with that I follow on social media, and it seems like they are definitely running/involved with some kind of con/pyramid scheme, and lots of this made me think of their posts. I see their posts and think, who can really be falling for this, and this book helped me answer that question, and also think there but for the Grace of God go I, unconned, that I know of.
With all of the Billy McFarlands and Elizabeth Holmes getting big attention this year, I really enjoyed this deeper look into the psychology and research behind con artists and how susceptible we are to fall for them. Succinctly and engagingly written, will leave you thinking for sure.
Let's start with the obvious—this is pop science. It's written like pop science. It doesn't interrogate the studies (although Konnikova actually talks about Milgram as a problematic study, which puts her significantly ahead, but I digress) and is at least as interested in telling narrative as it is in making logical assertions. Which, given the argument of the text (we fall for stories), also makes sense.
Having said that, this book is a devastating critique of our collective core belief that people (intelligent or not) are capable of being rational actors and making good decisions. People often make good decisions, but the way we make decisions and trust and function as social animals are biased towards trust and optimism. People who see the world clearly are depressed (this, while a simplification, is true). So the con—taking advantage both of our social instincts to trust and of our inability to correctly evaluate our...mediocrity—is hard to resist. Especially if you don't know you're being conned. As a story of human psychology, this book was both well told and worth reading. As a story in post-2016 election America, it's enough to make you cry.
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End of review. After this, things get political.
I actually think this book has a lot to say to us in this current regime in answer to the question of how we got here and why we're currently under the tiny thumb of a con man. The promises of change, the successes, the patter all match Konnikova's description of the con. And, for those of us who saw through it, were like the siblings of the mark, watching them sell away our collective inheritance. No wonder there's such anger: "we" would never fall for the con, but we're subject to its depredations (cutting vital government programs, ruining what little chance we have left to alter the course of global climate change, roll back progress on social justice, etc.).
But in the con, all you need to do is catch the conman. And the mark gets revenge in court and deserves the losses to dignity or money, but the damage feels minimal. The Confidence Game is exquisitely useful for understanding how and why the con happens, but there's only so much understanding can do when you're living through it.
Having said that, this book is a devastating critique of our collective core belief that people (intelligent or not) are capable of being rational actors and making good decisions. People often make good decisions, but the way we make decisions and trust and function as social animals are biased towards trust and optimism. People who see the world clearly are depressed (this, while a simplification, is true). So the con—taking advantage both of our social instincts to trust and of our inability to correctly evaluate our...mediocrity—is hard to resist. Especially if you don't know you're being conned. As a story of human psychology, this book was both well told and worth reading. As a story in post-2016 election America, it's enough to make you cry.
---
End of review. After this, things get political.
I actually think this book has a lot to say to us in this current regime in answer to the question of how we got here and why we're currently under the tiny thumb of a con man. The promises of change, the successes, the patter all match Konnikova's description of the con. And, for those of us who saw through it, were like the siblings of the mark, watching them sell away our collective inheritance. No wonder there's such anger: "we" would never fall for the con, but we're subject to its depredations (cutting vital government programs, ruining what little chance we have left to alter the course of global climate change, roll back progress on social justice, etc.).
But in the con, all you need to do is catch the conman. And the mark gets revenge in court and deserves the losses to dignity or money, but the damage feels minimal. The Confidence Game is exquisitely useful for understanding how and why the con happens, but there's only so much understanding can do when you're living through it.
informative
reflective
slow-paced