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A review by lizshayne
The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It . . . Every Time by Maria Konnikova
4.0
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.