Description
Wherever there is life, there are lies.
Slick-suited politicians lie on the podium, ready to tell voters what they want to hear. Cheating lovers, swindling businessmen, double-crossing villains – all liars. But nature lies too – the cheetah crouching in the tall grass waiting to pounce, its spots and straw-coloured fur blending in with its surroundings, the chameleon with its adaptable skin, the octopus hiding in its cave.
Juan Jacinto Muñoz-Rengel uncovers the slippery history of lies, some dark and elusive, others thunderous and dazzling. From primeval forests to modern politics, he explores the uncomfortable truths of our white lies, fudged facts and blatant deceptions. For centuries, philosophers, writers and poets have grappled with the paradox of what’s fact and what’s fiction. So who can we really believe? Our friends? Our partners? Our leaders? Can we even trust ourselves?
Truly, this is the only book in which the abundance of lies on its pages is a sign of success. Or maybe it isn’t. Who can really tell?
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
One
Minus Six
An Even Earlier Time: Nature
Two
Reality as Simulacrum
The First Big Lie
Magical and Mythical Thinking
God the Deceiver
The Lies of the Church
The Lies of Atheism
The Formation of Societies
Espionage and Counterespionage
Political Lies
Business and Economics
A Brief History of Forgery
Art as Fabrication
Literature as Fabrication
The Masters of Scepticism
The Lies of Science
The Present, Hyperreality and Post-Truth
Love
Death
So, What Is There?
Bibliography
