What it’s about (from Goodreads):

Does the chance of getting caught affect how likely we are to cheat? How do companies pave the way for dishonesty? Does collaboration make us more honest or less so? Does religion improve our honesty? Most of us think of ourselves as honest, but, in fact, we all cheat. From Washington to Wall Street, the classroom to the workplace, unethical behavior is everywhere.  None of us is immune, whether it's the white lie to head off trouble or padding our expense reports. 

In The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty, Ariely shows why some things are easier to lie about; how getting caught matters less than we think; and how business practices pave the way for unethical behavior, both intentionally and unintentionally. Ariely explores how unethical behavior works in the personal, professional, and political worlds, and how it affects all of us, even as we think of ourselves as having high moral standards.

Our thoughts:

I got hooked on Ariely’s take on the human irrationality during his appearances on NPR. He was always so funny and entertaining that when I ran across his first book on audiobook, I snapped it up immediately.  His books are actually narrated by Simon Jones – not himself – which through me at first because I was expecting the voice from the radio, but Jones is fantastic.

Like all of Ariely’s other books, I really, really enjoyed this one. His humor and fun spirit come through even when he is not the narrator and makes what could be a dry topic – behavioral economics – thoroughly enjoyable.  I did feel like he rehashed a bunch of experiments from his earlier books here, but there was enough new content to keep me interested.

We would recommend this to:

Anyone in business, people who like to people watch and non-fiction fans.