True Enough: Learning to Live in a Post-Fact Society | 
 enlarge | Author: Farhad Manjoo
Publisher: Wiley
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  7 reviews
Sales Rank: 5898
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.5 x 5.7 x 1.1
ISBN: 0470050101
Dewey Decimal Number: 177.3
EAN: 9780470050101
ASIN: 0470050101
Publication Date: March 17, 2008
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Product Description
Advance praise for True Enough "The news media are supposed to help us understand the world, and faster, better, more varied commun-ication technologies are supposed to enrich that process of understanding. True Enough explains why things have so often worked in reverse—and why Americans no longer disagree just about opinions and political values, but about basic factual realities. This problem of 'truthiness' is depressingly familiar, but Farhad Manjoo adds useful information and insights about its origins, effects, and possible solutions."
—James Fallows, National Correspondent for the Atlantic Monthly and author of Breaking the News "Well worth reading. Make no mistake: this is no run-of-the-mill expose of media bias, but a sophisticated analysis of the ways and means by which lies and distortions do so well in today's fractured, cynical media world."
—Todd Gitlin, Professor of Journalism and Sociology, Columbia University, and author of The Bulldozer and the Big Tent
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| Customer Reviews: Read 2 more reviews...
 Kinda makes you think May 15, 2008
One of the few books that I have had to read in one sitting. It forced me to reconsider a few assumptions I had been leaning towards, (e.g., Bush somehow stole Ohio in 2004). It also gave me serious pause about the future of our democracy in an age when partisans of every stripe can so finely tune a message, engineer facts, and manipulate the media (with the media's acquiesence) so as to undermine serious debate. I strongly agree with one of the other reviewers that this book should be part of every high school's required reading list.
 There's just one problem with this book... May 6, 2008
3 out of 10 found this review helpful
With each case history, the author presents his version of the truth as gospel. We're supposed to disregard whatever truths we personally hold about each of the events, no matter how well-supported they are, because only his version counts. After all, he's the author! He gets to decide what is truth and what is merely "truthiness." If only it was this simple to discern the truth: buy a book, let someone else think for you, you're done.
Well written - makes parts of our world snap into focus April 17, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
"True Enough" is an excellent book. More than just another indictment of our content-free society, it convincingly explains the mechanisms behind the breakdown. The case studies are well drawn from multiple points on the ideological spectrum and span 60 years of work trying to understand the deterioration of the "reality based" world.
This is apparently Mr. Manjoo's first book. I'm looking forward to the next few.
Explains a lot of things April 3, 2008
15 out of 15 found this review helpful
I've been noticing -- for quite some time now -- that there is a breakdown of trust in authorities in our society. Or rather a reshifting from those whose authority was widely accepted to those who authority is either self-proclaimed or of dubious worth. A religious person with a masters in theology, I once participated in one of those internet discussion areas about religion. There, my more-or-less educated voice had exactly the same worth as the noisiest and most ignorant participant. More often than not, my reasoned, fact-based opinions were dismissed in favor of those held by people who the poster already agreed with .
Farhad Manjoo's book both describes this phenomenon and attempts to get beneath its surface. He cites examples from both sides of the aisle -- the attack of "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" on Senator John Kerry's Vietnam heroism as well as the claim of certain Democrats that George W. Bush had stolen the 2004 election in Ohio and Florida. Manjoo exposes the personal vendettas (Swift Boaters) and the mistaken calculations (Dems) that started the ball rolling. He then shows the steps by which the groups attracted public's attention, twisting facts into alternate realities that finally made their way into the partisan echo chambers where their tiny, tinny voices boomed loud and strong. Manjoo also introduces the reader to the psycho-perceptual processes by which human beings in a information-drenched world make decisions. In line with other recent books (such as "Kluge" by Gary Marcus) Manjoo unveils the heuristics, the shortcuts, through which humans beings evaluate reality. Too busy to research car brands? Let a consumer magazine (or your favorite local TV anchor; or your intimidating brother in law) make the decision for you. A fascinating study showed foreign students outperforming US students on questions about the relative sizes of American cities. But this was not because they the foreigners knew *more* about America than the hapless Yanks; it was because they knew *less* -- the foreigners heuristically reasoning that cities they had heard of must be bigger than cities they had not.
"True Enough" is filled with this sort of fascinating and illuminating detail. Political partisans probably ought to know that Farhad's results favor the left side of the aisle. Republicans, he shows, are more likely than Democrats to limit their media intake to sources they already agree with, a phenomenon called selective exposure. And Reps are more likely to see a story as interesting (even when not related to politics!) when branded with a logo of their favorite conservative media outlet. But both sides are as eager to give credence to experts whose credentials sounds impressive (another heuristic shortcut) even when they don't relate to the matter under study. Depending on your position, these results will either seem legitimate or biased. They rang true to me -- "ringing true" being another heuristic, by the way, that predisposes us to accept as factual things we already accept as true. His description of the popular sitcom "All in the Family" was an example of selective perception -- liberals loved seeing Archie shown up as a bigot; conservatives loved hearing him spout politically incorrect epithets and viewpoints.
For those who are open-minded enough to accept that the human mind is limited and error-prone, "True Enough" is fun and enlightening. For those interested in politics, it is also a cautionary tale about genesis and stability of human biases. A must-read for those who want to better understand their own minds and those of their fellow voters.
 5 worthwhile chapters out of 6 March 28, 2008
9 out of 11 found this review helpful
I liked most of this book. The first 5 chapters present interesting explanations of human behavior regarding "truth." Mr. Manjoo's contentions can be summarized in a few statements, including: more sources of information do not yield greater certainty or accuracy, we seek information from those who agree with us, and our truth depends on our existing beliefs. He illustrates his points with familiar and nearly familiar examples, and substantiates them with numerous psychological studies. Some of the studies are decades old, but they remain fascinating and probably valid. The book is easy reading and enjoyable.
However, the final chapter bothered me. The author seemed to veer off into a separate story that might be titled "what the bad guys are doing to deceive you." Maybe I am an example of the selective perception which he describes in earlier chapters, or maybe, as a career marketing person, I am defensive about derisive criticism of legal attempts to influence people. Or, maybe Mr. Manjoo needed to fill more pages, or maybe he is an example of the same partial revelation that he attributes to Swift Boat Veterans, Princeton/Dartmouth football fans, Robert Kennedy, tobacco executives, and Lou Dobbs. I wonder what Mr. Manjoo thinks of promoting book sales.
Some people, particularly (as Mr. Manjoo would agree) those who already believe that evil forces are out to dupe them, may like the last chapter best. I did not. It caused me to reduce the book's rating to a low 4 stars. I almost dropped it to 3, but I appreciate the author's somewhat iconoclastic argument that the Internet and cable choices are dividing us, not making us wiser, and that we are not as rational as we think we are.
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