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Somebody Told Me

One Man’s Unexpected Journey Down the Rabbit Hole of Lies, Trolls and Conspiracies

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Somebody Told Me

By: Danny Wallace
Narrated by: Danny Wallace
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Summary

Brought to you by Penguin.

Have you been keeping your eye on your grandma lately? Have you been calling her enough? You sure she’s not spending too much time on YouTube? Is she talking fondly of dictators? Has she suddenly started quietly muttering in the Aldi queue about the “Jewish Space Lasers” she’s heard are setting wildfires around the world to make sure everyone believes in climate change? When was the moment the world began to believe anything?

Danny Wallace, million-copy bestselling author of Yes Man and Join Me, has fallen down the modern rabbit hole of lies, conspiracies and disinformation. Along the way, he encounters families torn apart by accusations and fake news, journalists putting themselves on the frontline of the disinformation war, reformed conspiracy theorists, influencers who see profit in stoking paranoia, and the shadowy nameless, faceless trolls on the other side of our screens. He discovers how disinformation and well-told lies can ruin a year or a whole life, how they can affect our family, our street, our community. How they can spread across a country, a continent, even the world. How they take hold of our imaginations and make us feel both helpless and powerful.

And Danny asks: can you do anything to stop it – even with the truth on your side?

'Shocking, timely and - as you’d expect from Danny Wallace - very funny' - Adam Kay

'Thrilling, thought-provoking, funny and wise. Danny has an incredible knack for taking the bizarre fringes and rabbit holes of humanity and making them compulsively laugh-out-loud readable.' - Danny Robins, journalist, presenter of Uncanny and writer of 2:22 A Ghost Story

'Danny Wallace lightens this dark topic about lies and propaganda with his trademark humour and gets the balance just right' – BBC, Books to Read in 2024

©2024 Danny Wallace (P)2024 Penguin Audio

Media Studies Social Sciences Travel Writing & Commentary Thought-Provoking

Critic reviews

Shocking, timely and - as you’d expect from Danny Wallace - very funny.
Essential. One of the few books I’ve immediately told my children to read.
Fascinating, hilarious and touching. Often all at once.
This is a Danny Wallace book and it is therefore brilliant. He is not capable of writing a dull sentence or a pointless chapter or something that lacks either depth or wit. Certainly if he does any of that in this book, I couldn’t find it. And that’s no lie.
Thrilling, thought-provoking, funny and wise. Danny has an incredible knack for taking the bizarre fringes and rabbit holes of humanity and making them compulsively laugh-out-loud readable.
Danny Wallace lightens this dark topic about lies and propaganda with his trademark humour and gets the balance just right.
All stars
Most relevant
Danny Wallace's latest deep dive into something more sinister than you could possibly imagine is everything you want it to be. Full of emotional heft and very important. Another triumph.

Striking and Funny and Important

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What a cleaver and wonderful story about the trust and truth of the world and conspiracy theories. Nicely done in a thought provoking and eye opening way. Well worth a listen if for nothing else but to ground yourself before dropping down the next rabbit hole.

Not what you think

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Entertaining & thought provoking from start to finish. Defo recommend with an open mind
It’s an education

Riveting

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Understanding yet more about how easy it is to get hooked into conspiracy theories. I have a friend who found David Icke very comforting. Fortunately my friend is no longer a fan(tasist). It is so true that the internet world has become so dangerous for an increasingly confused people. My only social media is email which often has spam to woo me into those other dark forests but I have managed to resist so far. I am scared for the next few generations, I am in my 80’s so remember a much safer time. I found this book extremely helpful and it will be passed on to as many who will accept it. Thanks Danny Wallace.

Hopeful honesty

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This is worth a listen.

Danny can be a little bit "I'm smarter and more left-wing than you' at times, and some of the jokes here are a bit patronising. BUT his heart is in the right place! And there's enough interesting stuff here to explain how and why conspiracies and misinformation have infiltrated our society to a detrimental degree. It's easy to listen to and not dry at all.

Interesting

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