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May Contain Lies

How Stories, Statistics and Studies Exploit Our Biases - And What We Can Do About It

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May Contain Lies

By: Alex Edmans
Narrated by: Alex Edmans
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

A ground-breaking book that reveals why our human biases affect the way we receive and interpret information, with practical suggestions for how to think more critically

Our lives are minefields of misinformation. Stories, statistics and studies are everywhere, allowing people to find evidence to support whatever position they want. Many of these sources are flawed, yet by playing on our emotions and preying on our biases, they can gain widespread acceptance and warp our views.

In this eye-opening book, economist and professor Alex Edmans teaches us how to separate fact from fiction. Using colourful examples – from a wellness guru’s tragic but fabricated backstory, to the blunders that led to the Deepwater Horizon disaster – Edmans highlights the biases that cause us to mistake statements for facts, facts for data, data for evidence, and evidence for proof.

May Contain Lies is an essential read for anyone who wants to make better sense of the world and take clear-eyed decisions.


'Alex Edmans is such a crisp, sharp salutary voice – and a great guide to the bullsh*t of the modern world' Rory Stewart
'A powerful and punchy explanation of why misinformation is a problem that affects us all' Gillian Tett, Financial Times
'A passionate and dispassionate call to truth – and how to achieve it’ Will Hutton, Guardian
'A timely book and, despite the nerdy statistical theories, is often quite funny' Harry Wallop, The Times
©2024 Alex Edmans (P)2024 Penguin Audio

 Media Studies Personal Development Personal Success Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Social Sciences Linguistics Nutrition

Critic reviews

A powerful and punchy explanation of why misinformation is a problem that affects us all - be that in finance, politics, media, business or anywhere else. Edmans offers clear ideas about how to counter this, not just in our own lives but also across society as a whole. Timely and very provocative! (Gillian Tett)
Alex Edmans is such a crisp, sharp salutary voice – and a great guide to the bullsh*t of the modern world (Rory Stewart)
A masterpiece! A must-read book that is both a delight to consume and sure to improve the quality of your thinking’ (Katy Milkman)
Mass disinformation and poor understanding of basic statistics are the hallmarks of our 'information age'. Alex Edmans’ book is the much-needed antidote (Vaclav Smil)
Brilliantly researched and written [and] immensely practical in helping guide us through this thicket of (mis)information … I am already drawing on its insights in my everyday decision-making (Andy Haldane)
A passionate and dispassionate call to truth – and how to achieve it - in a world of growing disinformation in which truth and common ground are the casualties (Will Hutton)
A fascinating account of how to navigate through lies and misleading statistics to arrive at a reasonable approximation of the truth. A valuable aid to make sense of our confusing world (Raghuram G. Rajan)
A hard-hitting book with some great stories (Andrew Gelman)
A clear-headed guide to the exaggerations, sloppy research and the occasional downright lies peddled by companies, universities, authors and Ted Talk gurus. … It’s a timely book and, despite the nerdy statistical theories, is often quite funny (Harry Wallop)
A road map for how to separate myths from the real thing and come to a better understanding of the world, drawing on the approaches of academic research. [Edmans] is well placed to share what professional thinkers can teach us about examining our subjectivity to think more clearly about topics from income disparity to cancer cures (Jonathan Moules)
All stars
Most relevant
Edmans draws on his wealth of professional and personal experience to help you see how easily we can be misled or mislead ourselves!!! Simple language and everyday situations from raising children, chess, sports and music made this book an easy listen when the topic could easily have been presented in a dry or abstract way. I particularly liked how he used his own preferences and biases to reveal how easily we can accept something. I’d like to read more of this author.

Wonderfully simple

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I really enjoyed this book; it lead me to question a lot of the data-to-decisions frameworks that I used to treat as gospel. It is written in a very accessible way, which kept me engaged, even when covering some heavy topics.

Having finished “may contain lies” , I once again feel that the more I learn, the less I realise that I know. Will need to read a couple of thrillers about loose cannon cops on the edge, before I pick up something that challenges my world view again!

Thought provoking

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Some of the 10000 hours debunking has appeared in a number of other books, but some of the other case studies were genuinely new to me. Well worth reading, even if takes a bit of effort

Well researched

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Professor Edmans entertainingly, comprehensively and scientificallly debunks myths and dethrones established gurus. This book, illustrated with fascinating examples and articulated in an engaging and accessible style, is a must-read in our age of fake news. The only downside is that those who most need to read this book are those least likely to!

The world would be a better place if everyone read this book.

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