340 pages
English language
Published March 9, 2016 by Canongate Books.
From the New York Times best-selling author of Mastermind, a compelling investigation into the minds, motives, and methods of con artists - and the people who fall for their cons over and over again. Con artists hold a deep, enigmatic fascination for us. True conmen - the Bernie Madoffs, the Jim Bakkers, the Lance Armstrongs - are elegant, outsized personalities, artists of persuasion and exploiters of trust. How do they do it? Why are they successful? And what keeps us falling for it, over and over again? These are the questions that journalist and psychologist Maria Konnikova tackles in her mesmerizing new book. From multimillion-dollar Ponzi schemes to small-time frauds, Konnikova pulls together a selection of fascinating stories to demonstrate what all cons share in common, drawing on scientific, dramatic, and psychological perspectives. Insightful and gripping, the book brings readers into the world of the con, examining the relationship between …
From the New York Times best-selling author of Mastermind, a compelling investigation into the minds, motives, and methods of con artists - and the people who fall for their cons over and over again. Con artists hold a deep, enigmatic fascination for us. True conmen - the Bernie Madoffs, the Jim Bakkers, the Lance Armstrongs - are elegant, outsized personalities, artists of persuasion and exploiters of trust. How do they do it? Why are they successful? And what keeps us falling for it, over and over again? These are the questions that journalist and psychologist Maria Konnikova tackles in her mesmerizing new book. From multimillion-dollar Ponzi schemes to small-time frauds, Konnikova pulls together a selection of fascinating stories to demonstrate what all cons share in common, drawing on scientific, dramatic, and psychological perspectives. Insightful and gripping, the book brings readers into the world of the con, examining the relationship between artist and victim. The Confidence Game asks not only why we believe con artists, but also examines the very act of believing and how our sense of truth can be manipulated by those around us.
I expected to be glued to this, but didn't really find that to be the case. The best parts are really just the stories of the cons, of which there simply aren't enough. There is quite a lot of description as to what has gone wrong in each case, some psychological biases, and human frailties which allow for these cons to be successful, but ultimately I found myself a bit lost during the book.
Ich habe es gelesen, weil ich Konnikovas Buch über Poker gut fand. Das Pokerbuch handelte allerdings von ihren eigenen Erfahrungen. "The Confidence Game" ist eine Aneinanderreihung von Hunderten nacherzählter Betrugsgeschichten und Studien, aus der ich im Verhältnis zur Buchlänge sehr wenig gelernt habe. Ich habe selbst schon solche Bücher geschrieben, "ich habe ganz viel zusammengegoogelt und bringe das jetzt in eine Reihenfolge", man kann ja nicht alles selbst erlebt haben. Beim Recherchieren und Schreiben ist das alles interessant. Beim Lesen leider weniger.
