$42.18$42.18
$3.99 delivery January 14 - 16
Ships from: 365giftshop Sold by: 365giftshop
$39.00$39.00
Ships from: Amazon Sold by: TOUMI GROUP
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Image Unavailable
Color:
-
-
-
- To view this video download Flash Player
- VIDEO
Audible sample
Trust Me, I'm Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator Hardcover – July 19, 2012
Explore your book, then jump right back to where you left off with Page Flip.
View high quality images that let you zoom in to take a closer look.
Enjoy features only possible in digital – start reading right away, carry your library with you, adjust the font, create shareable notes and highlights, and more.
Discover additional details about the events, people, and places in your book, with Wikipedia integration.
Purchase options and add-ons
I'm a media manipulator. In a world where blogs control and distort the news, my job is to control blogs-as much as any one person can.
In today's culture...
1) Blogs like Gawker, Buzzfeed and the Huffington Post drive the media agenda.
2) Bloggers are slaves to money, technology, and deadlines.
3) Manipulators wield these levers to shape everything you read, see and watch-online and off.
Why am I giving away these secrets? Because I'm tired of a world where blogs take indirect bribes, marketers help write the news, reckless journalists spread lies, and no one is accountable for any of it. I'm pulling back the curtain because I don't want anyone else to get blindsided.
I'm going to explain exactly how the media really works. What you choose to do with this information is up to you.
- Print length259 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherPortfolio
- Publication dateJuly 19, 2012
- Dimensions6.25 x 1 x 9.25 inches
- ISBN-10159184553X
- ISBN-13978-1591845539
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now
Frequently bought together
Customers who viewed this item also viewed
Editorial Reviews
Review
—Tim Ferriss, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The 4-Hour Workweek
“A playbook for the dark arts of exploiting the media”
—Robert Greene, author of The 48 Laws of Power
"This book will make online media giants very, very uncomfortable. "
— Drew Curtis, founder, Fark.com
“Ryan Holiday's brilliant exposé of the unreality of the Internet should be required reading for every thinker in America.”
— Edward Jay Epstein, author of The Big Picture”
“The strategies Ryan created to exploit blogs drove sales of millions of my books and made me an internationally known name.” —Tucker Max, #1 New York Times bestselling author of I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
“Ryan has a truly unique perspective on the seedy underbelly of digital culture.”
—Matt Mason, Director of Marketing, BitTorrent
“Behind my reputation as marketing genius there is Ryan Holiday, whom I consult often and has done more for my business than just about anyone.”
—Dov Charney, CEO and founder, American Apparel
"...an astonishing, disturbing book"
—Financial Times
“In the world of the internet celebrity, Ryan Holiday is the smart and handsome type, like the Arthur Miller to the girl who uploads YouTube videos of herself naked and eating ice cream.”
—Ladygunn Magazine
"This is a dark book with an important warning to clients and PR people alike."
—Richard Edelman
"[Like] Upton Sinclair on the blogosphere."
—Tyler Cowen, MarginalRevolution.com
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Portfolio; 0 edition (July 19, 2012)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 259 pages
- ISBN-10 : 159184553X
- ISBN-13 : 978-1591845539
- Item Weight : 1 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.25 x 1 x 9.25 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #878,899 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #229 in Media & Communications Industry (Books)
- #3,040 in Communication Skills
- #3,922 in Marketing (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
Videos
Videos for this product
1:15
Click to play video
Watch a trailer
Merchant Video
About the author
Ryan Holiday is one of the world's bestselling living philosophers. His books like The Obstacle Is the Way,Ego Is the Enemy,The Daily Stoic, and the #1 New York Times bestseller Stillness Is the Key appear in more than 40 languages and have sold more than 5 million copies. Together, they've spent over 300 weeks on the bestseller lists. He lives outside Austin with his wife and two boys...and a small herd of cows and donkeys and goats. His bookstore, The Painted Porch, sits on historic Main St in Bastrop, Texas.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the book engaging and thought-provoking. They describe it as an insightful and educational read that provides valuable insights into the media industry. The humor is described as funny and entertaining. The book explains the incentive structure in media and how it can be exploited. Many readers find the content shocking and frightening. The author's honesty and transparency are appreciated.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers find the book interesting and worthwhile. They describe it as an entertaining, informative read with some wonderful moments.
"..."Trust Me, I'm Lying" is an immensely entertaining and informative read, Holiday's brutal honesty and impressive intellect combine into a thrilling..." Read more
"...Although this book was a highly worthwhile read, it leaned a little too heavily toward numerous case studies instead of spending time on the..." Read more
"...Oh well, perhaps in the next one. Awesome work Ryan, it was a great read. I'm not even lying." Read more
"...Overall, a great read, for it gets you thinking about what is reality...." Read more
Customers find the book insightful and thought-provoking. It provides interesting topics like what causes something to go viral and how blogs pay. Readers appreciate the value of getting deeper into the details and exploring a world that is foreign to them. The case studies and stories are interesting, though some could be better organized. Overall, the book provides an engaging and thought-provoking introduction to new media and the history of media.
"...Holiday's brutal honesty and impressive intellect combine into a thrilling and startling confessional that you won't be able to put down...." Read more
"...Indeed, this book is now mandatory in many journalism schools and is required reading for new employees entering the news media to help their outlet..." Read more
"...It is both inspirational and motivational which I enjoy but the real "show", as with any decent work of investigative journalism, is in the horrors..." Read more
"...On the other hand, this is a fascinating glimpse into a world that is as foreign as the inside of a volcano, but still as familiar as our trusty..." Read more
Customers enjoy the book's humor. They find it well-written and entertaining.
"..."Trust Me, I'm Lying" is an immensely entertaining and informative read, Holiday's brutal honesty and impressive intellect combine into a thrilling..." Read more
"Where to begin? To be honest I actually had fun reading this book...." Read more
"...matter, overall I would still rate the second half of the book fairly redundant and weak (effectively stressing the same points over and over)...." Read more
"...the media or bloggers in my role, I still found this book extremely entertaining. The author is humorous, and just had a way of keeping my attention...." Read more
Customers find the book helpful for understanding the incentive structure in media. They appreciate its insights into PR, journalism, and politics. The concepts are still applicable, and the strategies for online promotion are effective. Readers become wiser and more discerning consumers of media after reading it.
"...To be honest I actually had fun reading this book. It is both inspirational and motivational which I enjoy but the real "show", as with any decent..." Read more
"...Personally, I believe Holiday was successful in his efforts of manipulating the media; he demonstrates these through the personal experiences he has..." Read more
"...He has numerous examples of how the media is manipulated and very nearly serves up a how-to manual for readers to do this themselves...." Read more
"...them into marketing your services or products, this book provides somewhat of a blueprint...." Read more
Customers find the book's view of how the media works shocking and eye-opening. They describe it as an entertaining yet frightening read about what goes on behind the scenes.
"...Not only does Holiday show us a comprehensive view of our media system in all of its ragged ugliness, he takes his reader through the history of..." Read more
"...First impressions, 1. the guy is smart, scary smart, and when it comes to marketing, simply brilliant. 2...." Read more
"...Equal parts horrifying and thought-provoking, Holiday is able to walk you through his own personal experiences with a flawed system, offering you..." Read more
"...It is eye-opening, scary at points, and disenchanting . . . you will also learn a lot. Recommended." Read more
Customers appreciate the book's honesty and transparency. They find it a thought-provoking read that provides an honest perspective on the flaws of the modern media industry. The author offers a clear critique of the modern media industry, and the book serves as a guide for journalists in the future.
"..." is an immensely entertaining and informative read, Holiday's brutal honesty and impressive intellect combine into a thrilling and startling..." Read more
"...new tricks along the way - he gives these all to you with brutal transparency and honesty, that's the first half of the book...." Read more
"This book will become a definitive guide and primer on journalism for decades to come...." Read more
"...My review actually ends here: The Internet is full of liars...." Read more
Customers have mixed reviews about the writing quality of the book. Some find it well-written, readable, and articulate. Others feel the writing is repetitive and heavy-handed.
"...And not only is it just as readable and impossible to put down as those largely autobiographical premiere books, but it may run the risk of serving..." Read more
"...The words were so heavy, pregnant with the weight that can only come from a true exposé that I wanted time to actually digest what I was reading...." Read more
"...age (26 I believe at the time of writing), and his love for reading shows through in his writing. A criticism I've seen was his use of profanity...." Read more
"...Overall, the book is much too long and repetitious; where was the editor on this project?..." Read more
Customers find the stories interesting and well-written. They appreciate the historical context and find the book fascinating. However, some readers feel the writing is boring and self-serving. Some also mention the stories seem vindictive or self-centered. Overall, opinions on the story quality are mixed.
"...honesty and impressive intellect combine into a thrilling and startling confessional that you won't be able to put down...." Read more
"...The book contains a short background of the newspaper evolution, describing the rise of the great printing dynasties and their impact on 19th and..." Read more
"...I give it 4 stars because it was good, but not mind-blowing (that 5 stars needs to be reserved for the best of the best in my opinion)...." Read more
"...none of those things, I recommend that you read this book - the stories are rippers and conversation starters and you will have ammo to burn for..." Read more
Reviews with images
Why is he trashing Trump?
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
- Reviewed in the United States on July 20, 2012Since 2008 you've probably gathered that Wall Street and the entire economic system that props it up is horribly corrupt and broken, in "Trust Me, I'm Lying" Ryan Holiday follows in the footsteps of Lewis and Perkins, painstakingly and yet engagingly laying bare a systemic case of dangerous and soulless hypocrisy. In Holiday's case it's the deception and immorality that's fueled the rise of Huff-Po, Gawker, and every other website that's cashed in on the rise of the Cthulhuian blogosphere. It does for the new era of social media and internet marketing what "Liar's Poker" did for the rise of Wall Street back in the 1980s, and "Confessions of an Economic Hitman" did for American foreign policy a decade later. And not only is it just as readable and impossible to put down as those largely autobiographical premiere books, but it may run the risk of serving as a siren-song instead of heeded as a warning in just the same way - at least if you put any credence into the initial reviews the book is getting.
Although to a much greater extent than Lewis, Holiday falls more in line with Perkins and goes out of his way to decry his old way of life and attempts to implode the whole rotten house of crap-stained cards in on itself before it impacts the discourse of the mainstream media anymore than it already has.
On Wall Street it was the trade of empty derivatives, bets about the results of other bets, none of which were rooted in the actual production of capital. Bernie Madoff may be the most recognizable name associated with Ponzi schemes, but in a sense just about everyone working in the financial trade of derivatives, CDOs, and default swaps was pushing their own version of Ponzi marketing. And so it goes on the web, as online "each blog is its own mini-Ponzi scheme, for which traffic growth is more important than solid financials, brand recognition more important than trust, and scale more important than business sense. Blogs are built so someone else will want it - one stupid buyer cashing out the previous ones - and millions of dollars are exchanged for essentially worthless assets."
And in the same way that Wall Street's malfeasance cost people their homes and their livelihoods, the intentional manipulation of mass market blogs has driven companies to ruin, lead to deadly riots abroad, and helped march America off to war with Iraq. In both cases, there's much more at stake than simply doing the Right Thing. As you read, it's hard not to imagine the startled and shameful look on a cannibalistic serial killer's face after you stumble onto him tearing into a pile of dead babies, limbs and viscera spread across the table - I never meant for it to get this far, Oh God what have I done?
At times Holiday's logic is a touch circuitous, not too long after boasting about artificially rallying negative media coverage for Tucker Max's failed movie, he notes that making viewers feel uncomfortable is not solid marketing, that "unsettling images are not conducive to sharing" and asks "why would anyone - bloggers or readers - want to pass along bad feelings?" And although he carefully lays out how he "leaked" fake American Apparel ads in an effort to cheaply drive sales, he later laments that they were later used by blogs to case the company in a negative light - despite later observing that in the blogosphere the line between real and unreal is continuously blurred into oblivion. But these small slips don't detract from his arguments, if anything they bolster them - Holiday was submerged so deep into the cesspool for so long that he doesn't seem to have been able to shake off its last remaining tendrils just yet.
Holiday's utterly compelling book uses a mix of anecdote, history, and philosophy to peel back the veneer of legitimacy that mass market blogs swath themselves in. Their cloak of "iterative journalism" which supposedly breaks and refines news faster and better than traditional journalism is shown to be nothing more than a Vegas pastie, meant only to help turn a cheap buck and having nothing to do with decency or service.
"Trust Me, I'm Lying" is an immensely entertaining and informative read, Holiday's brutal honesty and impressive intellect combine into a thrilling and startling confessional that you won't be able to put down. Not, at least, until that blog page you have open right now refreshes itself with an EXCLUSIVE story about Kim Kardashian smuggling Suri Cruise out of the country by clenching the little tyke firmly between her butt-cheeks as she makes her way to the Paris premiere of "The Jersey Shore" movie.
(And to see what Holiday did to mass market blogs done to international terrorism, check out: Tremble the Devil: "the story of terrorism as Jesus Christ, James Bond, and Osama bin Ladin would tell it."
- Reviewed in the United States on September 4, 2023In "Trust Me, I'm Lying," Ryan Holiday pulls back the curtain to reveal what is going on behind the scenes of online “blogs." For the book, Holiday defines a blog as any online site, from single-person operations up to the New York Times, which either purports to report current news or provides commentary. Holiday discusses how easy he found it to manipulate the blogosphere and how it ultimately creates a world of unreality, which, unfortunately, does intersect with the real world enough to cause destruction to the individual lives and businesses in the news.
Summary of Contents
Holiday's central thesis is that the blogosphere suffers from two major and interrelated problems:
The first problem is that blogs suffer from fierce competition for table scraps of revenue. Since there is so little money to be made for most in blogging, bloggers race to publish first, most sensationally, and with complete disregard for the time required to ensure even reasonable veracity of their stories.
The second related problem is that blogs seem to operate on a "delegated trust" model. Holiday argues that before blogs, news media had developed editorial standards that were about the same from publication to publication. This meant that if one outlet was reporting something, others had some confidence that the first had done their due diligence regarding the story's veracity. Holiday shows that there is now a wide variety of editorial standards, including, in many cases, none, that break this model.
Holiday relates numerous cases showing how he exploited the weaknesses in the blogosphere to feed false information into the monster and then "trade it up the chain." For instance, starting with the lowest level blogs, hungry for any traffic that could go viral, he could get them to publish wholly made-up "leaks" from "anonymous sources" that he says were never verified. From this, a buzz would be created on low-level blogs that he would then mention to higher-level blogs, asking, "How can you not be covering this?" Holiday claims that by using this basic method, he and others could get publications all the way up to the New York Times to report on information completely manufactured out of whole cloth.
Along with relating numerous instances of garbage information entering the system at the lowest levels and percolating up to the top, Holiday examines some of the underlying social science explaining why the system is so vulnerable to manipulation.
Evaluation of the Book
Given the amount of misinformation out there, which only continued to explode after the publication of the revised edition in 2017, this is the kind of book that any citizen of a democracy who interacts with online media or is affected by it (a long way of saying everyone) should read. Indeed, this book is now mandatory in many journalism schools and is required reading for new employees entering the news media to help their outlet avoid being victims of these manipulations.
Although this book was a highly worthwhile read, it leaned a little too heavily toward numerous case studies instead of spending time on the underlying theory for me. In the preface, Holiday makes it clear, however, that this was a deliberate choice as he wanted to write a book on this critical topic that would be read instead of an academic treatise that would be ignored. Holiday used all the techniques he learned from the blogosphere, including heavy media manipulation, to have the book reach as extensive an audience as possible. Some of this is clearly demonstrated in the organization of the book. The chapters are short. Each is further broken down into multiple short sections with very few blocks of text longer than even a couple of pages. It is all designed to be exceptionally easy to consume.
Although presenting much interesting theory, for example, research on how little time viewers spend reading an article and how likely they are to immediately "bounce" from a page, the tilting toward case studies came at the expense of making the stories repetitive after a while. I often read a story and wondered what new principle it was trying to establish versus what had already been established by previous stories.
The second significant weakness of the book is that although it does delve somewhat into politics, it could have gone much deeper into underlying theories, such as "my side bias," of why people are so prone to political bias and how the media seems just as affected by these biases or, perhaps, even more so, than everyone else. Although the book's conclusion is already bleak, Holiday underestimated just how extreme political polarization would become, a situation that events since 2020, especially, have laid bare.
In addition to these two weaknesses, it was unclear how everything described comes together in some cases. For example, Holiday mentions that there are a number of low readership blogs that are read by some very important people and thus have influence far beyond what their reader count would suggest. At the same time, Holiday says that since these blogs are tiny and do not get much traffic, they are easily manipulated by manipulations offering them more traffic. This claim did not make much sense to me. First, how does Holiday know where these low-traffic but influential blogs are? Second, it seems that the only way that important, and presumably at least somewhat intelligent, people would pay attention is if they were publishing high-quality content, as opposed to any junk that would generate traffic.
Conclusion
Despite the weaknesses mentioned, I understand that the book was written the way it was for a reason: to make it as accessible as possible. Given that many feel, looking back at historical examples, that online misinformation is following a pattern that has a high chance of becoming a risk to American democracy, this book provides an excellent look behind the scenes at how the online misinformation sausage is made.
Top reviews from other countries
-
Maria JavaddReviewed in Brazil on February 8, 2024
3.0 out of 5 stars Danificado
O livro veio sem plástico de proteção, com a capa amassada e danificada. Claramente sofreu algumas quedas. Nunca tive problemas com livros na Amazon e por isso fiquei surpresa. Decidi não devolver pois comprei esse livro para ler durante o carnaval e é impossível receber um novo até amanhã kk
Maria Javadd
Reviewed in Brazil on February 8, 2024
Images in this review -
Angelo RussoReviewed in Italy on January 1, 2025
5.0 out of 5 stars Illuminante
Cose che già si sapevano, ovvero che i media mentono, ma questo libro è davvero illuminante perché racconta non solo come si fabbricano le false notizie, ma anche come si crea un trending topic e come una notizia (falsa) può danneggiare seriamente chi va contro il sistema.
-
Juan AcevesReviewed in Mexico on May 2, 2021
5.0 out of 5 stars Buen libro
Si te gusta el marketing, este libro es increíble porque se sale de lo convencional y te muestra cómo las campañas o estrategias que vemos muchas veces están manipuladas.
La primera mitad que es de enseñanzas está muy buena. A partir de la segunda mitad que son puras anecdotas, se vuelve un poco pesado
- JoelleReviewed in France on January 14, 2023
5.0 out of 5 stars A must read
Disturbing but interesting, it will totally change your point of view about online news
- cafeGabrielReviewed in Canada on November 5, 2018
5.0 out of 5 stars Great insight and revelation!
The truth shall set you free and that is indeed what this book does. Kudos to Ryan for exposing what really goes on in the world of media and giving people a chance to decide on what news and information they choose to invest in.