A review by saralynnburnett
Trust Me, I'm Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator by Ryan Holiday

3.0

If you use the internet or watch the news you should read this. So yep - that means you. This one took a while to finish because I use the internet all day every day for work and this book is about how much the internet sucks... so basically I had to take it in small doses. It is fascinating and the best parts are the detailed blow by blow examples he gives about how easily public opinion is manipulated (and you'll remember all of them) - feed something (true or not - doesn't matter) to the blogs, they all report on it, it goes to mainstream news, TV channels etc, public believes it, no one fact checks anymore, no one cares, so mission accomplished. And it all starts with bloggers (and I'm not talking lifestyle blogs here, it's the news and gossip blogs - aka: the most read ones). We all know this happens but he really brings it home.

Biggest complaint with this book is that it's too repetitive. It would have been a knockout long essay, instead it drags a bit and the ironic part is I found myself skimming parts of it - which is exactly how I read anything on a screen.