The Language of Lies (How to uncover the liar in your life) by Kirsty King

How can you tell if someone is lying to you? Is it possible to separate the truth from lies in what people say? And when should you trust what you hear?

That is the premise of this book. I would describe this book on the academic side of the spectrum rather than just a good read as you do have to pay attention to the words, after all, this book is about, among other things, the way we use our words.

What is important to say is that the author is a linguist, which means she studies languages and their use. It does not mean she speaks lots of other languages. If that was the case she would be a polyglot.

As we all know everyone lies. We lie to our family, friends, colleagues and strangers. It was in the great furore over the book Spycatcher by Peter Wright back in 1980s that the phrase, ‘being economical with the truth’ came into being. King deals with not only the ‘white lies’ as we call them but those lies that are extremely damaging. These lies can destroy relationships, ruin lives and create distrust and discord. These lies need to be detected. And they can be, if we know how to listen out for them. This is the premise of the book.

As a forensic linguist Dr Kirsty King knows that, as convincing as some liars might be, their lies can be exposed by paying close attention to the language they use. It is possible for us to detect whether someone is being deceptive by listening out for key linguistic indicators in the way that they speak and the things that they say.

I think this is an important book and as it isn’t long at only 186 pages I will read it again as there much wisdom to be gained.

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