Book Review - The Confidence Game

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Hello everyone,

I am back with a new book. I recently picked up a soft copy; it is titled The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It by Maria Konnikova. She is an American writer specializing in books relating to human psychology. Her approach to understanding the development of human behaviour and why humans do what they do has to be the brain force behind this book, The Confidence Game. I have to add that she is quite good when it comes to painting a vivid imagination to help give a better understanding of what she is talking about. Even her first book, titled Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes, was so good that she was nominated for an Agatha Award and the Anthony Award for Best Nonfiction in 2013.

Here is what Wikipedia has to say about her:

Konnikova worked as a producer for the Charlie Rose Show, where she helped to set up the segment "Brain Series."She wrote the "Literally Psyched" column for Scientific American and the psychology blog "Artful Choice" for Big Think. In April 2013, her article on uncertainty in decision-making was published in The New Yorker, to which she continues to contribute.

Konnikova's first book, Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes, was nominated for an Agatha Award and the Anthony Award for Best Nonfiction in 2013. Her book The Confidence Game was published in 2016 and appeared on the New York Times' Crime and Punishment bestseller list. Her third book, The Biggest Bluff, published in 2020, chronicled her participation in the world of poker
wikipedia

Now you should have an idea about who the author is. It is high time you get to know what drew my attention to her book. I became curious about what a published author has to say about con artists and why people fall for them. It is not over that she wrote a book about an investigation or detective work, at least I know that is what Sherlock Holmes does, although I have not read the book, just guessed from its title. Probably when I do, I will share my thoughts here as well. And now she goes ahead to write about a con artist.

Truthfully, when I read her wiki page, I found out that she went to poker just for her third book, The Biggest Bluff, and even went ahead to play in the World Poker Series in 2017, all just to understand human psychology behind gambling and bluffing. Oh, I knew at this point she goes the extra mile just to understand the workings of something.

Diving into the book, The Confidence Game, she first off all gets me hooked when she says it even the smart ones can fall for a con. At this point, this author has something to say, or like they say in rap, she is spitting bars. She goes on to make me understand that it is not all about the use of force or aggression for these con artists, but it is about the employment of human emotions like charisma and empathy.

The first lesson I grabbed from the book is that we fall because we want something. I did not know if to pick an offense at this point. Is she trying to say people fall for scams because they want to be scammed? But as I read further to understand her view, she makes it obvious that con artists work best when the target is enveloped by what they want. You know this can not be too good to be true, but see, you are blinded by what you are getting in return; it could be the undivided attention, or it could be the promise of an unfathomable reward. BOOM! At this point, I knew I was in.

The first thought that crossed my mind was about crypto scams and how they operate, often due to the promise of high-end rewards. I know this because I have come across them in the past; in fact, I want to believe that every degens should have at some point. These scams or get-rich schemes have people falling for them because of what they want. They want a way to build overnight wealth and fast riches, so it makes sense that they fall for these things since they were oblivious to the cues that it cannot be real.

I am still diving through the pages of the book, but I can categorically say there is something here. Let's see how it plays out.

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Thanks For Reading!

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