cover image 101 Lies Men Tell Women: And Why Women Believe Them

101 Lies Men Tell Women: And Why Women Believe Them

Dory Hollander. HarperCollins Publishers, $20 (347pp) ISBN 978-0-06-017125-4

Psychologist Hollander (The Doom Loop System) bases her pop-psych study on interviews with 60 women and 35 men across the country. She classifies lies as hooks (especially in flirting), as masks and as evasions, the latter often used to promote a false sense of harmony, to avoid confrontation or to prevent hurt feelings. Women believe lies, she argues, because they want to believe them. Hollander does not address nonverbal areas until her concluding section, which lists physical clues that may accompany lying. But as presented here the gender differences in relying on the power of the spoken word seem almost insurmountable: when a man says, ``I'll call you'' or whispers, ``I love you'' on the first date, any woman who takes such avowals literally deserves what she gets, males would likely agree. (Nov.)