This is an entertaining textbook on social engineering - how to manipulate people to believe things that are to your advantage. The author used these techniques to recruit spies, get criminals to confess, obtain upgrades on airplanes and manage his family relationships. The anecdotes are quite good - well told and believable. Sorry, though: I couldn't help thinking that if everyone used these techniques we'd have a mighty superficial and inauthentic society, with insincere manipulators all over the place.

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