This book just does not work as an audiobook. The content is very dry and constantly referring to a pdf. Some more written deacriptions may have helped.

I tried listening to this audiobook but unfortunately just couldn't get into it. It was a little dense in my opinion.

This was really intriguing from start to finish. I was so interested in the subject material that it flew by listening to it. I learned so much that I didn't know or expect to learn from this book. Nature is truly so mysterious and full of so many lessons. This was really well put together and researched. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this eARC (audiobook format, although review applicable to either audio or text format).

The Liars of Nature and the Nature of Liars is an audiobook by Lixing Sun, a professor of biology at the University of California, Berkeley. I found it fascinating, not only in the context, but also in the ideas it can promote. An enthusiastic 5 star review from this humble reader - now let me tell you my reasons for this high rating.

This book explores the evolution of cheating in the natural world, revealing how dishonesty has given rise to wondrous diversity. It blends cutting-edge science with a wealth of illuminating examples, from microscopic organisms to highly intelligent birds and mammals, to show how cheating in nature relies on two basic rules: lying and deceiving. He demonstrates that cheating serves as a potent catalyst in the evolutionary arms race between the cheating and the cheated, resulting in a biological world teeming with complexity and beauty.

The book is divided into three parts: The Liars of Nature, The Nature of Liars, and The Liars of Nature and the Nature of Liars. In the first part, Sun introduces the concept of cheating and its prevalence in nature. He explains how cheaters exploit honest messages in communication signals and use them to serve their own interests (lying), or exploit the biases and loopholes in the sensory systems of other creatures (deceiving). He gives examples such as possums playing possum, crows crying wolf, amphibians and reptiles being impostors, genes and cells being selfish replicators, and bacteria being quorum sensing agents.

In the second part, Sun delves deeper into the mechanisms and consequences of cheating. He discusses how cheaters can be detected by honest observers or detectors, how cheaters can evolve countermeasures or adaptations to avoid detection or punishment, how cheaters can cooperate or compete with each other through deception or manipulation, how cheaters can influence social behavior or cognition through deception or persuasion, and how cheaters can affect ecological processes or outcomes through deception or exploitation.

In the third part, Sun applies his findings to human society. He examines how cheating is prevalent in human culture and politics, such as fake news, disinformation, propaganda, frauds, scams, plagiarism, piracy, hacking, phishing, identity thefts etc. He also explores how cheating can spur innovation and creativity in human fields such as science fiction writing, art, music, sports, business etc. He also lays down a blueprint for combating malicious cheating such as fake news and disinformation by promoting truth-telling, critical thinking, media literacy, civic engagement etc.

The book is written in an engaging style that combines scientific rigor with humor and anecdotes. It is suitable for anyone who is interested in learning more about the fascinating phenomenon of cheating in nature and its implications for human society. It is also a valuable resource for students who are studying biology or related disciplines such as psychology, sociology, philosophy etc. The audiobook is narrated by David Sedaris , a renowned humorist who brings his wit and charm to life to every page.

I enjoyed listening to this audiobook because it was informative yet entertaining. I learned a lot about how nature works through deception , but I also had fun listening to Sedaris' humorous commentary on various topics related to cheating. This book is a great way to start a conversation about truth, honesty, ethics, morality and justice.

I highly recommend this book to just about anyone (especially those who enjoy science fiction writing, art, music, sports, business, and so on).

Also I recommend this book audio and text, to anyone interested in challenging their own assumptions about reality.

Fun book about some of the ways deception works in the animal world. Some really cool stories, but the throughline of the book wasn't as explored as it could have been. Still an enjoyable read

Narrator was great, adding nuance and gentle humour to a fairly hefty topic.

This was a brilliant book. If you've ever wondered what margin of advantage there is in animals and plants' ability to deceive, this has the answer for you. From orchids which mimic the scent of mating female insects to attract pollinators to the complex social structure of Bonobos and the disadvantage of being only stronger and more powerful (in that matriarchal group of great apes, muscle heads get skilfully manipulated by everyone else and therefore come off worse), this book has you covered. It built on knowledge I already had and introduced me to new ideas before drawing parallels with human behaviour. Absolutely fascinating. I'll definitely need to reread a physical copy.

This is a book packed with scientific trivia! As a somewhat seasoned reader of natural history and pop science, a fair bit of the content was familiar ground for me, but there were still one or two places where my mind was blown.

Lixing Sun undertakes a comprehensive and lucid exploration of how organisms in nature deceive and cheat each other, whether to secure resources or one's genetic legacy. Sun threads in the occasional personal anecdote, which is always welcome - although I would've been keen to learn more about his research, which he only focuses on once in the book.

I wasn't so keen on the second half of the book which focuses on lying in human society, but the first half more than makes up for this.

Really fun listen! I loved learning new things about nature and I absolutely plan on listening to it again sometime. It is very informative and truly a great audiobook. I do think before it went into the human chapters, there was almost too much information; sentence after sentence of various facts. But what a great and informative book!

Who knew cat pee could make a male more macho?

This was such a fascinating and unexpected listen!

Lying and cheating has always been something that grinds my gears, but alas, the world is full of it. More full of it than I knew. But not in a bad way. Maybe more in a wondrous way, dare I say, even in an impressive way? I think this was partly due to the somehow both comforting and disconcerting revelation that cheating and deceit isn’t an exclusively human capability or phenomenon. In fact, it was probably quite an arrogant assumption given the relative youth of our species.

In this book, Lixing Sun takes us through some truly mind-blowing and spectacular feats of deceit. Sun offers a fresh and lively yet scientific perspective I had yet to recognise or appreciate. That cheating functions as a mighty impetus for creation with relation to diversity, complexity, and beauty in both social and cultural spheres of life.

Admittedly, the more political, human-focused section of this book did feel like a bit of a departure from the first part, however, I actually really appreciated it. I thought both parts were equally compelling, and so the slight switch-up was just refreshing in the end.

I would have loved to get my hands on a written copy of the book to see some of the visuals that were referenced, however, not being able to see them didn't cause any issues.

Shout out to Jason Vu as well for his excellent narration. He was engaging and an overall delight to listen to.

Highly recommend, I’ll be thinking about this one for a long while I think.

This popular science audiobook looks at deceit in a variety of living organisms, from microbes to mammals. It is organized more as a series of thematically related vignettes than a story with a narrative arc, as some popular science books do, so at times it feels more like interesting trivial bits than a cohesive story. But interesting bits they are. For my background, I found the microbiology aspects a little harder to comprehend, which indicated the science level is not for someone looking merely for an entertaining read, but is for someone interested in learning and being entertained whilst doing so. The narrator is easy to understand, but due to the complexity of the science, I would have preferred this in print format so I could more easily review a section that I had difficult comprehending. For reference, I do not have a scientific background, so take that preference with a grain of salt. I will definitely be recommending this book to my psychology and biology friends.

John Matrix: I Lied

I thought that this was a pretty interesting book on liars in nature throughout various animals.

I was specifically interested in learning more about liars in nature after reading some other books on animals over the last few years.

This book went into some detail on some really interesting animal traits and how they fight for things like mating or food.

It did also dive in towards the end into big government and other such things which I thought was a bit of a departure from the subject matter but it was still interesting

Also went into some good detail about placebos and other medical interesting facts

I also found the bits about confidence and overconfidence and risk very interesting

It also did a great job at looking at corruption and the implications and negatives that it has on society as well as election interference and political cheating.

4.0/5

The Liars of Nature and the Nature of Liars held so much new and interesting information. It was such a diverse roundup of stories on the liars seen in nature. There is no way to read this book without learning a plethora of new things!

I enjoyed this book for the most part. The audio was particularly delightful because the narrator did such a great job at reading the book in both an informative and very enthralling way. Which is a feat for a nonfiction, science-based book!

The author jumps around a lot. Honestly, this should have been two different books, because it goes from animals and how they cheat the system to politics. I really was not a fan of the politics. As a scientist myself I definitely agree with the adage "What do you get when you mix science and politics? Just politics." It was just a bit too disjointed, going all over the place. I really would have enjoyed if this book would have stayed away from the politics and just focused on lying in nature.

If you like learning new and interesting things or you enjoy hearing about peoples opinions on politics, then this book is for you. I am glad that I read it, but it won't be one I read again. If you want to get the nature portion and some interesting aspects on how humans lie without the politics, then listen to the first 60% of the book and the last 15% of the book.

This is very interesting. The other day I was moving a snail from my front door and saw it imitting some kind of foam and the book mentions about how animals lie to keep themselves safe. It does get too scientific at times and thats hard to follow in an audiobook format. An ebook or paperback of this book will be great and also good on the bookshelf. Thank you for letting me listen to this audiobook. I kept thinking of David Attenborough reading this book would be so good.

I read a lot of books about animal behavior and I was utterly surprised when I learned how lying and cheating is not exclusive to humans. This book takes a detailed look into that facet of plants, animals and even fungi, from one-celled organisms to vertebrates. As much as I read about animal behavior and even if not all the facts were completely new to me, this was a goldmine of information about the reasons for lying. Some of the explanations are mind-blowing, and I truly enjoyed this first part. The final chapters were interesting. Despite them being devoted to my least favorite animal, the ugliest apes, I enjoyed learning about why we lie and cheat. Some parts were overtly political, which I was not expecting and I don’t really care for. I liked Jason Vu’s audiobook narration, his voice is smooth and soothing. The style is approachable enough for even younger readers. Fascinating!
I chose to listen to this audiobook and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, #NetGalley/#Tantor Audio!