About the Book
Grow the Pie
May Contain Lies
How Stories Statistics and Studies Exploit Our Biases—And What We Can Do about It
by Alex Edmans (Author)
Price: $23.95
Publication Date: May 2024
Title Details:
Rights: Selected Countries
Pages: 336
ISBN: 9780520405851
Trim Size: 6 x 9
Illustrations: 20 b/w illustrations
About the Author
Alex Edmans is Professor of Finance at London Business School. His TED talk "What to Trust in a Post-Truth World" has been viewed two million times; he has also spoken at the World Economic Forum, Davos, and in the UK Parliament. In 2013, he was awarded tenure at the Wharton School, and in 2021, he was named MBA Professor of the Year by Poets&Quants. Edmans writes regularly for the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, and Harvard Business Review. His first book, Grow the Pie, was a Financial Times Book of the Year. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences.
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Table of Contents
was a Financial Times Book of the Year. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences."
Reviews
"A wonderful litany of the myriad ways in which we can be deceived, and deceive ourselves."— The Guardian
"Entertaining, thorough and full of current examples. . . . It’s excellent."— Wall Street Journal
"Confirmation bias can seem so engrained in us that it's difficult to shake. But Edmans highlights how first recognizing our biases and then taking small but intentional steps to overcome them can have an outsized effect on the quality of our decisions."— Inc.
"A clear-headed guide to the exaggerations, sloppy research and the occasional downright lies peddled by companies, universities, authors and Ted Talk gurus. . . . Edmans is determined to make us better, more critical thinkers."— The Times
"Edmans might believe that we’re post truth, but he also proposes that it is in everyone’s grasp to become smarter thinkers."— Financial Times
"Edmans is out to help us better understand and analyse the data we are fed, and to aid us in becoming more sceptical. . . . The appendix (“a checklist for smarter thinking”) should be required reading."— New Scientist
"Shows us how to be more discerning with evidence. . . . Is a statement a fact, is a fact truly data, is that data genuinely evidence, and is that evidence proof? The book provides tips for sussing that out."— Times of India
“A practical-minded approach to various forms of mangled logic, appeals to bogus authority and other commonplace forms of cognitive distortion. . . . Besides identifying the problem, the author offers clearly formulated approaches to countering it. Every high school freshman should take a one-semester course with this as its textbook.”— Inside Higher Ed
"Elegantly structured around an ascent up the ladder of ‘misinference.' "— RealClearEnergy
"May Contain Lies is focused on identifying what is and isn’t reliable information. In a time when it feels like we are surrounded by more and more sources of misinformation and disinformation, this is certainly a welcome lesson."— GeekDad
"While written for a general audience, May Contain Lies is also valuable for educators teaching college courses on misinformation, causal inference, or critical reasoning about social and behavioral science, and would serve as an excellent resource for a freshman seminar."— Journal of Economic Literature
and Harvard Business Review. His first book
Awards
- Axiom Awards Economics Bronze Medal 2025, Axiom Business Book Awards
- Non-Obvious Book Awards Longlist 2024, Non-Obvious Book Awards