Why has punditry overtaken news, with so many media outlets pushing partisan agendas instead of information? Comedian Stephen Colbert's catchword "truthiness" has captured something essential about our age: that people are more comfortable with ideas that feel true, even if the evidence for those beliefs is thin.

With brilliant insights from psychology, sociology, and economics, Manjoo explains how myths pushed by both partisans and marketers - whether about global warming, the war in Iraq, 9/11, or even the virtues of a certain candy bar - have attracted wide support in recent years. His characters include the Swift Boat veterans, Lou Dobbs, and conspiracy theorists of all varieties - all of whom prove that true matters less, now, than true enough.

Read & Listen

Switch between reading the Kindle book & listening to the Audible narration with Whispersync for Voice.
Get the Audible audiobook for the reduced price of $4.99 after you buy the Kindle book.

Special offer: Includes this audiobook and another of your choice free
Plus a free monthly audiobook chosen by our editors
Keep your audiobooks even if you cancel
Unlimited access to exclusive podcasts
After 30 days Audible is $16.45 for 1 credit/month, cancel anytime

Learn more about membership

By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible’s Conditions Of Use and Privacy Notice.

Sold and delivered by Audible, an Amazon company

People who bought this also bought

Page 1 of 1Start OverPage 1 of 1

Product details

Listening Length	7 hours and 21 minutes
Author	Farhad Manjoo
Narrator	Ray Porter
Whispersync for Voice	Ready
Audible.com.au Release Date	12 June 2008
Publisher	Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B00NPBRD1K
Best Sellers Rank	175,497 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) 283 in Media Studies (Audible Books & Originals) 430 in Elections & Political Process (Audible Books & Originals) 1,117 in Journalism & Nonfiction Writing Reference

Customer reviews

5 star		59%
4 star		22%
3 star		16%
2 star		3%
1 star 0% (0%)		0%

How are ratings calculated?

Review this product

Write a customer review

Top reviews from other countries

RondoReader

Good Enough

Reviewed in Canada on 10 December 2008

Verified Purchase

It is, perhaps, the tragedy of our time that new information tools and technologies that should further communication, understanding and cooperation are instead, facilitating our descent into boorish, angry, warring tribes. Mr. Manjoo's short and airy book explores some of the factors enabling this unhappy descent and its consequences. Factors like selective perception, pseudo-expertise and the loss of objectivity in news reporting. Consequences like reality splitting and the deterioration of trust and social capital.

The book is not comprehensive and, since the lack of possible counter actions makes the current descent seem inevitable, it is a bit of a downer albeit enlightening. As might be expected of a contributor to Salon, Mr. Manjoo has a leftish perspective but he does a good job of balancing his examples and observations.

The concepts Mr. Manjoo discusses are important and the book is well worth a read.

5 people found this helpful

Amazon Customer

I second the "eye opener" headline

Reviewed in the United States on 13 June 2020

Verified Purchase

I read several of the negative reviews found here and it was obvious that these were probably written by people that gave up on the book early.
The author uses examples of behaviors from both the right and left, so the claims that's it's a liberal rant are not correct and TOTALLY miss the points being made here. For the right he addresses the swift boat claims against John Kerry made by Republicans and for the left he addresses the claims of election fraud against Bush made by the Democrats. And both are very good examples. Claims that he's just a liberal hack are nonsense, and are actually EXCELLENT examples of the very points that this author makes.
I think it would be very good for our nation to learn about post truth. Each and every one of us can have our own opinions, but the days of having our own facts and truths must come to an end for the sake of our great nation. Post truth threatens our very existence.

3 people found this helpful

Naji

Timely and Relevant

Reviewed in the United States on 19 July 2009

Verified Purchase

In 1974 scientists provided a questionnaire to a group of 237 Midwest high school students to determine who would be considered high-prejudice and low-prejudice. They then asked them a series of questions about the show All in the Family. Their perception of the show's protagonist Archie Bunker couldn't be more different. The students considered low-prejudice viewed Archie as a "bigot, domineering, rigid, loud, and that he mistreats his wife." People considered high-prejudice had a totally different view. They considered Archie a "down-to-earth, honest, hardworking, predictable, and kind enough to allow his son-in-law and daughter to live with him." The show's creators thought it would be obvious to all viewers that Archie was being portrayed as ignorant and plainly racist. Yet the show, which was being watched by more than 100 million viewers every week, was perceived very differently by people. This is just one of many highly entertaining and instructive studies that Farhad Manjoo introduces his readers to.

Liberals who watch FOX news consider it biased and are much more likely to consider MSNBC to be balanced in its coverage of the news. Conservatives feel the opposite. Both groups are watching the same newscast but perceive it in totally different ways just as the All in the Family's viewers did in the 1970's. Yet in addition to perceiving news differently, people watch the news that agrees with their view of the world. Conservatives are more likely to watch FOX news and Liberals MSNBC. Both groups practice `selective exposure'.

In addition to the concepts of selective-perception and selective-exposure and their very important implications, the author deals with the roll, credentials, and influence of experts, objectivity of news, cagey methods of advertising, and hiring of media personalities by government, industry and lobbyists to promote certain policies. Many of the studies that Farhad Manjoo cites in the book were conducted decades ago. It is the application of the findings of those studies to significant news stories of this decade from which the book derives much of its value. True Enough is a very illuminating and entertaining read.

13 people found this helpful

Amazon Customer

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on 23 February 2018

Verified Purchase

All voters should be required to read this book!

4 people found this helpful

Jim Harrigan

Alternate Realities and Suspicious Minds

Reviewed in the United States on 16 June 2008

Verified Purchase

Facts are obsolete. Alternative realities are the rule. Trust belongs to yesterday.

Trust plays a surprisingly large role in the well-being of a culture. Manjoo asserts that countries having greater trust typically see higher economic output than do places where trust is low. Further, people are healthier in trusting societies.

It all might seem obvious. A generation should know that we can't go on with these suspicious minds. Yet trust is at a low. Nothing would tear apart a people so thoroughly as mistrust. Manjoo says that people exist in differing realities brought on by internet blogs and cable news. The main-stream media held the role of mediator in political disputes, but that role is now diminishing. I would suggest that science played mediator before the advent of the alternate reality of corporate "sound science".

Manjoo has a way with hitting on ideas that are fundamental to the "truthiness" concept and presents them in a manner that will interest many and many will understand.

6 people found this helpful

See all reviews

True Enough: Learning to Live in a Post-Fact Society Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Read & Listen

Free with Audible Trial $0.00

Pay with 1-Click $30.42

People who bought this also bought

Product details

Customer reviews

Review this product

Top reviews from Australia

Top reviews from other countries

Free with Audible Trial

$0.00

Pay with 1-Click

$30.42