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Usually ships in 1 business days | | | | | | Americans are bombarded daily with mixed messages, half-truths, misleading statements, and out-and-out fabrications masquerading as facts. The news media–once the vaunted watchdogs of our republic–are often too timid or distracted to identify these deceptions.
unSpun is the secret decoder ring for the twenty-first-century world of disinformation. Written by Brooks Jackson and Kathleen Hall Jamieson, the founders of the acclaimed website FactCheck.org, unSpun reveals the secrets of separating facts from disinformation, such as:
• the warning signs of spin, hype, and bogus news
• common tricks used to deceive us
• how to find trustworthy and objective sources of information
Telling fact from fiction shouldn’t be a difficult task. With this book and a healthy dose of skepticism, anyone can cut through the haze of biased media reportage to be a savvier consumer and a better-informed citizen.
“Read this book and you will not go unarmed into the political wars ahead of us. Jackson and Jamieson equip us to be our own truth squad, and that just might be the salvation of democracy.”
–Bill Moyers
“THE DEFINITIVE B.S. DETECTOR–AN ABSOLUTELY INVALUABLE GUIDEBOOK.”
–Mark Shields, syndicated columnist and political analyst, NewsHour with Jim Lehrer
“unSpun is an essential guide to cutting through the political fog. Just in time for the 2008 campaign, Brooks Jackson and Kathleen Hall Jamieson have written a citizen’s guide to avoiding the malarkey of partisan politics.”
–Mara Liasson, NPR national political correspondent
“The Internet may be a wildly effective means of communication and an invaluable source of knowledge, but it has also become a new virtual haven for scammers–financial, political, even personal. Better than anything written before, unSpun shows us how to recognize these scams and protect ourselves from them.”
–Craig Newmark, founder and customer service representative, Craigslist.org | | | |
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| | Product Details | | Author: | Brooks Jackson | | Paperback: | 208 pages | | Publisher: | Random House Trade Paperbacks | | Publication Date: | April 24, 2007 | | Language: | English | | ISBN: | 1400065666 | | Package Length: | 7.9 inches | | Package Width: | 5.2 inches | | Package Height: | 0.5 inches | | Package Weight: | 0.2 pounds | | Average Customer Rating: |  based on 22 reviews |
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| | Customer Reviews | Average Customer Review:
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1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 Spin cycle Dec 23, 2008
Nutshell review - This is a short but easy to read overview of several ways in which the media, politicians, marketers, etc can spin their story to advance their own agendas. It is a short book containing various spin techniques, actual examples of their use, and ways in which we can improve our awareness of them. It ends with suggestions for staying alert to spin; keeping an open and inquiring mind goes a long way.
For readers looking for additional analysis and more depth check Coercion: Why We Listen to What "They" Say by Douglas Rushkoff and Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini, amongst others.
 critical thinking textbook Dec 13, 2008
This slim book is a great self-defense book for consumers and citizens. I use it in my First Year Writing course at the university to teach critical thinking skills. People who like the book might be interested to know that the authors offer an unbiased e-mail service that is useful especially to ferret out the truth in campaign claims. Anyone can sign up for updates at FactCheck.org.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
The Value of Reason in an Age of Hype Aug 28, 2008
I was shocked, *shocked*, to learn that advertisers and politicians had been lying to me.
Actually, no, I wasn't. But it seems too many people are unaware of the degree to which they are being "spun" and the ways in which the facts are being distorted to create a particular impression.
The authors have written a clear, concise, and direct treatise on the subject. This should be required reading for all citizens in this country, and probably also should be taught in the schools. They have organized their discourse into several sections:
* Warning signs of trickery - Seven key warning signs that one is being "spun."
* Tricks - Eight proven tricks used against the public.
* Rules for How to be Sure - Nine invaluable rules to follow when trying to sort fact from fiction.
Each of these signs, tricks, and rules is illustrated with revealing and amusing tales of successful flim-flam.
Between the Tricks and the Rules are excellent chapters on the psychological reasons we fall for such tricks, techniques for avoiding falling for hoaxes, and a clear argument that facts can save your life.
Some, such as William Lutz in "Doublespeak" (1989), have exposed the techniques used and inveighed against them.
Others, such as Farhad Manjoo in "True Enough: Learning to Live in a Post-Fact Society" (2008), have addressed some of the psychological reasons and methods people manage to avoid reasoning based on the facts.
Jackson and Jamieson have cut to the chase and offered a clear and concise manual for understanding the techniques used and making oneself proof against them
This book is a must-read and a real "keeper."
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
Un Spun- Finding Facts Jul 30, 2008
I loved the Book!
Great information for someone that wants to learn the political system.
Since there is so much propaganda out there, this was a great book to understanding some of it.
Short and to the point...not a big book...but long on fact finding.
4 of 14 found the following review helpful:
 Disappointing. A glimpse into the obvious, nothing more. Feb 16, 2008
This book purports to help the reader sift the wheat from the chaff in all aspects of public diinformation, which I can agree has become a pestilence. However, I bought the book after carefully reviewing the editorial and reader commentaries on the book and its competitiors, of which there are a myriad. I bought it for ONE purpose; to enable me to sift through competing versions of the history of geological calamities and determine which were correct and which were not. I can only say that the book was of absolutely no help in this regard. Surely, it is interesting to to read how are political and marketing preferences are "guided" by a steady stream of lies and distortions, but this is a mere glimpse into the obvious. Everybody knows that such thinbg are lies from the get-go, and that only hard, independent thinking, based on ascertainble facts can solved the dilemma. I didn't need a book to tell me that.
What I did need was a book to help me sift through competing factual claims, some based on information; some not. Despite its glowing cover appraisal, and the rafe editorial reviews, this book simply proves the difficulty lf obtaining the truth, more by its content, or should I say lack of it?
Fraud is a hard word to use, but I do feel I was deceived by what I read on here about the book. It certainly was not what I anticipated or needed when I purchased the book. I guess this whole episode proves that even when it comes to a book's claims to help battle disinformation, that condition permeates the very product that is being sold. If you are confused by politics or what soap to buy, read the book. Otherwise, don't bother.
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