Trust Me, I'm Lying Audiobook By Ryan Holiday cover art

Trust Me, I'm Lying

Confessions of a Media Manipulator

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Trust Me, I'm Lying

By: Ryan Holiday
Narrated by: Ryan Holiday
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You’ve seen it all before. A malicious online rumor costs a company millions. A political sideshow derails the national news cycle and destroys a candidate. Some product or celebrity zooms from total obscurity to viral sensation. What you don’t know is that someone is responsible for all this. Usually, someone like me.

I’m a media manipulator. In a world where blogs control and distort the news, my job is to control blogs - as much as any one person can.

In today’s culture...

  1. Blogs like Gawker, Buzzfeed, and the Huffington Post drive the media agenda.
  2. Bloggers are slaves to money, technology, and deadlines.
  3. Manipulators wield these levers to shape everything you read, see, and watch - online and off.

Why am I giving away these secrets? Because I’m tired of a world where blogs take indirect bribes, marketers help write the news, reckless journalists spread lies, and no one is accountable for any of it. I’m pulling back the curtain because I don’t want anyone else to get blindsided.

I’m going to explain exactly how the media really works. What you choose to do with this information is up to you.

©2012 Ryan Holiday (P)2019 Penguin Audio Content Creation & Social Media Marketing Marketing & Sales Media Studies Public Relations Social Sciences Technology Business Inspiring

Critic reviews

“A playbook for the dark arts of exploiting the media.” (Robert Greene, author of The 48 Laws of Power)

“Ryan Holiday's brilliant exposé of the unreality of the Internet should be required reading for every thinker in America.” (Edward Jay Epstein, author of The Big Picture)

"[Like] Upton Sinclair on the blogosphere." (Tyler Cowen, MarginalRevolution.com; author of An Economist Gets Lunch)

“The strategies Ryan created to exploit blogs drove sales of millions of my books and made me an internationally known name.” (Tucker Max, number-one New York Times best-selling author of I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell)
Eye-opening Revelations • Insider Knowledge • Insightful Information • Real-world Examples • Valuable Insights
Highly rated for:
All stars
Most relevant  
Great insight into the ridiculousness of the news media business. Appreciate the author for shining the light.

Made me think about why no one talks about my business and ways I might start to play the game in an ethical way. Sound like the best are dirty but there are tactics in here about good story telling that any entrepreneur could likely use. Valuable read and I am wiser for the time.

All the reasons fake news is real

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Ryan literally just dropped tons of knowledge and experience on the listener to paint a picture of just how easy it is to deceive. He laid out a great case and I would bet most people reading/listening to this will still believe everything on the internet. Thanks for trying anyways, author. You did your best.

He told you and you won’t listen

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A very important book that questions how we receive news, where it comes from, and its values. It frames the perspective of the media by showing how the players in the media are incentivized and not held accountable. It shows the effects of media exploitation perpetuated by a system of incentives that encourage bad behavior and ultimately lead to a reactionary world and real consequences despite pseudo catalysts.

A revelation for those outside of the industry

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It’s easy to check the news feed on the web “for a few minutes” and end up clicking through news story after news story looking for something worth reading. There was nothing useful.

I picked up “Trust Me I’m Lying” to learn how media manipulation works and to understand the how and why. It made me realize how easily I fall for the traps and tricks used to get my attention and to get me click on something. Learning about how blogs (all online publishing) work and what they actually mean in the real world is fascinating and scary and something every user should be aware of because what you read is distorted and makes it very hard to know if you are reading is fact or fiction. I am now more aware of my online behavior now and am more discerning about what I choose to read online. This is a life skill.

The appendix has examples of comments from actual media manipulators. Some of what they did was very disturbing, distorting reality for a specific result (usually not for the common good) and making hard to trust information on blogs. It made me question past decisions I have made and reminded me that I need to be more aware of now and in the future.

I read the revised edition of the book and ebook and listened to the audible of the original edition. Even though there were the differences, they were minor. Listening to the audible version reinforced the ideas in the book and helped draw me into the book even more. I got more out of the experience this way.

Important to anyone who consumes online info

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Though dated, still a must read. Great at pulling out items that are not new, but are just as pernicious during the yellow journalism battles of 1895-1898, their origins and implications. Won’t be reading or watching the news, blogs and social media the same after reading.

Great behind the scenes exposé

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I had previously never considered why I was being showed what I was shown on blogs, Reddit, and Google news. This book helps turn back the cover on why you are shown what you are shown.
I applied this to a recent (at time of this review) news story about JJ reddick going viral for getting pissed off that his in depth nBA analysis videos rarely get any traction, while him making a comment disparaging a nba coach went viral. He didn’t understand why, but after listening to this book, it’s not even surprising- in fact- I’d say that was to be expected!

Incredibly interesting

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While I suspected as much, I was surprised by the ease with which the media creates, receives, barfs up, and remediates the stories that make them their millions. The reasons for it? Not surprising. Predictable and frustrating. Like Trump or not, his open assault on the media is not unfounded, and yet it still rages against and for him and thousands of others... and not always seriously. As you will see, even infuriation can be faked and used to sell ad space, which is what they’re really after, not truth.


Turn off the click bait. This is why I haven’t watched the News or read asinine, popular blog or media coverage of events. I’m not interested in being one more puppet; though I suspect I am anyway. It’s hard if not impossible to escape the rapture of fake news.

This is our reality. Come in and take a seat. Your new understanding of the sh!t show is about to begin.

Wake up call

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Provides an interesting layer to the topic of fake news, and the intentional weaponization of identies leading up to the insurrection at the capitol building.

Insightful in 2021

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This book is as relevant now as it was when it was written. 2020, the pandemic, election year, murder hornets, political wars.

Reading this helps peak behind the curtain. I don’t know if thats a good thing or a bad thing.

Listened to this on Audiobook. Highly Recommend.

Read This in 2020

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Ryan was really courageous in this book
He showed me the worst way to be noticed online and why it’s bad

Book to know the don’ts of media

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