"Vital Lies, Simple Truths" is a penetrating analysis of the ways in which we deceive ourselves. Daniel Goleman draws on evidence of all kinds – from brain function to social dynamics – to reveal how we must distort our most intimate relationships and our day-to-day lives by burying painful insights and memories. This self-deception is our means of psychological self-preservation, the currency of survival in which society transacts. But although self-deception is sometimes benighn, it can also be dangerous and life-diminishing. This important book both illuminates and raises challenging questions about a subject central to our psychological existence.