Stephen Martin

Joseph Marks

A fascinating exploration of the powerful forces that shape who we choose to listen to and believe, why talented and qualified people are ignored, and how these "messengers" influence society. We live in a world where proven facts, verifiable data, and actual truths are freely and widely available. Why, then, are self-confident ignoramuses so often believed? Why are thoughtful experts frequently given the cold shoulder? And why do irrelevant details such as a person's height, relative wealth, or Facebook photo influence whether or not we trust what they are saying? In this ground breaking forensic look into influence, Stephen Martin and Joseph Marks brilliantly demonstrate that we increasingly fail to separate the idea being communicated from the person conveying it. The messenger-who we believe either because of their socio-economic position/dominance/physical attractiveness or their trustworthiness/vulnerability/charisma-becomes more important than the message itself. With fascinating accounts from business, politics, medicine, the arts, and popular entertainment, Martin and Marks establish key traits and features of the world's messengers, who not only have an enormous influence on what we think and believe, but ultimately influence who we are and who we are becoming.

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