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Truth or BS? Can You Tell the Difference?

Reg Spittle Leave a comment

If you are the first to tell a “truth,” people will likely believe you, then they will repeat your “truth” to others, who will also believe it. Humans are programmed to believe. Even if you are making up the “truth.”

People once there was a race of bat people who lived on the moon.

Hundreds of British settlers were scammed into investing in a New World country that didn’t exist. They moved there, with tragic outcomes.

Benjamin Franklin was a master of hoaxes and was often dishonest.

Leave it to an Englishman, Tom Phillips, to make the serious business of fake news and dishonesty into an often lighthearted book, Truth: A Brief History of Total Bull—t.

Phillips covers a lot of ground and time, including details related to the topics above. He also delves into the psychology of lying and believing. He explains the difference between a liar and a bulls—ter and shows that fake news is not a modern invention. He even teaches how to tell if someone is lying.

Truth may bring laughs, but the author is honest about how fabricated stories can have harmful consequences, like they did for thousands who were killed when accused of being witches.

If you are looking for more of Tom Phillips, check out Humans: A Brief History of How We F-cked It All Up. That reminds me to warn you that his narrative is sprinkled with colorful vocabulary.

One more thing: Tom Phillips is a professional hunter of lies as a fact checker for Full Fact. Its website cites its goal: “Bad information ruins lives. We’re a team of independent fact checkers and campaigners who find, expose and counter the harm it does.”

My Camino Book: Is This Really Happening?

Reg Spittle 2 Comments

I was warned. The vast majority of books from indie authors find few readers beyond family and friends and have a short shelf life.

Almost six years after my first book, Camino Sunrise: Walking With My Shadows, was published, it is finding new readers in surging numbers in several countries, especially the United States and the United Kingdom. One wrote me a note:

“My friend and I so enjoyed your book Camino Sunrise. I have read endless books written by pilgrims, but yours provided me with an entirely new set of information. Thank you for all I learned from you and Sue with your beautiful book.”

Another posted a review:

“Not only did I love trekking the Camino through the eyes of Reg and Sue, I so appreciated Reg’s candid and very personal reflections on a difficult childhood, bullying and lack of confidence. I too find myself looking critically through the rear-view mirror of my life. I’m inspired now to bravely find my own Camino challenge.”

The number of new readers is inspiring as I finish work on my third book about my journey with Sue on the John Muir Trail through California’s Sierra Nevada wilderness. My second book, Trippin’ Through My 60s: When Adventure Calls, the Trails of Europe Answer, is also gaining renewed attention. It transports readers to Scotland’s West Highland Way, the Alps’ Tour du Mont Blanc, Italy’s Way of St. Francis, and England’s South West Coast Path.

It is an honor to know people choose to read my books. Above all, I hope my love of distance trekking will encourage others to give it a try, like I did–grudgingly–on the Camino de Santiago, my first trek. Or maybe they will experience adventure from their armchairs.

Both books are available on Amazon in ebook, paperback, and audiobook formats. If you are a Kindle Unlimited member, you can read it free. The paperback can also be ordered online through Barnes and Noble and Powell’s Bookstore in Portland.

I am gratified that readers have invalidated the predictions about indie publishing, at least in my case. When I left the working world in 2012, I would never have guessed that distance trekking would play a leading role in my life. And to think that people would one day read about my adventures. I am still coming to terms with that concept, but it has left me grateful beyond measure.