Preface For too long, the issue of self-deception has been the realm of deep-thinking philosophers, academics, and scholars work- ing on the central questions of the human sciences. The pub- lic remains generally unaware of the issue. That would be fine except that self-deception is so pervasive that it touches every aspect of life. "Touches" is perhaps too gentle a word to describe its influence. Self-deception actually determines one's experience in every aspect of life. The extent to which it does that--and in particular the extent to which it deter- mines the nature of one's influence on, and experience of, others--is the subject of this book. To give you an idea of what's at stake, consider the follow- ing analogy. An infant is learning how to crawl. She begins by pushing herself backward around the house. Backing her-