Just Trust Me: Finding the Truth in a World of Spin

The world of spin we live in is full of potentially hazardous illusions. As a civil-litigation attorney for over twenty-five years, Randy Kasten has witnessed this firsthand. He has heard thousands of lies over the course of his career and has witnessed that those who dispense the information we need to make decisions — advertisers, salespeople, politicians and the media — often have a vested interest in manipulating us. As a result of seeing the patterns in why lies are told and how they are structured, Kasten created Just Trust Me as a universal resource to help people learn methods for finding the truth in daily situations. In business, social and even personal interactions, people are constantly offering selective presentations of the truth. Whether it’s a car salesman telling us SUVs are safe simply because they’re big, or our close friend sparing our feelings by not telling us that our new haircut looks bad, truth’s biggest enemies are the people whose job it is to sell us incomplete versions of the facts and our willingness to believe what we want to believe. Learning to find the truth is essential to our wellbeing. We need to know, for instance, if certain foods that taste good can hurt us with their high sodium and saturated fats, whether our government is truthful in its reasons for waging war, what problems a political candidate may cause or resolve if elected, and whether the items we purchase are durable or junk. But gaining those insights can be challenging when so many of the illusions surrounding us are deliberately created. To help us see through deceptions of all types, Kasten discusses eight kinds of lies and what we can do about them, as well as methods for discerning the truth gleaned from his practice of law. Other topics include the magic of advertising, thirty-six places where the truth hides, lessons from science, the media and misinformation, and how we fool ourselves. Altogether, he provides a unique tool for enabling us to make decisions that will lead to more prosperity, better health, greater intimacy, and a life based on lasting values. It is a daily challenge to discern truth from the mere appearance of reality, and the process involves a complex navigation system. Just Trust Me provides the compass.

240 pages

About the author: G. Randy Kastenis an attorney with twenty-five years of experience in litigation and legal transaction work. Kasten’s experience includes jury trials, bench trials, arbitrations, mediations and appellate work. He has sat as a judge and acted as an arbitrator, has written about thirty legal articles and edited newsletters on legal subjects. Kasten has given public presentations on legal topics as well as continuing education seminars for lawyers. The author has also worked in a coffee bar, in warehouses, as a performer in a theatrical road show in England and as an undercover restaurant security officer. At Reed College, Kasten majored in American Studies, exploring the effects of economic conditions, education and technology on individual belief systems. He acted on television and in local theatre productions at a young age. His mother ran a county library system so he learned at an early age what a tremendous difference access to information makes in people’s lives.