Jan Willem Reitsma Bücher

This account chronicles Lance Armstrong's dramatic rise and fall. In June 2013, as he faced multimillion-dollar lawsuits, Juliet Macur was present, engaging with his girlfriend and children while capturing Armstrong's narrative. She was one of the few media figures, alongside Oprah Winfrey, to gain extensive one-on-one access to the disgraced athlete. The narrative centers on Armstrong, revealed through personal interviews, yet it is enriched by firsthand accounts from over a hundred witnesses, including family members he had distanced himself from—his adoptive father, grandmother, and aunt. Notably, the recorded testimony of J.T. Neal, a significant father figure in Armstrong's life, adds a poignant layer, as it was captured during Neal's final years battling cancer while Armstrong rose to fame as a cancer survivor. Ultimately, it was Armstrong's former friends, once close to him, who exposed the truth, breaking the silence that had protected both the sport of cycling and its celebrated figure. Through the diverse voices of those who knew Armstrong intimately, Macur crafts a compelling and intricate narrative of his extraordinary ascent to fame and his heartbreaking downfall.

Reading this book will make you less sure of yourself—and that’s a good thing. Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons, creators of a renowned psychological experiment, use compelling stories and surprising scientific findings to reveal a crucial truth: Our minds don’t function as we believe. We think we perceive ourselves and the world accurately, yet we overlook much. Time and again, we assume we experience reality as it is, but our thoughts are riddled with everyday illusions. We establish traffic laws and build criminal cases based on the belief that people will notice unusual occurrences right before them. We confidently recall our whereabouts on 9/11, mistakenly believing that vivid memories are etched in our minds with perfect clarity. Society invests billions in brain-training devices, drawn by the allure of quick fixes and effortless self-improvement. This book uncovers the many ways our intuitions mislead us, but it goes beyond merely cataloging human shortcomings. Chabris and Simons elucidate why we fall prey to these illusions and offer strategies to shield ourselves from their impact. Ultimately, it provides insight into our minds, allowing us to penetrate the veil of illusions that obscure our thoughts and enabling clearer thinking for perhaps the first time.