False: How Mistrust, Disinformation, and Motivated Reasoning Make Us Believe Things That Aren't True

This is a review of the book "False: How Mistrust, Disinformation, and Motivated Reasoning Make Us Believe Things That Aren't True" by Joe Pierre, MD, published by Oxford University Press, 2025.

If you've ever tried to reason with an uncle who swears the election was stolen, or felt that sinking dread when a friend shares a viral post about miracle cures targeting root causes, you know the territory Joe Pierre is mapping in False. A professor of psychiatry at UCSF and an experienced academic clinician, Pierre takes apart the mechanics of belief in things that aren't true with the eye of a clinician and the curiosity of a social scientist. It is an intellectually rigorous, urgent exploration of why human beings believe things that aren't true. The book draws from psychology, psychiatry, cognitive science, and social theory, and it speaks directly to the uneasy question of the fragility of truth.

Pierre sets himself a formidable task: to trace the full spectrum of false belief, from clinical delusions to everyday distortions, and to explain why a species capable of scientific accomplishments such as putting men on the moon also struggles to agree on basic facts. He draws on cognitive psychology, psychiatry, and media studies to produce a diagnosis of the "post-truth" condition.

That Pierre's project remains stable, and his thesis retains both vitality and viability, is a testament to his scholarly rigor and the excellence of this book.