Nyberg Book On Lying Named to Choice Magazine List of Books

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- "The Varnished Truth: Truth Telling and Deceiving in Ordinary Life," a book authored by David Nyberg, professor of education at the University at Buffalo, has been named to the list of Outstanding Academic Books of 1994 by Choice magazine.

The list honors 611 titles selected from more than 6,500 reviews, approximately 10 percent of those published in the 1993 issues of Choice.

Truth telling, according to Nyberg, is morally overrated. Lying, on the other hand, while publicly condemned, is privately practiced by almost everyone in many forms because it is necessary for mental health and social well-being.

"Deception and self-deception are not only commonplace, but ancient, universal and necessary," says Nyberg. In the book, he describes how telling "edited truths" may preserve propriety and good will, reduce pain and sustain social stability.

A faculty member in the UB Graduate School of Education since 1973, Nyberg is a former president of the Philosophy of Education Society.

He resides in East Aurora, N.Y.