Popular Science Review - Trust: from Socrates to spin

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Review - Trust: From Socrates to spin - Kieron O'Hara

This book was the hardest decision we've ever had to make in terms of inclusion on the site. It got here because we've plenty of books on human behaviour clumped under biology, but it's as much about politics as psychology and sociology. But the publishers consider it science, and in the end it's interesting enough to squeeze in.

Kieron O'Hara has an entertainingly breezy style. Early on he wonders if the way the rainbow is described in the bible "like a little label attached to a rainstorm saying 'don't worry'" is the first example of a logo - a delightful conceit.

That's not to say this is a light-weight book - it has plenty of content. Just occasionally O'Hara slips into boring textbook mode (most obviously in the chapter Trust & Social Cohesion) - but bear with him, he recovers and gets back to readability. While we're moaning, he also clearly doesn't watch TV much as he cites That's Life as an example of a UK consumer rights show (for the US audience, this is a bit like giving Laugh In as an example of a comedy show).

In the central part of the book he examines four "domains" from the Internet to politics that embody different dimensions of trust, before considering whether trust is declining and how to embody trust.

The message of the book is important for any reader. Trust impacts all of us in everyday life. But it is also very significant in the workplace. In any organization, the degree of trust between management and staff, and vice versa will directly impact how creative the individuals working for the organization will be. If there is no trust, there can be no creativity - as creativity involves a risk of things going wrong, and the individual has to trust that they will not be pilloried if this happens. And nowhere is trust more important than in the scientific community - as several recent betrayals of trust have demonstrated.

Although it starts intriguingly, O'Hara doesn't manage to make the whole book a fascinating read, hence the three star rating, but it certainly is a book that anyone interested in science and its consequences (whether or not you regard the contents as true science) should read.

Only in hardback

Reviewed by Martin O'Brien

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