Thomas Heise: 5 Literary Hoaxes: Lies Are Stranger Than Fiction. Thomas Heise is the author of Moth; or how i came to be with you again ($15.95, Sarabande Books) From Dionysius the Renegade to Jeremy "Terminator" LeRoy, the successful hoaxer must concoct the right combination of elements to make the work believable.
When it comes to a false attribution, mastering another's style is essential. But instead of stealing someone else's letters and peddling them as their own, hoaxers hawk their own words as another's or, in a modern variant, fabricate a past for themselves--and the more outlandish, the better. Whatever the motive--fame, money, envy, or malice--the act is at heart a desire to recreate the world. For the literary prankster, this world and this life are never enough.
Here are five famous literary hoaxes: Loading Slideshow 1.
The made-up science scandal: how fact-fabrication is damaging UK's global name for research - Science - News. The clampdown comes as retractions of scientific claims by medical journals are on course to top 500 for the first time in 2013 - having been just 20 a year in the late 1990s, when Andrew Wakefield notoriously claimed that the MMR vaccine caused autism in children.
In April, the UK’s first researcher was jailed for falsifying data over a prolonged period. The Government is concerned that Britain’s prized second place in global research behind the US will be at threatened if more fact-fabricators are exposed. It knows that hundreds of thousands of jobs could easily go to foreign rivals if British laboratories do not keep coming up with new product ideas, to be made by major multinational companies in UK factories. A spokesman for Universities UK, which chaired negotations with the grant providers, said: “From next year, universities in the UK will have to prove compliance with the research integrity concordat in order to receive research grant. Edward Steers Jr.: 6 Biggest Hoaxes In History. Napoleon Bonaparte once famously observed "history is a set of lies agreed upon.
" For those who look for the truth, it is often far too easy to believe in fraudulent history and science when they tell us what we want to hear. These six hoaxes demonstrate two major factors involved in the success of a hoax or forgery--greed and the desire to believe. It is important to tackle history's enduring questions, examining the evidence behind each and dispelling lingering myths in order to explore the interplay of history and science to uncover how facts and falsehoods vie for belief. There are two kinds of myths that one finds in history: those that arise spontaneously, and those that are manufactured. The line between these two is extremely fine and can often become confused. The success of these frauds and so many alike highlights the disturbing fact that if true history fails to entertain the public, it is likely to be ignored or forgotten.
Close. HOW TO CHEAT AT EVERYTHING. Over lunch with Simon Lovell, a fascinating former card shark, Allison Schrager learns all sorts of things about how swindlers operate ...
Special to MORE INTELLIGENT LIFE "I can spot someone's weakness a mile away. In any room I can pick out the best target," says Simon Lovell, reformed con artist and famed magician, when asked over lunch about the root of his talents. "Take that woman over there. " He motions across the room towards a lady speaking to a man engrossed in his menu--"vulnerable, needy, looking for attention from the man she is with, but he won't give it to her.
"Or that man over there, over-dressed, too neat, over-confident, thinks he is too smart to be taken. " "But ultimately, anyone can be conned, if you have the balls to do it. " Simon Lovell should know. Presently, instead of subjecting people to cons, Mr Lovell stars in a one-man off-Broadway show, "Strange and Unusual Hobbies". It requires avid study of psychology and body language. But I would make a poor con artist.
General. Clifford Irving.