Being well-read is sexy enough to make people lie about it
A British poll found that two-thirds of respondents had lied about reading particular books, primarily to impress potential partners. The survey of 1,300 people, commissioned by the organizers of World Book day found that the most lied about title was not, as commonly assumed, A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking—it came in only at No. 5—but George Orwell’s 1984, which 42 per cent of respondents had falsely claimed to have read. War and Peace, Ulysses and the Bible round out the top five. And what do Britons really like to read? Harry Potter (61 per cent).