Ziyad Marar asks: Is it possible to live a truly honest life
By Amy Hunter
His mother always told him that he has a ‘pressure of words’. Ziyad Marar never planned to be a writer, and never even thought about it, yet he is the author of two books.
His latest book, Deception from The Art of Living series aims to investigate our relationships by looking into philosophy, psychology and literature. In this book, he delves into the seamlessly woven threads of deception in our everyday lives and asks us whether or not it is possible to live a truly honest life.
When asked about that inspired him to write this book, he answered “I’ve always been interested in how much more complicated we are than we like to appear to be. This involves the deception of others, but more crucially the capacity to deceive ourselves. My interest is in how a modern identity deals with the contradictions of contemporary society. Deception provided a way to shine a light into these dark corners.”
This book however, has been a long time in the making. Five years to be exact as a full time job and family commitments took up most of his time.
His previous book The Happiness Paradox draws on the idea on just what happiness is, and our obsession with obtaining it.
When asked if he had any new books in the works, he replied, “I’m working on a book about Intimacy next. We have this urge to form an intimate connection (between lovers, friends even strangers) while finding the terrain fraught and experience elusive. The next book will explore the tensions inherent in this profound need.”
Ziyad Marar was born in Baghdad, Iraq in 1966. He lived in the Middle East until the age of ten before moving to London. He holds a BSc in Psychology, an MA in philosophy and psychology of language. He has also completed several years of post-graduate research in the same field.
He is currently Editorial Director at Sage Publications, and has been for ten years.
Ziyad will be talking about ‘Deception’ on Saturday, February 28 2009 at 11:45 am and tickets will cost £7.
