Here is not only a really interesting book but, I believe, a really important one as well:
Mistakes Were Made (but not by me); Why we justify foolish beliefs, bad decisions, and hurtful acts - Carol Travis and Elliot Aronson.
http://tinyurl.com/csn3o8The book covers the problem of cognitive dissonance (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance) and how we internally resolve it with (lots of) self-justification. Why do we make mistakes but then try to deny any wrong-doing or even defend them, sometimes even repeating them again and again? Why do good people (that would include us :) sometimes do bad or stupid things but pretend they are aren’t? This book provides some interesting and often too-close-to-the-bone answers.
In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends - Martin Luther King, Jr.
