'Sexy' Classics We Say We've Read

We think fibbing about reading classics makes us appear intelligent, 'sexier'
By Mary Papenfuss,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 5, 2009 8:36 AM CST
'Sexy' Classics We Say We've Read
Researchers have found 65% of people have fibbed about reading a book to appear intelligent and 'more sexually attractive.'   (©Manchester Library)

The Bible, War and Peace, 1984, and Ulysses are some of the classics people say they've read but actually haven't, a new British study has found. Why? Two-thirds of those surveyed fibbed about their reading mainly to appear intelligent and "more sexually attractive," a researcher tells the Daily Telegraph. "It makes them look good." Of course, "If a date comes back with some obscure quotation from Proust, you might be in trouble." (More book stories.)

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