Natural-born liars -- Manipulators and mind readers -- The evolution of Machiavelli -- The architecture of the Machiavellian mind -- Social poker -- Hot gossip -- Machiavelli on the couch -- Conspiratorial whispers and covert operations -- Coda : Descarte's dream -- Appendix I: Unconscious creativity -- Appendix II: Psychological biases and defense mechanisms -- Notes -- Index.