"Hide and Seek" describes the various forms of self-deception such as intellectualization, rationalization, displacement, reaction formation, grandiosity, sublimation, idealization and about 40 or 50 others that have been uncovered since the time of Freud. Each one is entertainingly illustrated with examples taken from the author's personal and professional experiences (he is a practising psychiatrist), current affairs like 9/11 and the Eurozone crisis, and great works of literature like Don Quixote, Catcher in the Rye, Candide and The Picture of Dorian Gray.
Neel Burton does much more than merely catalogue the principal forms of self-deception, and there are a number of fascinating asides and developments. Most memorable to my mind are the discussions of anger, depression, love, religion, humour and altruism, but there are many other such gems. Despite the high-mindedness of some of the topics, the book feels like a breeze as each of the 38 chapters is fairly short and there is minimum waffle.
In the final reckoning Neel Burton disagrees with Robert Trivers, who also wrote on the subject of self-deception. Burton argues that, although self-deception forms part and parcel of our human nature, it is essentially a very bad thing ("when understanding is lacking, goodness fails") and his case could not be more convincing. Well worth reading.