Best-Selling Author Lehrer Admits Fabricating Dylan Quotes for Book - Wall Street Journal

By JEFFREY A. TRACHTENBERG

Jonah Lehrer's nonfiction book "Imagine: How Creativity Works" is being pulled from retailers following the disclosure that the author fabricated quotes from Bob Dylan.

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Author Jonah Lehrer, shown in 2008: 'I want to apologize.'

The book's publisher, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, provided a statement from Mr. Lehrer in which the author acknowledged having lied to journalist Michael Moynihan after Mr. Moynihan questioned the authenticity of some of Mr. Dylan's quotes as they appeared in "Imagine."

"Three weeks ago, I received an email from journalist Michael Moynihan asking about Bob Dylan quotes in my book 'Imagine,' " said Mr. Lehrer in his statement. "The quotes in question either did not exist, were unintentional misquotations, or represented improper combinations of previously existing quotes. "But I told Mr. Moynihan that they were from archival interview footage provided to me by Dylan's representatives. This was a lie spoken in a moment of panic. When Mr. Moynihan followed up, I continued to lie, and say things I should not have said."

Efforts to reach Mr. Lehrer directly were unsuccessful.

Mr. Lehrer, whose book ranked No. 22 on the combined print and e-book New York Times nonfiction best-seller list dated Aug. 5, also said he has resigned as a staff reporter at the New Yorker magazine.

"I understand the gravity of my position," said Mr. Lehrer in his statement. "I want to apologize to everyone I have let down, especially my editors and readers. I also owe a sincere apology to Mr. Moynihan."

A person close to Mr. Dylan's management organization said it had no record of any contact with Mr. Lehrer, or inquiries from the writer.

A spokeswoman for Barnes & Noble Inc., the country's largest bookstore chain, said Monday afternoon that the retailer is in the process of halting sales of the physical and digital editions. A spokeswoman for Amazon.com Inc. said the online bookseller is also halting all sales.

A spokeswoman for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, a unit of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Co., said the digital books should be removed from all bookselling sites by the end of the day Monday. She said the publishing house has sold more than 200,000 copies of Mr. Lehrer's book in digital and physical formats.

In a statement issued by the New Yorker, David Remnick, editor, said, "This is a terrifically sad situation, but, in the end, what is most important is the integrity of what we publish and what we stand for."

Earlier this year, Mr. Lehrer was criticized for repurposing material he had originally written elsewhere. Jim Romenesko, a media writer, in June reported that a piece written by Mr. Lehrer and posted on the New Yorker site on June 12 bore similarity to a piece he wrote that appeared in The Wall Street Journal last Oct. 15.

The New Yorker subsequently appended an editor's note to Mr. Lehrer's piece that reads: "The introductory paragraphs of this post appeared in similar form in an October 2011 column by Jonah Lehrer for The Wall Street Journal. We regret the duplication of material." Mr. Romenesko later wrote that the editor notes appeared on "five of Jonah Lehrer's posts."

Mr. Lehrer contributed a biweekly column to The Wall Street Journal between Oct. 2, 2010 to June 8, 2012. The Journal said in a statement, "We are currently reviewing Mr. Lehrer's work for the Journal."

Mr. Moynihan, the journalist who brought up the subject with Mr. Lehrer, is a regular contributor to Tablet magazine, an online magazine about Jewish politics, news and culture, said Bari Weiss, who edits the news and politics section at Tablet.

"I wanted to see what he was about," said Mr. Moynihan. "I got his book. And Dylan is an interest of mine. Some of the quotes sounded off, and it didn't seem well sourced, so I started looking into it."

Mr. Moynihan said he first got in touch with Mr. Lehrer on July 7. "He could have had a good explanation," Mr. Moynihan said. "We did a long bout of emailing back and forth, and this is where we ended up."

â€"Ethan Smith contributed to this article.

Write to Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg at jeffrey.trachtenberg@wsj.com