Book Review: “The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity” by Carlo M. Cipolla
Buy it here.
In honor of Banned Books Month.
Quotes from the book are italicized.
Cipolla’s writing is so elegant and clear, his argument so straightforward as well as amusing, it’s tempting to blow off this gem as mere satire. Beware—it’s so sharp, you might cut yourself.
“Let me point out… this little book is neither a product of cynicism nor an exercise in defeatism—no more than a book on microbiology is. The following pages are in fact the result of a constructive effort to detect, know, and thus possibly neutralize one of the most powerful dark forces that hinder the growth of human welfare and happiness.” (from the Introduction)
What is that dark force? Stupidity. Law Three: A stupid person is a person who causes losses to another person or group of persons while himself deriving no gain and even possibly incurring losses.
Law One: Always and inevitably everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation. This is important.
Law Two: The probability that a certain person be stupid is independent of any other characteristic of that person. In other words, there are stupid Nobel Laureates. Every human subgroup of any type, sex, color, or creed contains stupid people.
Laws Four: Non-stupid people always underestimate the damaging power of stupid individuals. In particular, non-stupid people constantly forget that at all times and places and under any circumstances to deal and/or associate with stupid people infallibly turns out to be a costly mistake. Looking at you, GOP.
And the coup de grace, Law Five: A stupid person is the most dangerous type of person. I don’t need to remind you that our country is being terrorized by President Murderously Stupid and his Insanely Stupid Cabal. It’s a good thing these morons don’t read. They’d ban this book in a heartbeat.
Tiny (6.5” x 4.5” x 0.5”) but mighty! Absolutely brilliant, and hilarious too. Mandatory reading for critical thinkers. That means you. Makes a great gift. Think stocking stuffer, graduation, birthday, random act of kindness. Re-read as needed when you feel like crying.
Highly recommend. Five stars.
You need to read these two books too. If you want to know what is going through your therapist’s mind, Practice, Practice, Practice: This Psychiatrist’s Life is for you. Duke Ellington famously said, “I don’t need time. I need a deadline.” Find out why this holds true for clinical appointments as well as creative projects in Doorknob Bombshells in Therapy: The Deadline, the Brain, and Why It Is Important to End on Time.