{"product_id":"a-short-history-of-stupidity-hardback-9781509563494","title":"A Short History of Stupidity (Hardback) 9781509563494","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eA Short History of Stupidity\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eStuart Jeffries (Author)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9781509563494, Polity Press\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eHardback, published 5 September 2025\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e336 pages\u003cbr\u003e23.4 x 15 x 3 cm, 0.658 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eA \u003ci\u003eMorning Star\u003c\/i\u003e Best Books of 2025\u003cbr\u003eA \u003ci\u003eNew Scientist\u003c\/i\u003e Best Popular Science Books of 2025\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"With an impressive range of reference from Schopenhauer and Foucault to Sarah Palin and Donald Trump, Stuart Jeffries' book succeeds in being both deeply serious and very funny, without ever sounding sneering. The fight back against stupidity begins with this fiercely intelligent book.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eJoe Moran, author of Shrinking Violets: The Secret Life of Shyness and On Roads: A Hidden History\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"This book is lively, provocative, witty, and - not least - intelligent.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePeter Burke, author of Ignorance: \u003ci\u003eA Global History and The Polymath: A Cultural History from Leonardo da Vinci to Susan Sontag\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"Stuart Jeffries has written the clever, funny \u003ci\u003eA Short History of Stupidity\u003c\/i\u003e, folding in everyone from Socrates to Jade Goody, Voltaire to Trump, Hitler to AI. He takes us on a fascinating, illuminating dive into ancient stupidity, modern stupidity, structural stupidity, mass stupidity, digital stupidity - you get the idea. Unless of course you're stu...\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eIrish Examiner\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eA Short History of Stupidity\u003c\/i\u003e is bracingly clever, densely didactic, and intimidatingly well-informed. I doubt that anyone who spends some time with Jeffries' book won't feel a little less dumb than hitherto.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Telegraph\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"Stuart Jeffries... treats idiocy with humour, intelligence and (relative) brevity.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLiterary Review\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"exhilarating\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Guardian\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A learned, picturesque ramble through world civilisation... a thoughtful, ambitious book\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTibor Fischer, \u003ci\u003eThe\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eSpectator\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"Bitingly funny\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Irish\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e Times\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\"A wide-ranging exploration not only of stupidity, but also wisdom, epistemology and their cultural manifestations.\"\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eMorning\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e Star\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Delightful and unexpected\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eNew\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e Scientist\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"The accomplished British critic Stuart Jeffries... makes 'stupid' seem like the perfect way to characterise our era.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eJoshua Rothman, \u003ci\u003eThe New\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eYorker\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"This is a learned and often exhilarating book, and it's a bit all over the place – but, given the subject matter, it'd be stupid to expect otherwise.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSam Leith, \u003ci\u003eThe\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eGuardian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\"Vastly entertaining as it samples human history from Socrates to ChatGPT\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eMarx \u0026amp; Philosophy Review of Books\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eA Short History of Stupidity\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWe are living, it is often said, in a golden age of stupidity, in which boneheaded, mendacious politicians get elected by voters who've become too mindless to realize their interests are ill served by narcissists, while vapid social media influencers corrupt their no less witless followers with groundless conspiracy theories and eye-wateringly foolish takedowns of scientific expertise. Our time, one might be forgiven for thinking, is one in which the fool's gold of stupidity has become a desirable commodity, a must-have, with bumbling celebrities venerated more than those who have more than two brain cells to rub together.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eIn this book, Stuart Jeffries analyses how we got into this parlous state and wonders if the stupid, like the poor, are always with us, or if, rather, stupidity is like Japanese knotweed, difficult to root out but to be exterminated with extreme prejudice. He considers what some of the greatest of minds — Socrates, Buddha, Voltaire, Arendt, and others — have to tell us about the slippery nature of stupidity.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eDuring a narrative that takes us from ancient Greece to artificial intelligence, and accompanied by such heroes of stupidity as Flaubert's double act Bouvard and Pécuchet, Jeffries casts a sceptical eye on attempts to root out stupidity by such means as IQ tests, eugenics, gene editing, and racist education policies, finding each attempt to be more stupid than the stupidity they were ostensibly devised to eradicate. If today we are living in a fool's paradise, has our species become too dim to learn anything from its rich history of folly?\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eNow available as an audiobook\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eAcknowledgements \u003cp\u003eIntroduction\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eChapter 1 • What is Stupidity?\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eChapter 2 • Ancient Stupidity\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eChapter 3 • Eastern Stupidity\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eChapter 4 • The Value of Folly\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eChapter 5 • Modern Stupidity\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eChapter 6 • Stupid Eugenics\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eChapter 7 • Stupid Intelligence\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eChapter 8 • Mass Stupidity\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eChapter 9 • Structural Stupidity\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eChapter 10 • Digital Stupidity\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eConclusion\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eNotes\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003eSubject Areas: Sociology \u0026amp; anthropology [\u003ca title=\"See our other books on Sociology \u0026amp; anthropology\" href=\"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/search?q=%22Sociology%20\u0026amp;%20anthropology%20%5BJH%5D%22\"\u003eJH\u003c\/a\u003e]\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"Polity","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52453538791704,"sku":"9781509563494","price":18.47,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0730\/2037\/5320\/files\/9781509563494.jpg?v=1785286041","url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/a-short-history-of-stupidity-hardback-9781509563494","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}