Ebook: The Encyclopaedia of Stupidity

'The Encyclopedia of Stupidity' is a modern 'In Praise of Folly'. In a myriad of instructive examples, stupidity is dissected with the help of fairy-tales, cartoons, Baroque painted ceilings, jokes, flimsy excuses, traffic accidents, garden designs, pieces of nonsense, science fiction ...

Stupidity manifests itself in every walk of life, in every person, at all times. A study of stupidity therefore automatically assumes encyclopedic dimensions.

Stupidity is unwitting self-destruction, the ability to act against one’s best interests, with death as the extreme consequence. If man was not to fall victim to his own stupidity, he had to develop his own intelligence. Indeed, stupidity is the engine that drives our civilization.

In 'The Encyclopedia of Stupidity' Matthijs van Boxsel introduces us to a past and present world of mishaps and misunderstandings, from tower-builders who lack a ladder to get into their tower to peasants who collect water with a sieve. In a myriad of instructive and entertaining anecdotes, such as “The Eggshells of Ignorance’, ‘The Hell of Fools’ ‘The Logic of Dual Stupidity, ‘The Not Terribly Good Club, and ‘On the Origin of Dullards’, we are shown that stupidity is in fact the foundation of our civilization. And in an attempt to fathom the logic of this nether world, the author posits that no one is intelligent enough to understand their own stupidity. Nor can anyone hope to comprehend all the institutional stupidity that results from science and academia.

In this erudite and witty book Matthijs van Boxsel argues that — contrary to what we've always thought — stupidity is a crucial condition for intelligence, that blunders stimulate progress, and that failure is the basis for success.

Matthijs van Boxsel is a man of letters who has been researching, writing and lecturing on stupidity for over 20 years. He lives in Amsterdam.