THE NATURAL SCIENCE OF STUPIDITY

by Paul -- Compiler Tabori ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1959

Mr. Tabori, the well-known Hungarian novelist, essayist, dramatist and scenarist, makes it quite clear in his unusual and unusually stimulating collection of witty, wry and wise essays on man's eternal and various stupidities, that he does not suffer fools gladly. ""Stupidity"", he writes, ""is Man's deadliest weapon, his most devastating epidemic, his costliest luxury."" To ""prove"" his damning indictment he groups some of Man's more blatant stupidities under some general headings: Gold, Red Tape, Etiquette, Genealogy, Persistent Doubters, Chivalry, etc. His range of reading is impressive and his anecdotal presentation perfectly conveys the rich humor inherent in the subject matter. Mr. Tabori's own comments are kept short but not so sweet; he is always the bitterly bemused commentator on Man's many variations on one of Life's enduring themes--stupidity. Going back into pre-historic times and continuing up into our own times, the examples chosen are sometimes funny, sometimes infuriating--but always they are fascinating to read and wonder about. Here's a book for the iron-bound rationalists, the unsentimentalists, the ""man who thinks for himself"". He will make up an audience of the literate, the iconoclastic and the intellectually curious.

Pub Date: April 1, 1959

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Chilton

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1959

Categories: NONFICTION