The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity

A classic * Simon Kuper, Financial Times *Brilliant. * James O’Brien, author of How to be Right *A masterly book * Nassim Nicholas Taleb *This is a very funny book, but Carlo Cipolla’s underlying insight really matters: there’s a lot of stupidity about, including in society’s highest circles – and the stupid wield a surprising amount of power, because the rest of us can never guess what idiotic thing they’ll do next. We need to get wise to stupidity, and Cipolla’s drily witty rules are a great place to start. * Oliver Burkeman *Cipolla’s subtle tongue-in-cheek humour made this book an underground classic in Italy. Today, under current worldwide political trends, it reads more like black humour. Keep in mind: reliable statistical data shows that 98% of the people seriously believe that they are far less stupid than the average. * Carlo Rovelli, author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics *Subtly lacerating * Publishers Weekly *The more you confront actual stupidity in everyday life, the more infuriating it is, whereas the more you contemplate it in the abstract, the more amusing it becomes. Cipolla finds the perfect tone to handle this paradox. On the page, he is arch and slightly annoyed, with a good deal of mock scholarly gravity thrown in…. Cipolla is very droll, and his theories-however deeply he has implanted his tongue in his cheek-have a helpful, clarifying quality * Commentary Magazine *

Carlo M. Cipolla (1922 - 2000) was an Italian economic historian, Fulbright Fellow and professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Cipolla was elected as a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy in 1989 and awarded the International Balzan Prize for Economic History in 1995. He also held honorary degrees in Italy and Switzerland. His classic treatise The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity was first published in 1988 and has sold more than half a million copies worldwide in over ten languages.