Author: Paul Tabori
Edition Cited in The Compleat Witch
Publisher: Chilton Company
City: New York (Philadelphia)
Year: 1959
Pages:
Binding: Hardback
Size: 6.25″ x 9.25″
Binding: Hardback
Size: 6.25″ x 9.25″
Front/Back Dust Jacket Flap Copy
THE NATURAL SCIENCE OF STUPIDITY
By Paul Tabori
By Paul Tabori
Only rarely does such a provocative theme, treated so darlingly and written with outrageous wit, reach the reading public.
The disturber of our peace here is Paul Tabori, who believes that the greatest enemy of mankind is man’s own stupidity. Our folly has cost more lives and money than wars and plagues, he points out. Broadly developing his theme – that stupidity is the world’s bane he stresses (among others) the stupidity of greed, of doubt, of red tape, of the law, of myth and wish-dream.
Conscious cupidity and naivete in matters of medical and religious quackery, for instance, and mass hysteria about such subjects as the world’s end are in for whiplike thrusts from the author’s rapier. His windmills are real enough and the cold couche of pure reach relegates most of our easily-com-by beliefs to limbo.
This is a book that must be read fully to be appreciated. One reading only whets the appetite, stirs the imagination, brews controversy. Further examination enables the reader to savor its true flavor as Tabori reduces man’s stupidity to a shambles. Here is sheer intellectual excitement for the brave, the bold, the unafraid.
The disturber of our peace here is Paul Tabori, who believes that the greatest enemy of mankind is man’s own stupidity. Our folly has cost more lives and money than wars and plagues, he points out. Broadly developing his theme – that stupidity is the world’s bane he stresses (among others) the stupidity of greed, of doubt, of red tape, of the law, of myth and wish-dream.
Conscious cupidity and naivete in matters of medical and religious quackery, for instance, and mass hysteria about such subjects as the world’s end are in for whiplike thrusts from the author’s rapier. His windmills are real enough and the cold couche of pure reach relegates most of our easily-com-by beliefs to limbo.
This is a book that must be read fully to be appreciated. One reading only whets the appetite, stirs the imagination, brews controversy. Further examination enables the reader to savor its true flavor as Tabori reduces man’s stupidity to a shambles. Here is sheer intellectual excitement for the brave, the bold, the unafraid.
Table of Contents
Introduction by Richard Armour . . . viii
I The Natural Science of Stupidity . . . 1
II Hard Food for Midas . . . 16
III After You, Sir . . . 47
IV Up the Family Tree . . . 82
V The Stupidity of Red Tape . . . 100
VI The Law Is an Ass . . . 125
VII The Stupidity of Doubt . . 154
VIII Myth and Wish-Dream . . . 178
IX Folie Erotique . . . 220
X The End of Stupidity . . . 256
Bibliography . . . 265
Index . . . 269
Online Resources
Editions
(arranged by year)
(Scan by Rev. Byrd)
Title: (if different)
Subtitle: (if different)
Subtitle: (if different)
Year: 1959
Publisher: Chilton Company; Philadelphia
Pages:
Binding:
Size: 6.25″ x 9.25″
Binding:
Size: 6.25″ x 9.25″
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Notes: (revised, foreword by, afterword by, etc.)
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Subtitle: (if different)
Year: 1959
Publisher: Ambassador Books; Toronto
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Binding: Hardback
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Notes: Published simultaneously with Chilton, 1959 edition.
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Year: 1959
Publisher: Prentice Hall; London
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Notes: First UK Edition
Title: (if different)
Subtitle: (if different)
Subtitle: (if different)
Year: 1960
Publisher: Chilton; Philadelphia
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Binding: Hardback
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Notes: (revised, foreword by, afterword by, etc.)
(Internet Source)
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Subtitle: (if different)
Year: 1962
Publisher: Prentice Hall; London
Pages:
Binding: Hardback
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Notes: (revised, foreword by, afterword by, etc.)
Additional Photos/Images
(Sample Illustrations, Cited Edition)
(None)
(None)
Misc. Quotes
(Interesting or pithy quotes from the book)
“Between the two wars there was a favorite insult in Central Europe, couched in the form of a question. One used to ask: ‘Tell me – does it hurt to be stupid?’ Unfortunately, it doesn’t. If stupidity were like a toothache, something would have been done about it long ago. But even this isn’t quite true. Stupidity does hurt – only it seldom hurts the stupid.”
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