This is such a fun and enlightening book. Oh my goodness. I kind of wanted to read it straight through in one sitting or one day but I got tired and didn’t want to miss a word. That said I got almost half way, 4+ hours, the first day.  And I’m sure I’ll be reading it again when it comes up for discussion in the All-Nonfiction group.  It was nominated by a member who lives or lived in Europe where it was a huge best seller but the US sells few translated works (6%?).  I think some editor must have quietly appreciated this one. Yay!!!  

The Psychology of Stupidity – 
Edited Jean-François Marmion
2018 in Europe (where it was a big hit) 
Translation by Liesl Schillinger /2020
Read by Hillary Huber, Allyson Ryan, Mark Deakins
Rating – 8.5 / essays -psychology
Listened and read)  

On the downside you might find the narrative to be rather choppy but imo, that’s because the bulk of it consists of essays and  “conversations.” by/with various people in the fields of  present day psychology, writers, etc.  Mostly the essays are by Marmion who also conducts the “conversations.”   There were several I thought were particularly meaty, but a few which were weak.  

For Marmion, the definition of “Stupid” is either a person who is awkward, egotistical, and rude. The non-personal definition of “stupid” is basically bullshit or unkept promises. From pg XII:  

“Tremble before the vastness of this curse: if you try to reform a moron, not only will you fail, you will also strengthen him and encourage imitators. Before, there was only one moron: now there are two. Fighting against stupidity only makes it stronger. The more you attack an ogre, the more souls he devours.”  P. xii    

The bulk of the book outlines and describes various kinds or elements of stupidity in a number of different ways. Sometimes hilarious, sometimes quite “close to the bone.”

Trump is mentioned as being a good example of “stupid” in several ways and that was okay but I wouldn’t have wanted more of it in these difficult times.

Daniel Kahneman is one of the contributors and he’s excellent, as always.  In this case, the essays “Thinking Fast and Slow: A Conversation” (talking to Marmion) and “A Beautiful Friendship” an essay by Marmion based on Kahnemn’s book of the same name. (I’ve read other books by Kahneman but not the famous one.). Kahneman won the Nobel prize in Economics for the thinking behind a psychology book and he gave credit to his partner and co-author, Amos Tversky who died shortly before the award was granted.  Many of the essays follow the thinking of Kahneman and Tversky. Sad to say, the book has not been well received in the US.  

I’m going to be reading this again to be in sync with the reading group but I”ll leave it for a few days. I often have to read science books and really good literary fiction twice to get the meat or the heart of them. I love doing this.