About the book

When does a reasonable idea begin to turn into nonsense?

This book brings together ideas, expressions and concepts that are often presented with great solemnity, yet may prove contradictory, exaggerated or downright absurd when examined a little more closely.

It does not deny that some of them spring from a genuine problem. Stupidity appears when a reasonable observation becomes a universal explanation, a moral commandment, a slogan that admits no nuance or a rule applied only to everyone else.

The chapters will be deliberately brief. Each one will introduce an idea, acknowledge whatever may be reasonable in it and identify, concisely and entertainingly, the precise moment when it becomes nonsense.

The book does not claim to deliver the final word. It merely hopes readers will laugh at the nonsense they reject and perhaps ask new questions about the ideas they defend with devotion.