The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity

Intellectual exercises, where a biting satirical spirit combines with optimistic good-nature!

For the first time, the laws of human stupidity are stated with wit and elegance—a powerful and eternal phenomenon, like nature itself. Are there fools among Nobel laureates? What distinguishes a fool from a bandit? What damage does a fool do to the common cause? How many fools are there in the population? How can you recognize and neutralize their “dark force”? Answers to these urgent questions can be found in the brilliant work of economic historian Carlo Cipolla.

At the same time, “this little book is in no way a product of cynicism or an exercise in defeatism,” because it is full of humor (or sarcasm), is quite scientific, and enjoys success with readers all over the world.

Also, under one cover, for the first time in Russian, the essay “Pepper, Wine (and Wool)” is published—a vivid and very compact analysis of how things that seem familiar and ordinary to us played a truly revolutionary role in the history of medieval Europe.