Understanding Stupidity, 3rd Revised Ed.

by James F. Welles

Who are we? What are we? Why are we? When seeking answers to these eternal questions, we tend to flatter ourselves by being accurate when it suits us and partial when it pleases us. In terms of our... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0961772905
• ISBN13: 9780961772901
• Release Date: August 1997
• Publisher: Mount Pleasant Press
• Length: 210 Pages
• Weight: 0.76 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Accuracy

Since Dr. Welles's arrest has become a topic of consideration, let us set the record straight. It was due to neither stupdity nor criminal conduct on his part but criminal conduct on the part of the police. The state's case was based entirely on unsubstantiated hearsay and can be characterized as obstuction of justice and features withholding evidence, tampering with evidence, falsifying evidence, fabricating evidence and multiple counts of perjury. The charge against Dr. Welles has been dropped and the record expunged. It is too bad others who wrote about this incident did not bother to get their facts straight.

do i need a title?

If you have interest in psychology, sociology, or philosphy you may want to take a look at Understanding Stupidity. Dr welles first sets up a working definition of 'stupidity' then elaborates upon how it affects human belief sytems and why in fact stupidity is necessary to the existence of such systems. emotions are what we are given as children via socialization. these emotions unconciously become a filter for information thus taking the place of rationality...in a sense this is what stupidity is. I'm trying to summarize, and by doing so i dont do justice to the idea, but i'll leave it as such just to present a basic knowledge. i respect dr. welles' ideas because they are well thought out and are presented clearly and accurately...he doesn't leave many holes in his arguments. my only complaint is that he tends to be repetitve, although this may be necessitated by readers tendencies to drift over important details. Regardless, i felt less stoopid having done had read it. and dats whut!

Barefoot boy with cheek

Half the time it took me to read this book was spent wiping the tears from my eyes; James Thurber would have given "Understanding Stupidity" two thumbs up. This is the funniest stupidity I have ever run across and the stupidest truth. I sent copies to all my friends for Christmas and he said it was the stupidest thing he ever read. Ha, ha, my friend is an idiot.

If you can read only one book

Before making a study of anything that people do, read this book.It renders whole libraries superfluous. It reveals why humans can't do anything right. The reason is they have a Schema in their head. I take it that Schema means model. People don't deal with reality. They deal with the model in their head, which is usually very faulty and easily moulded by groups and leaders. Why waste your time reading a lot of history, philosophy, religion etc when all of it is just schemas that will only lead to your failure.

A fine study of what stupidity is and how it spreads.

Ever find yourself wondering how people can be so stupid, blind and self-destructive? Then this is the book for you. Though the jargon gets a little deep and wide sometimes, Welles takes a comprehensive look at where stupidity comes from and how it is transmitted individually and culturally. You might want to read it with a highlighter in hand.