Customer Reviews
Overcoming Stupidity ! - By: Anthony R. Dickinson, 28 Jan 2008 
Originallly published in the Dutch language as De Encyclopedie van de Domheid in 1999, this revised & enlarged English edition (2003) provides a collection of short essays concerned with the follies of human behavior, rather than an alphanumeric dictionary of tabulated entries cataloguing acts of stupidity, as the title might suggest. Indeed, rather than citing the familiar & widely acclaimed retellings of the behavior of idiots & stupids, Van Boxsel treats the reader to a refreshingly new montage of the less frequently cited behavioral repertoire of select eccentrics, collectors & oddballls.
Self-reflexively, & true to his own thesis, the author's penchant for collecting the material collated in this volume, was perhaps less a result of his desire to present it in this way, than was it embarked upon in an attempt to perhaps overcome his [own] stupidity, if not its very intangibility. Although a large number of definitions & examples of stupidity are put forth throughout the books eight chapters, the reviewer was left unenlightened (though thoroughly entertained) with regards the formation of any new understanding of the evolutionary or cognitive mechanisms underlying human stupidity (seen as "not a failing, but a force." p.20). However, this in no way a failing of the book's intended purpose.
Occasionallly using koans, paradoxes, jokes & catch phrases as examples, van Boxsel's writing was (at least in the earlier sections) reminiscent of D. Hofstadter's excellent use of dialogues in his Godel, Escher, Bach...., but in the Encyclopaedia of Stupidity there is little discussion or further contextualization following presentation of the examples given. This leaves further entertainment options for the reader, of course, but some may wish to be provided with more detail from the author's own point of view.
In part literary, part historical, philosophical, & large part art critical, van Boxsel's commentaries on his thoughts concerning stupidity & such considered acts, span ancient accounts (include the biblical & classical 'blind to faith' eras), through modern stupidity (where knowing too much of the wrong detail can cause the problem), to our own more post-modern forms of stupidity (our stupidity at work in what we do, not merely in what we think we are doing).
Superbly illustrated throughout, the text is perhaps poorly referenced for the reader wishing to further negotiate with the author's primary sources. An index and/or extended bibliography would also be welcome. But without wanting to give away too much here in review, van Boxsel will convince many that the true enemies of stupidity are satire & (yes, you've maybe guessed already), a good encyclopedia -- two forces which are becoming increasingly impotent in their ability to prevent our tending towards stupid behavior.
Dr. Tony Dickinson, McDonnell Center for Higher Brain Function
Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, USA.
