{"product_id":"9781743437230","title":"A Short History of Stupid: The decline of reason and why public debate makes us want to scream","description":"How did everything get so dumb?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHow did we become hostages to idiocy?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhat must we do to be freed from a captor whose ransom note simply reads, 'D'oh'?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe deteriorating quality of our public debate and the dwindling of common sense in media, politics and culture can drive you to despair and rage. It certainly drove writers Helen Razer and Bernard Keane to a desperate act: befriending each other for long enough to write a book.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJoin forces with these uneasy allies to fight against a world that has lost its reason. Explore what's behind the remorseless spread of idiocy, and why there's just so much damn Stupid around you.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eStupid isn't just ignorance; it's not just laziness. Worse than the absence of thought, Stupid is a virus that drains our productivity and leaves us sick and diminished. And Stupid has a long, complex and terrible past, one we need to understand in order to defeat it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eA Short History of Stupid\u003c\/i\u003e traces the origins of this maddening ill, examining the different ways in which we've been afflicted over the last three thousand years. It damns those who have spread Stupid and celebrates the brave few who resisted. It shows how Stupid tightens the grubby grip of the foolish around our throats.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHilarious, smart, unpleasant, infuriating and rude, \u003ci\u003eA Short History of Stupid\u003c\/i\u003e is at once a provocation and a comfort. It will spark debate, soothe the terminally frustrated and outrage the righteously Stupid. It is a book whose Stupid time has come.","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin Pty., Limited","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47136773603568,"sku":"9781743437230","price":27.26,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781743437230_p0.jpg?v=1763705057","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781743437230","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}