Encyclopedias are no longer just the preserve of knowledge and the knowledgeable. In this enjoyable and witty catalog of human weakness, Matthijs van Boxsel brings together an A-Z of the stupid, the comic and the nonsensical throughout history. The author maintains that our culture is the product of a series of failed attempts to comprehend stupidity, the quality he considers the key condition for intelligence and the foundation of our civilization. Basing his analysis on fairy tales, cartoons, garden architecture, baroque ceilings, jokes, flimsy excuses, science fiction and figures from King Midas to the dumb blonde, Van Boxsel fathoms the logic of this opposite world.