Idiot Proof: A Short History of Modern Delusions

I really enjoyed this book. I particularly like that enlightment values are opposed to modern world views regardless of whether those are the views of the left or the right, Christians or Muslims, democrats or republicans. He doesn't make any effort, though, to tell us HOW this came about, but instead simply demonstrates that it has come about. The only negative comment made by the other reviewers that I agree with is that the book needed a stronger editor. Some of those chapters really wander around.

It has been very amusing to read the reviews of those who dislike or disparage this book (on this site and elsewhere). Frequently, their complaints betray their disappointment that Wheen has committed the "crime" of attacking their own pet delusions, such as one reviewer who claimed to have no problem with the author's views until he dared to criticize the exalted gospel of the "free market"! It has always been my experience that truly intelligent people are able to make their ideas crystal clear, when they make the effort to do so. Conversely, those who hide behind vague "deeper meanings" and post-modernist claptrap are really trying to disguise their own lack of intelligence. (They're usually the same people who flunked Maths and Science at school!) Thus, I suspect that those who criticize Wheen for being "shallow" are members of precisely the class of intellectual poseurs who are his targets in this book. As with any thoughtful dissertation, every reader can say "I wish the author had said more about A and less about B". That is hardly a damning criticism: if you want to discuss "A" further, then why don't YOU write a book about that? Could it be that the reality is that YOU have nothing original to offer on the subject? The tragic aspect of this book's message is that such a small portion of the population seems consciously aware of the recent "dumbing down" of Western culture. Were that not the case, then the author would surely not have felt the need to write this book! Why should the author be obligated to offer solutions to these problems (as some reviewers have demanded), when the vast majority of people (in the true tradition of "Brave New World") can't even see a problem? Ironically, the very people who complain that Wheen doesn't serve up answers on a plate are those who fall for the promise of the "snake oil" in the first place. This book is an excellent, humorous and wide-ranging read. If you want something "deeper", then why don't YOU help the world by writing it?

I've read a number of books* exposing quackery, fake science, business and political fraud, deluded celebrities, lying politicians, the gullible and superstitious public, and the like, and I've enjoyed almost all of them. What sets this book by Francis Wheen, who is a columnist for the London Guardian, apart from the others is the literary quality of his writing and his sharp cultural insight. Wheen knows how to turn a phrase, he knows how to be expressive in an effective manner and he knows how to delight the reader with exactly the right barb delivered at exactly the right target with panache and style. For example: Commenting on a satire of self-help books (especially Deepak Chopra's) by comic writers Christopher Buckley and John Tierney ("If God phones, take the call"; "Money is God's way of saying 'Thanks'!"), Wheen observes that their satires "serve only to confirm that the genre is beyond parody..." He goes on to say that their second satirical law, "God loves the poor, but that doesn't mean He wants you to fly coach" is not more "hilariously absurd" than Chopra's "People with wealth consciousness settle only for the best. This is also called the principle of highest first. Go first-class all the way and the universe will respond by giving you the best." (p. 47) Reacting to "post-modern anti-scientific relativism," Wheen apprehends that "For those who regard rationality itself as a form of oppression...there is no reason why scientific theories and hypotheses should be 'privileged' over alternative interpretations of reality such as religion or astrology." (p. 98) Later he refers to "the enfeebling legacy of post-modernism--a paralysis of reason, a refusal to observe any qualitative difference between reasonable hypotheses and swirling hogwash." (p. 111) This is similar to Bertrand Russell's observation, "Science is at no moment quite right, but it is seldom quite wrong, and has, as a rule, a better chance of being right than the theories of the unscientific" (as quoted on page 98). If only this truth could be more universally realized! On the newfangled terminology of the creationists, Wheen notes that they have "adopted a more scientific-sounding phraseology--'abrupt appearance theory,' 'intelligent-design theory'--to disguise the fact that their only textbook was the Old Testament." (p. 100) Incidentally the quote in my subject line ("The sleep of reason brings forth monsters") is from page seven where Wheen identifies the monsters as both "manifestly sinister" (try Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Osama Bin Laden and other fundamentalists) and "merely comical" (e.g., Nancy and Ronald Reagan and their reliance on astrology). By the way, I lump Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson and Osama Bin Laden together because of this pronouncement from the TV evangelists just two days after 9/11: "What we saw on Tuesday, as terrible as it is, could be minuscule if, in fact, God continues to lift the curtain and allow the enemies of America to

As a society have we completely lost touch with the reason and enlightenment that brought us out of the dark ages and into modern science? If so have we become so confused that we are headed back to a time when reason is thrown away in favor of what can only be called superstitious belief? Author Francis Wheen examines our world today and how cults, superstition, and the desire to want to believe have caused a veritable epidemic of foolishness often passing as science. In his book "Idiot Proof" he takes on several people who are veritable icons of contemporary society - people like Nancy Reagan, Deepak Chopra, George Bush, Hillary Clinton, and many others. In addition to people he takes on various subjects like UFOs, crystals, psychics, and astrology. This is a book about how people are lead like sheep to the slaughter merrily bleating along the way totally unaware of their folly. While you may not agree with all the assessments, they are logically founded and well argued. While I enjoyed the book and Mr. Wheen's commentary, I don't personally agree with everything in the book. Still, I recognize the importance of having people like Mr. Wheen occasionally point out the contrasting side of a belief. The way we grow and refine our beliefs requires that we keep an open mind and examine all sides. Mr. Wheen serves this purpose of presenting the opposing viewpoint very well. Then again, if we have learned anything from history it is that science can lead us down the wrong path just as easily as any superstition. There was a time when doctors lost their jobs and were subject to ridicule if they believed in germs. The whole concept was nonsense and against logic and current knowledge. With plenty of notes and cross-references at the end of the book, "Idiot Proof" is a recommended read and sure to be enlightening to everyone on at least a few fronts.

Do you ever find yourself flagging in enthusiasm for the Enlightenment? The Enlightenment of the 18th century, I mean. As Francis Wheen puts it, do you miss values such as insisting on intellectual autonomy, rejecting tradition and authority as the infallible sources of truth, loathing for bigotry and persecution, committing to free inquiry? As you might expect, Wheen's enthusiasm for such ideals is not flagging, nor is his indignation that the ideals are not being upheld in our time. In _Idiot Proof: Deluded Celebrities, Irrational Power Brokers, Media Morons, and the Erosion of Common Sense_ (PublicAffairs), Wheen whines at length about contemporary preposterousness in many forms. The values of the Enlightenment are being betrayed every day, he demonstrates, and he does so with a fiery keyboard, an infectious sardonic laugh, and a huge command of examples. In fact, the examples often seem so bizarre that they ought to be mere fiction. Mawkish advice from management gurus like "When opportunity knocks, the entrepreneur is always home" or "Remember to expect miracles... because you are one" may be found in volumes insisting that they were conveying management principles from Moses, Aristotle, Elizabeth I, Gandhi, or Star Fleet. Deepak Chopra (a frequent target here) has intoned the Principle of Highest First: "Go first class all the way and the universe will respond by giving you the best." Wheen's book was first issued where he writes, in England (as _How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World_), and has an Anglo bent, but Americans will find much about their own leaders here. President Clinton sought advice from a Hollywood mystic and a "sacred psychologist" who helped Hillary Clinton talk to Eleanor Roosevelt, Hillary's "spiritual archetype." The current president Bush was put into office largely by those who agree with his close alliance with Israel, because according to fundamentalists, maintaining the nation of Israel is a necessary condition for the second coming of Jesus (they usually do not emphasize that the nation has to convert to Christianity, too). Anyone expecting Wheen to skewer only one political philosophy, to let the liberals go while blasting conservatives, has only to read a few more pages on. Noam Chomsky, Jerry Falwell, and the Ayatollah all get their turn.It is all right that Wheen is over and over again just shooting fish in a barrel. These are fish that deserve extinction. Nostradamus, creationism, newspaper horoscopes, Enron, and new age trendies are all here, as is the teaching of the postmodernist Luce Irigaray that E = mc^2 is egregiously a "sexed equation" since it "privileges the speed of light over other less masculine speeds." The Cult of Diana is remembered with acerbity; one of London's airports risked being renamed Diana Airport, for "The People's Princess" and devotee of colonic irrigation. A feng-shui consultant hired by the labor government to improve housing estates gave the invaluable lesson th