When, in a classic scene in probably the smartest cartoon series in history, the notoriously idiotic Homer Simpson says, ‘everyone is stupid except me’, the joke is as much on us as it is on him. At that moment, Homer is Everyman, for stupidity is a vice we are as quick to attribute to others as we are slow to see in ourselves. When he then falls asleep, drops a cigar and sets fire to his house, we’re reminded that denial of one’s own stupidity is pride before a fall. These few seconds of television are a concise combination of wit and wisdom the equal of anything Dao or Zen has to offer.

In his A Short History of Stupidity, Stuart Jeffries also treats idiocy with humour, intelligence and (relative) brevity. Jeffries made his name as a writer who can tackle serious topics with a disarming and sometimes deceptive levity. These skills are most clearly on display in his book on the Frankfurt School, Grand Hotel Abyss. He walks a delicate line between a fear of taking himself too seriously and a desire to treat his subjects seriously enough. At his best, he uses humour to spice up his intelligence, not to disguise it.

Jeffries therefore looks well qualified to write seriously about stupidity without descending into flippancy or excessive earnestness. But the project founders, primarily due to a lack of focus. In his introduction, Jeffries lists many of the near-synonyms for ‘stupid’ – ‘dumb’, ‘slow’, ‘unintelligent’, ‘silly’, ‘ignorant’ – in order to point