Dumbth

Steve Allen

ISBN 10: 1573922374 / ISBN 13: 9781573922371

Published by Prometheus Books, 1998

About this Item

Dumbth (pron. dum -th) adj: a tendency toward muddleheadedness, or willful stupidity appearing in all segments of American life. Updated, expanded with 20 new ways to think better, and highlighted with a new introduction, this is Steve Allen's humorous and provocative examination of contemporary thought or lack of it in our society. When it first appeared nearly a decade ago, Dumbth: and 81 Ways to Make Americans Smarter was hailed by critics across the country as the book that would wake up Americans to their tendency toward poor thinking. Labeling the ineptitude phenomenon as dumbth, Allen has probed the depths of mass ignorance in thinking, speech, and actions for more than thirty years as he observed increased inefficiency, shoddy workmanship, bad service, and an overall breakdown in the capacity to reason. Today, while politicians and school boards play into the popular foolishness by proposing use of dumbed down texts and a street language called ebonics to reach students, Allen urges another kind of education. Allen explains the problem of fuzzy thinking in detail, and optimistically proposes many simple yet necessary remedies to dumbth in the 101 rules for good thinking, reading, writing, speaking, and, most importantly, reasoning.

Seller Inventory # 00104048030

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Dumbth
• Publisher: Prometheus Books
• Publication Date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1573922374
• ISBN 13: 9781573922371
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: Very Good

About this title

Synopsis

Dumbth (pron. dum-th) adj: a tendency toward muddleheadedness, or willful stupidity appearing in all segments of American life.Updated, expanded with 20 new ways to think better, and highlighted with a new introduction, this is Steve Allen's humorous and provocative examination of contemporary thought or lack of it in our society.When it first appeared nearly a decade ago, "Dumbth": and 81 Ways to Make Americans Smarter was hailed by critics across the country as the book that would wake up Americans to their tendency toward poor thinking. Labeling the ineptitude phenomenon as "dumbth," Allen has probed the depths of mass ignorance in thinking, speech, and actions for more than thirty years as he observed increased inefficiency, shoddy workmanship, bad service, and an overall breakdown in the capacity to reason. Today, while politicians and school boards play into the popular foolishness by proposing use of "dumbed down" texts and a street language called "ebonics" to reach students, Allen urges another kind of education.Allen explains the problem of fuzzy thinking in detail, and optimistically proposes many simple yet necessary remedies to "dumbth" in the 101 rules for good thinking, reading, writing, speaking, and, most importantly, reasoning.

About the Author

Steve Allen (1921-2000) was known as television's renaissance man. He authored more than fifty books and composed over 8,500 songs. Allen was the creator and original host of the Tonight Show and the award-winning PBS series Meeting of Minds. You can learn more about this legendary entertainer by visiting his official Web site at SteveAllenonline.com.