I bought Edward De Bono’s book Simplicity, a subject on which I have a lot to say. My first impression of this work… Well, I don’t think much work was involved. This is a piece of crap.

This book is styled after a “get rich quick” self-help manual. It seems to be uncontaminated by constructive syllogistic thought, preferring gems of bounded rationality like these:

There is never any justification for things being complex when they could be simple.

Simplicity makes life simpler.

The word ’simple’ is probably simple enough. But words like ’simplify’ and ’simplification’ are a bit of a mouthful and contradict the simplicity of what they are supposed to be about.

This book’s main contribution to knowledge is the assertion that complexity is bad, simplicity is good, m’kay? Let’s unite to fight back entropy! I am usually very tolerant, but this is just brainless. Do you think Mr. De Bono will like being called a simpleton?

On an altogether different train of thought:

When I was in high-school I often tended to discuss social problems through to a solution (sometimes on stage under competition conditions). Repeatedly, the solution was discovered to be education. Now, I realise that this is tantamount to saying that all that is required is for everyone to conform to my views (id est the views of an educated elite). How true.