The new and updated version of a classic reference work brings the history of distortions, errors, half-truths, and outright lies into the information age.
Who said the following?
-- "The one thing I won't let happen to me is I won't let a ball go through my legs".(1)
-- "640K ought to be enough for anybody".(2)
-- "Bill Clinton will lose to any Republican nominee who doesn't drool on stage".(3)
When first published in 1984, The Experts Speak was hailed by Time magazine as "irreverent, unfair and subversive", and over the years it has proven to be the ultimate resource for skeptics. Since then, we've lived through such monumental world events as the Gulf War, the Iran-contra scandal, and the O. J. Simpson trial, fostering the need to examine once more those sure things that turned out to be dead wrong.
Whether it's business or technology, the arts, the environment, or politics, The Experts Speak documents thousands of examples of expert miscalculation, misunderstanding, egregious prognostication, and boo-boos, all systematically cataloged, footnoted, and set straight.
This is a perfect gift for students of all ages, and sure to remain the lie-detector of record for years to come.
(1) Bill Buckner, Red Sox, first baseman, prior to the 1986 World Series
(2) Bill Gates, Microsoft, 1981
(3) Wall Street Journal editorial, October 1995
Did you know that the stock market had reached a "permanently high plateau" in October 1929? You would have thought so, had you listened to the experts back then. Christopher Cerf and Victor Navasky of the "Institute of Expertology" have made it their mission to compare the actual statements of professional prognosticators with the events following their predictions. Knowing better than to comment directly, they let the reader decide about the (ahem) reliability of the experts.
Brilliantly organized, using the categories of Adler's "Outline of Knowledge," The Experts Speak will educate the naive and entertain the cynical with its thousands of well-documented quotes by wise men and women, from Aristotle ("The brain is an organ of minor importance") to Albert Einstein ("There is not the slightest indication that [nuclear]energy will ever be obtainable"). Concise, well-written descriptions of the events that actually happened--usually at variance with informed opinion--add to the dry humor. If you've always wanted to be a self-assured talking head, The Experts Speak will make you anauthority on definitive misinformation. --Rob Lightner
