'On Bullshit' by Harry G. Frankfurt

The first paragraph of 'On Bullshit' goes exactly like this:

"One of the most salient features of our culture is that there is so much bullshit. Everyone knows this. Each of us contributes his share. But we tend to take the situation for granted. Most people are rather confident of their ability to recongnize bullshit and to avoid being taken in by it. So the phenomenon has not attracted much deliberate concern, nor attracted much sustained inquiry".

A "sustained inquiry" of the bullshit "phenomenon" constitutes, of course you fool, the rest of the book. Obviously, seeing such a naughty word not only in the title of a book, but used academically throughout, is quite funny. Not hilarious, but funny. Which is a good thing. If this book were a popular coffee table book released in late November and aimed specifically at the what-to-buy-your-relative-you-never-see-and-don't-even-like-
but-are-nevertheless-compelled-to-buy-a-present-for market, it would probably be called "The Complete Book of Bullshit", which wouldn't be at all funny. Which would of course mean the dust-jacket would be splattered with single-adjective quotes from newspaper reviews - "...unputdownable...", "...fantasicaludicrous..." and other meaningless superlatives.

Fortunately, not so. The book doesn't even have a dust-jacket. This is great, because I hate dust-jackets. They're pointless and I always bin them. Dust-jackets are to books what coasters are to coffee tables: a useless peripheral designed only to make you feel guilty and inadequate for doing exaclty what you're supposed to do with the object being "protected".

So that's two reasons to read this book, or perhaps three. There's no need to be precise, because the book itself has enough precision left over for you. It ventures repeatedly into the philosophy of language, politics, sociology and all kinds of stuff you're never going to have time to understand. But it's short (67 pages), small (about 3x2 inches) and a very relaxing shade of yellowy brown. It's more than likely I'll finish reading it before I die.