"No doubt there exist thoughts so profound that most of us will not understand the language in which they are expressed. And no doubt there is also language designed to be unintelligible in order to conceal an absence of honest thought. But how are we to tell the difference? What if it really takes an expert eye to detect whether the emperor has clothes? In Fashionable Nonsense, Sokal and Bricmont give us the background information that should convince any reasonable person that the hoax was earnestly needed and richly justified. A splendid book." --Richard Dawkins, author of Climbing Mount Improbable and The Blind Watchmaker
"An excellent discussion...The present book is a plea for a sensible understanding of science and a welcome antidote to irrationality." --Simon Moss, Houston Chronicle
"Sokal and Bricmont's book should have an impact at least on the next generation of students...Although Sokal and Bricmont focus on the abuse and misrepresentation of science by a dozen French intellectuals, their book broaches a much larger topic -- the uneasy place of science and the understanding of scientific rationality in contemporary culture." --Thomas Nagel, The New Republic
"The spirit of expertly delivered comeuppance inhabits Fashionable Nonsense...Their case is strong." --Thomas Lewis, San Francisco Chronicle
"The modern sciences are among the most remarkable of human achievements and cultural treasures. Like others, they merit--and reward--respectful and scrupulous engagement. Sokal and Bricmont show how easily such truisms can recede from view, and how harmful the consequences can be for intellectual life and human affairs. They also provide a thoughtful and constructive critical analysis of fundamental issues of empirical inquiry. It is a timely and substantial contribution." --Noam Chomsky
"Take the most hallowed names in current French theoretical thinking, divide by one of the sharpest and most irreverent minds in America, multiply by a half-dozen examples, render in good, clear English--and you have a thoroughly hilarious romp through the postmodernist academy. Two years ago, Sokal struck a devastating blow against intellectual obscurantism with his famous Social Text parody, and Fashionable Nonsense delivers the perfect coup de grace." --Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Blood Rites and The Snarling Citizen
