For the first time, the laws of human stupidity—a phenomenon as powerful and eternal as a natural phenomenon—have been wittily and elegantly formulated. Are there any fools among Nobel laureates? What distinguishes a fool from a bandit? What is the damage a fool inflicts on the common good? How numerous are fools in the population? How can we recognize and neutralize their 'dark force'? The answers to these pressing questions are found in the magnificent work of economic historian Carlo Cipolla. At the same time, 'this little book is by no means a product of cynicism or an exercise in defeatism,' for it is full of humor (or sarcasm), thoroughly scientific, and popular with readers worldwide. Also published under one cover for the first time in Russian is the essay 'Pepper, Wine (and Wool)'—a vivid and very compact analysis of how things we perceive as long-familiar and ordinary played a truly revolutionary role in the history of medieval Europe.