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The B.S. Factor
Fakery and hypocrisy in American communications are the subjects of this outspoken—and hilarious—book. Uncovering our thought-pollution problem for perhaps the first time, Arthur Herzog exposes Executalk ("name of the game" for "point" or "purpose," "ball-park estimate" for "rough guess"), Quote Facts (opinions made to seem like facts by virtue of being quoted), and Complex Complex (the compulsion to make things more complicated than they need to be), to mention only a few of the current crimes against logic and language. The perpetrators of these atrocities include Fadthinkers, Word Mincers, Sci-Speakers, Copy Cant-ers, and Anything Authorities, those who, having succeeded in one field, appear on TV talk shows as experts on everything else. Without the B.S. Factor, success in America is almost impossible, says Herzog, and he goes on to call for a new breed of "radical skeptics" to clear away the B.S. that is now engulfing our country. "An entertaining and witty attack."
— Publishers Weekly "Mr. Herzog has diagnosed the sickness brilliantly."
— The New York Times Book Review
— Publishers Weekly "Mr. Herzog has diagnosed the sickness brilliantly."
— The New York Times Book Review
220 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1973
About the author
Arthur Herzog III
34 books15 followersArthur Herzog III (April 6, 1927 – May 25, 2010) was an American novelist, non-fiction writer, and journalist, well known for his works of science fiction and true crime books. He was the son of songwriter Arthur Herzog, Jr..
His novels The Swarm and Orca have been made into films. His science fiction novel IQ 83 is being made into a film by Dreamworks.
Herzog was also the author of non-fiction books: The Church Trap is a critique of Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish church organization and institutions particularly in the U.S; 17 Days: The Katie Beers Story, is about the kidnapping and child sexual abuse of Katie Beers.
His novels The Swarm and Orca have been made into films. His science fiction novel IQ 83 is being made into a film by Dreamworks.
Herzog was also the author of non-fiction books: The Church Trap is a critique of Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish church organization and institutions particularly in the U.S; 17 Days: The Katie Beers Story, is about the kidnapping and child sexual abuse of Katie Beers.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 30, 2012
Writing in 1973, the author opposes what he sees as a contemporary American tendency toward being "fake," which broadly includes things like: the nonsense in advertising copy; vagueness and illogic in rhetoric (e.g. American political values may be either natural to all human beings or a unique accomplishment in history, but not both); political cant (what today we'd call "spin"); redundant phrases that degrade the language (e.g. "free gift"); and a more serious inability to clearly separate truth from lies when so much inbetween is just meaningless B.S., the result being that neither the truth nor the lie is especially valued.
Herzog repeats H. L. Mencken's quip that to respect truth is to acknowledge that "it is something to be cherished and hoarded and disbursed only when absolutely necessary." Herzog's assessment that Mencken was speaking "sensibly" seems to indicate he thinks this is only half in jest. Exactly what he means by that is a bit hard to unpack. To begin with, he opposes the attitude of "dogmatism" that he defines as so eager to discover and attach itself to the Truth that it will believe just about anything without worthy cause. "We are today a 'belief explosion'," he says, "which throws skepticism to the winds and attaches itself in a credulous manner to mental malpractice and intellectual humbuggery of every kind--to faking it, small and big." He also suggests that there is something to be valued in an "artful approach to reality" which is somehow distinguished from mere fakery and cant, but I cannot identify what he means by that.
Some of this is a little dated in a way that makes it interesting. A book like this written today about political spin and the degradation of language would surely mention how ideas spread on the Internet. Herzog has only three paragraphs on misguided assumptions about computers, namely that by the early 1970s American accountants had begun mailing tax returns for processing at a computer center, "the theory being that the IRS will be so impressed by the computer that it won't question the figures that were used." Anyone who works in technology development, quality control, or some other career devoted to questioning the computer itself along with the figures fed to the system might be amused at the idea of deifying the computer. But some of the ideas about war and peace are still relevant today.
Herzog repeats H. L. Mencken's quip that to respect truth is to acknowledge that "it is something to be cherished and hoarded and disbursed only when absolutely necessary." Herzog's assessment that Mencken was speaking "sensibly" seems to indicate he thinks this is only half in jest. Exactly what he means by that is a bit hard to unpack. To begin with, he opposes the attitude of "dogmatism" that he defines as so eager to discover and attach itself to the Truth that it will believe just about anything without worthy cause. "We are today a 'belief explosion'," he says, "which throws skepticism to the winds and attaches itself in a credulous manner to mental malpractice and intellectual humbuggery of every kind--to faking it, small and big." He also suggests that there is something to be valued in an "artful approach to reality" which is somehow distinguished from mere fakery and cant, but I cannot identify what he means by that.
Some of this is a little dated in a way that makes it interesting. A book like this written today about political spin and the degradation of language would surely mention how ideas spread on the Internet. Herzog has only three paragraphs on misguided assumptions about computers, namely that by the early 1970s American accountants had begun mailing tax returns for processing at a computer center, "the theory being that the IRS will be so impressed by the computer that it won't question the figures that were used." Anyone who works in technology development, quality control, or some other career devoted to questioning the computer itself along with the figures fed to the system might be amused at the idea of deifying the computer. But some of the ideas about war and peace are still relevant today.
March 30, 2026
Decent book, bad ebook
Be warned, the ebook version is filled with bad formatting and typos. Made it a mess to keep everything cohesive.
The book is a bit of a slog of a read, it's dated but it has some merits. Simple and direct humor about the topics. The conclusion and antidote for B.S. Factor seems to have taken some roots in our 2026 societies but more work is needed!
Be warned, the ebook version is filled with bad formatting and typos. Made it a mess to keep everything cohesive.
The book is a bit of a slog of a read, it's dated but it has some merits. Simple and direct humor about the topics. The conclusion and antidote for B.S. Factor seems to have taken some roots in our 2026 societies but more work is needed!
August 3, 2016
This book does a good overview of different types of "B.S" (as it were) that were prevalent in America in the 1970's, most of which is still relevant today - albeit, of course, with different celebrities involved.
The problem is that Herzog's tone and really his entire approach is incredibly dated in that "1950's intellectual beating you over the head with his opinions 20 years after the fact in that stereotypically smarmy Mr. Peabody tone that had already gone out of style 10 years earlier" sort of way. To that end, this entire book seems to be more an expression of Vietnam-era liberal insecurity written for Herzog's own generation than a discourse that has much of anything timely - or even anything at all - to say to anyone born after 1949.
The problem is that Herzog's tone and really his entire approach is incredibly dated in that "1950's intellectual beating you over the head with his opinions 20 years after the fact in that stereotypically smarmy Mr. Peabody tone that had already gone out of style 10 years earlier" sort of way. To that end, this entire book seems to be more an expression of Vietnam-era liberal insecurity written for Herzog's own generation than a discourse that has much of anything timely - or even anything at all - to say to anyone born after 1949.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews