Editing Sturgeon's law (section)

== Precedents and proponents ==
In the 1870 novel, ''[[Lothair (novel)|Lothair]]'', by [[Benjamin Disraeli]], it is asserted that: <blockquote>Nine-tenths of existing books are nonsense, and the clever books are the refutation of that nonsense.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Disraeli |first=Benjamin |title=Lothair |year=1870 |chapter=Chapter 29}}</ref> </blockquote>A similar adage appears in [[Rudyard Kipling]]'s ''[[The Light That Failed]]'', published in 1890. 

{{quote|Four-fifths of everybody's work must be bad. But the remnant is worth the trouble for its own sake.<ref name="google">{{cite book |title=The Writings in Prose and Verse of Rudyard Kipling |last=Kipling |first=Rudyard |author-link=Rudyard Kipling |isbn=9785874724696|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kRELAwAAQBAJ|year=1897|publisher=Рипол Классик }}</ref>}}

A 1946 essay ''[[Confessions of a Book Reviewer]]'' by [[George Orwell]] asserts about books:

{{quote|In much more than nine cases out of ten the only objectively truthful criticism would be "This book is worthless&nbsp;..."<ref name="orwell">{{cite web |first=G. |last=Orwell |author-link=George Orwell |year=1946 |title=Confessions of a Book Reviewer |url=https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwell/essays-and-other-works/confessions-of-a-book-reviewer/}}</ref>}}

In 2009, a paper published in ''[[The Lancet]]'' estimated that over 85% of health and medical research is wasted.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Chalmers  |first1=Iain |last2=Glasziou |first2=Paul  |date=4 July 2009 |title=Avoidable waste in the production and reporting of research evidence |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19525005/ |journal=The Lancet |volume=374 |issue=9683 |pages=86–9 |doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(09)60329-9 |pmid=19525005 |access-date=7 January 2025}}</ref>

In 2013, philosopher [[Daniel Dennett]] championed Sturgeon's law as one of his seven tools for critical thinking.<ref>{{cite web |first=D. |last=Dennett |author-link=Daniel Dennett |date=21 May 2013 |title=Daniel Dennett presents ''Seven Tools for Critical Thinking'' |website=OpenCulture.com |url=http://www.openculture.com/2013/05/philosopher_daniel_dennett_presents_seven_tools_for_critical_thinking.html}}</ref>

{{quote|90% of everything is crap. That is true, whether you are talking about physics, chemistry, evolutionary psychology, sociology, medicine{{snd}} you name it{{snd}} rock music, country western. 90% of everything is crap.<ref>{{cite book |first=D. |last=Dennett |author-link=Daniel Dennett |year=2013 |title=Seven Tools for Critical Thinking}}</ref>}}