Venture Science Fiction Magazine Volume 1 Issue 5 September 1957

Sturgeon's law (or Sturgeon's revelation) is an

adage A proverb (from ) or an adage is a simple, traditional saying that expresses a perceived truth based on common sense or experience. Proverbs are often metaphorical and are an example of formulaic speech, formulaic language. A proverbial phrase ...

stating "ninety percent of everything is crap". It was coined by

Theodore Sturgeon Theodore Sturgeon (; born Edward Hamilton Waldo, February 26, 1918 – May 8, 1985) was an American author of primarily fantasy fiction, fantasy, science fiction, and Horror fiction, horror, as well as a critic. He wrote approximately 400 ...

, an American

science fiction author This is a list of notable science-fiction authors, in alphabetical order: A *Dafydd ab Hugh (born 1960) * Alexander Abasheli (1884–1954) *Edwin Abbott Abbott (1838–1926) *Kōbō Abe (1924–1993) * Robert Abernathy (1924–1990) *Dan ...

and critic, and was inspired by his observation that, while

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

was often derided for its low quality by critics, most work in other fields was low-quality too, and so science fiction was no different.

Development

Sturgeon deemed Sturgeon's law to mean "nothing is always absolutely so". By this, he meant his observation (building on "Sturgeon's Revelation" that the majority of everything is of low quality) that the existence of a majority of low-quality content in every genre disproves the idea that any single genre is inherently low-quality. This adage previously appeared in his story "The Claustrophile" in a 1956 issue of ''

Galaxy A galaxy is a Physical system, system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar medium, interstellar gas, cosmic dust, dust, and dark matter bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek ' (), literally 'milky', ...

''. The second adage, variously rendered as "ninety percent of everything is crud" or "ninety percent of everything is crap", was published as "Sturgeon's Revelation" in his book review column for ''

Venture Venture may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music *The Ventures, an American instrumental rock band formed in 1958 *"A Venture", 1971 song by the band Yes *''Venture'', a 2010 EP by AJR Games * ''Venture'' (video game), a 1981 arcade gam ...

'' in 1957. However, almost all modern uses of the term Sturgeon's law refer to the second, including the definition listed in the ''

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house. The dictionary, which published its first editio ...

''. According to science fiction author

William Tenn William Tenn was the pseudonym of Philip Klass (May 9, 1920 – February 7, 2010), a British-born American science fiction author, notable for many stories with satirical elements. Biography Born to a Jewish family in London, Phillip Klass mo ...

, Sturgeon first expressed his law circa 1951, at a talk at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

attended by Tenn. The statement was subsequently included in a talk Sturgeon gave at a 1953

Labor Day Labor Day is a Federal holidays in the United States, federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday of September to honor and recognize the Labor history of the United States, American labor movement and the works and con ...

weekend session of the

World Science Fiction Convention Worldcon, officially the World Science Fiction Convention, the annual convention of the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS), is a science fiction convention. It has been held each year since 1939 (except for the years 1942 to 1945, during Wor ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. The first written reference to the adage is in the September 1957 issue of ''Venture'': The adage appears again in the March 1958 issue of ''Venture'', where Sturgeon wrote:

Precedents and proponents

In the 1870 novel, '' Lothair'', by

Benjamin Disraeli Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman, Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician and writer who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a ...

, it is asserted that:

Nine-tenths of existing books are nonsense, and the clever books are the refutation of that nonsense.

A similar adage appears in

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English journalist, novelist, poet, and short-story writer. He was born in British Raj, British India, which inspired much ...

's ''

The Light That Failed ''The Light That Failed'' is the first novel by the Nobel Prize-winning English author Rudyard Kipling, first published in ''Lippincott's Monthly Magazine'' in January 1891. Most of the novel is set in London, but many important events through ...

'', published in 1890. A 1946 essay '' Confessions of a Book Reviewer'' by

George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950) was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to a ...

asserts about books: In 2009, a paper published in ''

The Lancet ''The Lancet'' is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal, founded in England in 1823. It is one of the world's highest-impact academic journals and also one of the oldest medical journals still in publication. The journal publishes ...

'' estimated that over 85% of health and medical research is wasted. In 2013, philosopher

Daniel Dennett Daniel Clement Dennett III (March 28, 1942 – April 19, 2024) was an American philosopher and cognitive scientist. His research centered on the philosophy of mind, the philosophy of science, and the philosophy of biology, particularly as those ...

championed Sturgeon's law as one of his seven tools for critical thinking.

References

External links

* Theodore Sturgeon's 1972 interview with

David G. Hartwell David Geddes Hartwell (July 10, 1941 – January 20, 2016) was an American critic, publisher, and editor of thousands of science fiction and fantasy novels. He was best known for work with Signet, Pocket, and Tor Books publishers. He was also no ...

, ''

The New York Review of Science Fiction ''The New York Review of Science Fiction'' is a monthly literary magazine of science fiction that was established in 1988. It includes works of science fiction criticism, essays, and in-depth critical reviews of new works of fiction and scholarsh ...

'' #7 March 1989; #8 April 1989 {{Theodore Sturgeon Adages Art criticism Galaxy Science Fiction 1950s neologisms

Development

Precedents and proponents

See also

References

External links