Nineteen years later, it was published as the book On Bullshit (2005), which proved popular among lay readers; the book appeared for 27 weeks on The New York Times Best Seller list[3] and was discussed on the television show The Daily Show With Jon Stewart,[4][5] as well as in an online interview.

I was for a long time disturbed by the lack of respect for the truth that I observed... bullshit is one of the deformities of these values.

[8] Frankfurt begins his work on bullshit by presenting an explanation and examination of Max Black's concept of humbug.

[16] Frankfurt's book focuses heavily on defining and discussing the difference between lying and bullshit.

He presents an example of advice provided to a child from his father which encourages choosing bullshit over lying when possible.

[19] Frankfurt believes that bullshitters and the growing acceptance of bullshit are more harmful to society than liars and lying.

[20] Despite a lack of knowledge on a subject matter, for example, politics, religion or art, there is an expectation to participate in the conversation and provide an opinion.

Frankfurt acknowledges that bullshitting may not always be intentional but believes that ultimately it is performed with a disregard and carelessness of the truth.

[21] Frankfurt argues that this rise in bullshit is dangerous, as it accepts and enables a growing disregard of the truth.

[22] It has received a positive reception by many academics,[23] is considered remarkable by some,[24] and its popularity amongst the public is evident with its status as a best seller for many weeks.

[23] This criticism also explains that the work is limited in its analysis of other motives and forms of bullshit aside from one stemming from a lack of concern for the truth.

The anthropologist and anarchist David Graeber refers to Frankfurt's text in his 2018 book Bullshit Jobs.

Frankfurt's concept of bullshit has been taken up as a description of the behavior of large language model (LLM)-based chatbots, as being more accurate than "hallucination" or "confabulation".