That is not my impression at all. I'm still waiting for my copy, but if you read the reviews they in general laud it as solid academic work.

my impression is that, regardless of outlook, economists have overwhelmingly praised the book as extremely thoroughly researched, setting a new bar for evidence presentation in economics literature.

As pointed out here http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2014/05/why-didnt-p...

"Perhaps the idea of one’s instincts being proving empirically correct is rather intoxicating, which partly explains the success of his book. Perhaps Piketty gave the left intelligentsia a story which (as tabloid hacks say) was “too good to check”.

Have you read it?