Humor Books

A must read book if you grew up in the 50's and 60's. You will laugh and cry as you read the true and hilarious adventures of Roger and his friends. It will make you yurn for the good ol days. I read the book in one night, and have read it again.

Roger really nails it with this book and I should know because I was there. Roger was my best buddy. He physically pulled my lazy carcass out of bed each summer morning in 1958 & 59 and dragged me to swim team practice. (I was a night person; Roger was a round-the-clock person.) I devoured the book in one sitting and have been reminiscing ever since. The characters we grew up with and the things we got into could easily provide material for two or three more books! Let's have'em Rog!

Very funny and entertaining book...Once I started reading it, I
could not lay it down..Several friends that I told stories to from this book,really had several laughs and each related similar
experiences...This is VERY enjoyable reading...Yes, I do think
all of us are in this book in a LITTLE way...The author did a very NICE job putting this one together.....This is my FIRST review but NOT my last....I RECOMMEND THIS BOOK...THANKS !!

Very Funny...Great MEMORY reading...I can relate to this book...
A lot of DOWN to EARTH humor...Reminds me of my CHILDHOOD...
I highly recommend to all 30 to 90 year olds...There are towns
in Texas that are very similar to Bainbridge...I am sure that
EVERYONE who reads this book will LOVE it...Seems so REAL...
Anyway, my family and friends LOVE it...
Edley Martin...Harlengin, Texas

A TRUE small town AMERICAN book...Big city residents will ENVY
all small town people..A MUST READ for ALL travelers of AMERICA..Wish we had this book years ago...WE take the side roads and LOVE to explore small towns...EVERY RESIDENT of EVERY SMALL TOWN CAN "RELATE" TO THIS BOOK..A true tell it like it is
book..SERIOUS,FUNNY,TRUTHFUL and SAD...We "HIGHLY" recommend this book for ALL of America...Wish the book had been LONGER..
Really hope EVERYONE has the opportunity to read it...Yes, we believe it is a FIVE STAR book...GREAT GREAT JOB..Many thanks to the author for TELLING it like is WAS and probably still is..

As a corporate consultant and trainer, I'm always looking for ways to increase my effectiveness in helping clients really learn the material at hand. Like many, I don't consider myself particularly funny, and worry that I could do more harm than good by trying too hard to incorporate humor into workshops.

Doni Tamblyn does a terrific job not only showing the reader how to easily and safely insert humor, she also references fascinating research that clearly supports why humor is so critical to the learning process. The book is written in a friendly, approachable style that makes it a fun read, and I appreciate the handy index to the "95 Ways" listed at the beginning of the book for quick reference.

I highly recommend this book not only to other professional trainers, but to speakers and presenters of all types. Personally, after trying some of Tamblyn's strategies, I not only feel more confident in front of a room, but hey, I'm having more fun too. You can't beat that!

As a corporate consultant and trainer, I'm always looking for ways to increase my effectiveness in helping clients really learn the material at hand. Like many, I don't consider myself particularly funny, and worry that I could do more harm than good by trying too hard to incorporate humor into workshops.

Doni Tamblyn does a terrific job not only showing the reader how to easily and safely insert humor, she also references fascinating research that clearly supports why humor is so critical to the learning process. The book is written in a friendly, approachable style that makes it a fun read, and I appreciate the handy index to the "95 Ways" listed at the beginning of the book for quick reference.

I highly recommend this book not only to other professional trainers, but to speakers and presenters of all types. Personally, after trying some of Tamblyn's strategies, I not only feel more confident in front of a room, but hey, I'm having more fun too. You can't beat that!

"Laughter and Learning"

I'm reading this book, and I sense it is what I have been waiting for. I believe Doni Tamblyn has really nailed it. She's given structure to what seems to be the very complex art of effective teaching. I'll start giving her methods a try by using the "smooth" vs "crunchy" approach for initiating group/team work, and by finally using some of those cartoons I've been accumulating for years.

I'm also thinking about how I could apply some of her ideas to my online distance learning courses, where teaching and learning are not in a traditional classroom. This environment lacks the needed spontaneity, but I could see what would happen if I divided my online class into small discussion teams competing for bonus points for "fabulous prizes" to be awarded at our once-per-week lab meetings.

I appreciate that Ms. Tamblyn has combined her comedic experience with Dewey's ideas, theories of motivation, accelerated learning, and optimal/compatible brain learning, the
Koran, the Talmud, famous quotes, tips on psychology and comedic delivery, and has taken the time to share her synthesis of them in a book. Her Laugh and Learn is not only a great how-to book, but also a scholarly piece of work. I don't usually find how-to books with an index, references, endnotes, so many examples, and a case study! (Her "anatomy of a creative learning module" is precious.) Thank you, Ms. Tamblyn!"

After 19 years of school, I now reserve weighty treatises for subjects like international law. What I needed as a trainer of nonprofits in proposal writing and development, was some good technique in leavening what can be awfully dry subjects (after all, they're about getting money) with a whole lot of fun. Ms. Tamblyn's "95 Ways" sparked my creative juices and I use her techniques whenever I teach. Plus, I've been incorporating some of her exercises into my workshops to teach nonprofit folks how to leaven their presentations when they get that much longed for meeting with a potential donor.

This is a "grab it and go" book that fits in your briefcase along with your handouts. If you're a trainer - nonprofit, corporate or otherwise - you know the feeling of "dead air." During the break, turn to almost any page in "Laugh and Learn" for a technique or an exercise that will uncrink your brain and ramp the room up for your returning learners.

You won't become an expert in the science of humor with "Laugh and Learn." But, hey, they give degrees to people for that kind of in-depth knowledge. As a trainer, you will go as far as you like in incorporating humor into the business of teaching - safely, judiciously and successfully.

Thanks, Ms. Tamblyn. You are a funny lady, and you know how to teach what you know!

Recently, an old friend suggested that I read Doni Tamblyn's Laugh and Learn, a "how to" book that delineates various exercises, all intended to increase creative thought. At first I was reluctant to read the book--as a high school teacher I am bombarded by teaching methodologies, each one claiming to be the magic key that will unlock student achievement and motivation. So I was surprised when I discovered that Laugh and Learn was 1) witty 2) entertaining 3) well-researched 4) practical and, best of all, actually works!

Through a combination of data compiled from brain-compatible research, and an enormous catalogue of easy to read, easy to implement student activities, Tamblyn makes the compelling case that creative thought flourishes best when learners are first instructed to avoid being clever and original. While the ultimate goal may be to reach heights of innovative thinking, Tamblyn assures us that such heights will more than likely be reached when the learner's mind is relaxed enough to begin making the connections that distinguish the truly interesting thought from the mundane.

In each chapter, Tamblyn discusses the hows and whys of encouraging learners to lose their anxiety and increase their joy as they discover the creative process within themselves. Although the book is a virtual treasure trove of fun activities for students, my favorites have been the "mind map" and the "finish the sentence ball toss." (You have to read the book to find out why these activities are such big fun!) Again, the idea behind each activity is to "sneak up" on the creative drive before it has a chance to realize that it is being scrutinized and therefore shut down like a wall flower at a jr. high school dance.

At least one or two days a week, I incorporate a Laugh and Learn activity into my lesson plans. My students love the program. And their test scores and projects reflect the influence of Tamblyn's techniques upon greater retention of content and increased motivation for success. This is nothing short of a miracle, when you consider the natural reluctance of teenagers to try anything that might make them look "uncool" in front of their classmates.

Laugh and Learn is both brilliant and of enormous practical benefit--two qualities not often found in teacher training manuals. Tamblyn's book should occupy a special place on every educator's desk. Five stars, Ms. Tamblyn, five stars and more...

Graham Chapman is a comedy genius, and this is more proof.

My mom got me this book for Christmas four years ago, and I could not put it down. Back then, I wasn't really reading for pleasaure, but I knew this book would really get me started! I found Chapman's autobiography to be rather silly, but serious at the same time. He has been my tied-for-first favorite Python (next to Idle) since the first time I watched any of their sketches and The Holy Grail, but this book made me love him even more. I really got to see a different side of this comic genius, and reading about his struggles to gain acceptance and respect, along with his trials when it came to put down the booze, made me only appreciate him that much more. Four years later, this is book is still in my top-three favorites of all time! I would recommend this book to any Python fan.

"Come to think of it, most people like a good laugh more than I do, but that's beside the point!"

Is there any way to encapsulate Graham Chapman's great comedic talent? No. But he tries in his own autobiography, anyway. A gift to those of us who truly appreciate the absurd from the master himself, this book is a must for anyone who enjoys Monty Python and those who just don't get it. After reading this book, I feel I understand this great pouf even more than watching the Python movies.

I'm just sad that his last video appearance was in an Iron Maiden video...

I really enjoyed this book even though it is kind of confusing and wierd. Graham Chapman has always been my favorite Python because of his humor but this book shows antother side to him. If you don't like him before you read it you wiil afterwards. A bit after the end is touching and also very funny. This book isn't for everyone and you might not like it even if you are a Monty Python fan. If you are looking for a laugh a minute book in true Monty python style look somewhere else. Not to say that the book doesn't have some funny parts but it is also pretty serious. I also wouldn't recomend it to anyone under the age of 13 because some of the contents of the book aren't apropriate for smaller children. But if you think you will like it by all means read it because it really is a wonderful book.

Not your typical autobiography by not your typical writer. A Liar's Autobiography is a now-classic look at the life of Graham, written by Graham (and others) at a time when he felt that, due to his alcoholism, he was not long for planet earth. This proved to not be true (he survived another 10 years and did not die from alcohol-related causes but cancer). At turns hilarious, silly, touching and sad, "ALA" will leave the reader with a much greater sense of the looniest of all the Pythons who was, at heart, a very shy and serious man. By all means BUY THIS.

I have read this book several times, and it never fails to make me smile...and make me think. My dachshund, Pirate, gives it five stars, and so do I.

This is an extremely clever book of philosophy derived from the observations of a dog owner. The delightful illustrations add to the book's appeal.

"If it makes your tail wag it's good" is only one of the thought provoking words of wisdom in these colorfully illustrated lessons that dogs can teach us about unconditional love and happiness. Every time I turn through these beautifully written pages my tail wags harder each time. Thank You Amy Jordon Smith for sharing your biscuit.

As a dog owner and lover of animals in general I found this book to be a must! Smith is very keen to remind us that our pets are not just animals but members of our family and their loyalty has no boundries.

LIFE IS SHORT; EAT BISCUITS is beautifully illustrated, and through the eyes of a puppy, reinvents so many of life's "words of wisdom"...sayings we've repeatedly heard, but unfortunately seldom apply. This book is truly Puppy Chow for the soul; especially for those of us that have experienced the unconditional love bestowed on us by our own "Calvin" puppy. Life is indeed short, so take the time, and share a biscuit with someone you love while enjoying this book. Kudos to the author and illustrator!!!

Robert Lowell's poetry is praised for its technical brilliance, metrical complexity, and verbal ambiguity. In an earlier review of Lowell's Lord Weary's Castle (awarded Pulitzer Prize of Poetry in 1947) I compared reading his poetry to studying mathematics, too advanced mathematics.

Furthermore, I am often uncomfortable with Lowell's disaffection, mistrust, and anger (one critic calls it apocalyptic rage) evident both in his criticism of contemporary society, and in his confessional topics such as marital difficulties, drinking problems, and mental illness. And yet I keep coming back to Lowell's work to savor his remarkable command of language.

Life Studies, a blend of prose and poetry, is more explicitly personal than his earlier work. The prose section, titled 91 Revere Street, is quite exceptional, not simply for its dispassionate candor, but for its literary excellence. Lowell is almost brutal in his depiction of himself as a boy, offering no excuses for his insensitivity toward others. He is no less severe with his parents. Lowell's portraits of his grandparents, aunts, and uncles were equally candid, but more sympathetic.

Lowell reserves his later difficulties, including struggles with mental illness, for his poetry. Waking in the Blue, a haunting picture of fellow patients in a mental hospital, is immediately followed by an unsettling description of Lowell's return to his family, Home After Three Months Away. Soft Wood, dedicated to Harriet Winslow, who "was more to me than my mother", is deeply moving. Other family poems - like Dunbarton, Grandparents, and Sailing Home from Rapallo - have a poignant beauty. I also liked Beyond the Alps, the first poem in Life Studies, which reappears with an additional stanza as one of the last poems in For the Union Dead.

For the Union Dead has a broader span, addressing social issues and historical subjects, as well as confessional topics, and is thus more similar to Lord Weary's Castle. Hawthorne, Jonathan Edwards in Western Massachusetts, Water, The Old Flame, and the title poem, For the Union Dead offer a good sampling of this work.

The quality of a writer for us , it seems to me, is often defined by how much of ourselves we are willing to put into knowing their work. I read the poems in this collection, but am not tempted to reread them. They make sense and tell of Lowell's childhood, his relation to his father, his meditation on the way he first met his first wife and the way they have grown distant through the years, his sense of his grandfather's grandness as he takes him with him on a local tour, his friendships with other writers. I can read the poems and feel their meaning and sense quite clearly. This to my mind raises them above much poetic language which in many modern poetry writers does not have a context or a sense. Lowell does often tell a small story in his poem.
But there is for me , anyway, a certain absence of music , a certain lack of those kind of memorable lines I find in my beloved poets.
Reading other reviews of Lowell's poetry I see others see more in his work, feel it deeper than I do. They are the truer readers.

Robert Lowell is a giant in American poetry. He is pretty much unanimously considered one of the best of his generation. This book combines two of his volumes of poetry. One of those volumes is his masterpiece Life Studies--the reason why he is a giant in American poetry. This is his seminal work. No matter how you look at it, this is an important book of poetry. And an excellent book of poetry. Most of the poems are good and there are several phenomenal poems within. Life Studies alone belongs on any serious poetry connoisseur's shelf. Also in this book is arguably Lowell's second best collection (only Lord Weary's Castle might be better) For the Union Dead, which contains another masterpiece, "For the Union Dead" (and a favorite of mine "Hawthorne"). This is a book that poetry lovers of all kinds should have.

Lowell is of the vanguard of American twentieth century poets, a man who created many brilliant works other than the two joined in this volume. In such poems in Life Studies as Beyond the Alps and A Mad Negro Soldier Confined in Munich, as well as his portraits of various friends and family, we discover a man capable of both acid humor and outright sadness. However, in Life Studies, these excellent poems are overshadowed by the towering biographical essay 91 Revere Street. In this touching memoir, Lowell describes distant, illustrious relatives, Amy Lowell being a famous but ostracized example, friendships wrecked in childhood, disquietude over a girlfriend who soils herself in class (in his embarrassment, Lowell sits in it), his formative years on the periphery of polite, conservative Bostonian society, and his fathers coarse, difficult superiors and buddies that cropped up in the father's job with the Navy. Though his poems here are outstanding, an uncomfortable question arises when one considers this essay: Would Lowell have been better off to employ his time as a prose stylist, not a poet?

For the Union Dead validates Lowell's decision to declare poetry his mode of expression. Poems such as the dolorous My Last Evening with Uncle Devereaux Winslow and Terminal Days at Beverly Farm expose a man groping for hope after the deaths of close relatives; Waking in the Blue and Myopia: A night explore, respectively, Lowell's mental illness and attendant three month hospitalization, and a night of insomnia that becomes a maelstrom of tortured reflections and half-hewn thoughts; The Drinker explores alcoholism as a product of foiled love, with a question as to whether pathology or sheer carelessness and love of idleness is the underlying shibboleth. Water, the poem that stoked my love for Lowell, uses a maritime theme to express sorrow over a lost love. Beyond the Alps, from Life Studies, is reprised here with an elided stanza reinserted at the behest of coeval John Berryman.

Lowell is one of those poets so gifted, so erudite, so steeped in classical literature, it's hard to grasp that, as he explains it, he was "less rather than more bookish than most children." Much of the isolation evinced in Lowell's poetry, as well as the restlessness of his life, both as youth and adult, are radiantly eviscerated in these two collections.

I read this poem again on Martin Luther King Day, a fitting day for this poem, a tribute to the Union dead of the Civil War and a particular remembrance of the black soldiers who wore the uniform of the Union-- particularly of the Massachusetts 54th Regiment (made famous to non-Civil War students by the movie Glory several years ago).

The 54th Massachusetts was the first black regiment to march from the North to fight the Confederacy. These men were quite brave knowing that in battle they would likely get little or no quarter, and if captured they would most assuredly be sent south back to slavery. These men had much to prove, what with years of racism from North and South to be broken and defeated by their bravery and sacrifices-- not to mention the Confederate army that they would later face on the battlefield. They would win ever-lasting fame for their courage during their doomed assault on Fort Wagner at Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, July, 1863. The attack would be a night assault on this heavily guarded fort. The fighting would be intense and the 54th would not be successful. Their white colonel, Robert Gould Shaw would be killed, and almost half the regiment would be lost. The first Medal of Honor for a black man would be earned there.

They marched down Beacon Street, with the Massachusetts State House on one side and Boston Common on the other - off to war, off to death and glory on a twin mission; to fight for the Union and show the world that they were equal in ability to whites. Directly across the street from the Massachusetts State House on Beacon Street there now stands the brilliant monument by Augustus St. Gaudens, forever commemorating the 54th, the first black regiment and their white commander Colonel Robert Gould Shaw.

This monument on Beacon Hill is one of the finest monuments of any kind in the United States. As a tribute to Shaw and the 54th it is unparalleled in the physical world; but in the emotional world, the world of poetry, Robert Lowell comes quite close. Lowell brilliantly describes the monument to the 54th and works it into the life of Boston that foremost of abolition cities of the North. Standing before the 54th monument on Beacon Hill, as the crowds walk swiftly by and the traffic speeds along past the State House, one can almost hear the men breath as they are forever frozen in bronze on their march south to battle. There are few monuments in bronze as lifelike as this one: it is an incredible tribute to the 54th and their commander and adorns the city of Boston as fittingly as the obelisk at Bunker Hill or the colonial historical sites of Adams, Revere, Hancock, and several miles to the west, Lexington and Concord.

Lowell's "For the Union Dead" is a successful poem on so many levels and succeeds completely where Tate's "Ode to the Confederate Dead" so totally fails. It unifies time and place, and brings context and permanence where everything seems to be shifting and changing. As a tribute to the 54th and the Union dead of the Civil War its elements run as deep as the waters off the coast of Boston seen from the top of Beacon Hill so long ago when the skyscrapers didn't block the view.

Having started his education at Harvard, Lowell transfered to Kenyon College to study under John Crowe Ransom another of Vanderbilt's Fugitives, like Allen Tate and Donald Davidson. It is an astounding thing that the two greatest Civil War poems of modern times ("Lee in the Mountains" and "For the Union Dead") and the worst ("Ode to the Confederate Dead") should be written by poets with Nashville connections. Lowell went on to graduate school to study under Robert Penn Warren, another Vanderbilt "Fugitive".

St. Gaudens placed a Latin inscription on the monument, the motto of the Society of the Cincinnati (a society of Revolutionary War officers started by George Washington and Henry Knox): "Relinquit Omnia Servare Rem Publicam". The translation is: "He left behind everything to save the Republic". Lowell opened his poem with this Latin phrase but changed the singular "he" to "they" in the Latin so that his poem would refer to all the men of the 54th not just its white commander, Robert Gould Shaw, to read: "Relinquunt Omnia Servare Rem Publicam".

"For the Union Dead" was published in 1964 during the height of the Civil Rights movement. Active in Civil Rights efforts, it is perfectly understandable that Lowell should have written this poem of unity and appreciation with concern, too, that the past should be remembered and its lessons learned. The battlefield of Fort Wagner had been by then reclaimed by the sea at Charleston Harbor and the monument to the 54th had fallen into disrepair. In fact, it was during this time that the St. Gaudens monument had been removed and stored in a crate to prevent damage from "shaking" from the construction of the underground Boston Commons parking garage. So, the battleground is gone, and Shaw's monunument is gone (but only temporarily), and history fades while "progress" continues speedily obliterating the memory of those that have come before.

"The stone statues of the abstract Union Soldier
grow slimmer and younger each year-
wasp-waisted, they doze over muskets
and muse through their sideburns . . ."

Lowell's brilliant poem is his way of retaining the past and ensuring that important historical memory is not lost forever. The men of the 54th Massachusetts, black and white, were leaders in bringing an end to slavery and establishing equality under the law for blacks in America. The story of their bravery and sacrifice is important to understanding American history and the Civil War. These men demonstrated with their actions and their blood that they were equals and merited equal positions in American society. As Americans North and South we ought to continue to embrace their memory and appreciate the many challenges that they overcame and the lessons that they taught us with their sacrifices at Fort Wagner and elsewhere.

We can look back to the 54th Massachusetts as a standard bearer in the struggle for Civil Rights in America. In the 1980s, my husband was privileged to be part of an effort to restore the St. Gaudens monument to its original beauty and power. Lowell's poem is a tribute to this beautiful work of art, and the men of the 54th Massachusetts who so inspired it. It is our duty a to remember our past, appreciate and commemorate our war dead, and learn those lessons that they underscored for later generations with their lives.

"Two months after marching through Boston,
half the regiment was dead;
at the dedication,
William James could almost hear the bronze Negroes breathe."

This is one of the finest poems of the 20th century and stands with "Lee in the Mountains" as one of the two great modern poems of the Civil War.

ES INCREIBLE, VERDAD?
Pero yo lo experimente!
LOS CHISTES SON FUERA DE SERIE...
NO HAY OTRO COMO ESTE !

QUIZÁS PODRÍA DECIRLES, SIN FALTAR A LA VERDAD, QUE ES EL MEJOR ANTIDEPRESIVO DEL MUNDO !
QUE NO HAY NINGUNA COLECCION COMO ESTA ( Es cierto )
Que hasta un muerto se reiria de estos chistes ( Es muy posible )
QUE NO HAY UNO SOLO COPÍADO O REVOLCADITO..Todos originales,todos buenisísisimos...

I can assure you...
THE FUNNIEST!
WICKEDEST!
WITTY!
ORIGINAL!
UNIQUE!

NO te imaginas lo que te vas a repir con estos chistesísimos !
Son los mejores que he leído !

I bet no one can resist them!
THE BEST COLLECTION EVER !

If you've EVER been to college, even for a short time like me ;) then these comics are for you. Being a comp. sci. major (same as the main characters) these especally appealed to me. Visit the website and read them for yourself, and then buy this book so you can read a hard copy again and again.

Six young men live in a high-occupancy dorm. They love video games, goofing off and parties. Not much of a plot, just weird, twisted fun as they deal with school, girls and low grades.

I've been a fan of Mac Hall from near it's beginning online. It was great, and I had a lot to relate with since I was in college at the time. I've finally gotten the book and it's great. Not only do you get the comic in a form that allows you to get away from the computer :) the commentary from the artist and the writer make for some even funner insite.
I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it for fans of the comic, and fans of web comics in general.

I have to say, this is the first comic collection that I have ever read beginning to end in less than twenty-four hours and it is my absolute favorite among the now vast amount of webcomics out there. Matt and Ian are a writer and artist duo unlike any pair I've ever seen collaborate together before; and I am so happy to see how far MacHall has evolved under their hobby-style devotion to it.

My boyfriend is obsessed with old Calvin & Hobbes comics, and I'm happy to tell him that MacHall's my "Calvin & Hobbes".

Production values for this book are wonderful; the colors are true; the art is engaging and interesting; a number of the strips are laugh-out-loud funny even for someone who hasn't attended college for -- well, let's just leave it at Some While. For these things alone, this book is worth buying and reading.

But.

What I found even more compelling than the comic are the notes from Matt and Ian along the side of every page. The notes not only detail the beginning of the collaboration and the development of the comic, but offer insight into college life, and paint vivid pictures of the authors, and the creative process. *Well* done.

My three-year-old loves this book, Florian's poetry is simple, amusing and easy to read (again and again and again). Yes there are some less-than-acurate portrayals of animals (I can't believe no-one mentioned that the lemur is shown using a crutch and the rhebok is wearing ~gasp~ tennis shoes!) C'mon folks, reading is supposed to be fun!! If you are afraid your child we be confused by such frivolity, buy him/her an encyclopedia.

This is a rather unique little book. At first glance (without a thoughtful read), the short poems are rather simple in nature and are indeed quite easy to read, which is good for the young ones. On the other hand, the word play the author uses is actually quite complex. He actually has fun with words and I suspects, hopes his adult readers will also. The art at first glance is simple too. To call it "primitive" might work, I suppose, as long as it is not a put down to the artist. The paintings are actually quite well done (I would dearly love to have some of the originals to frame for the house or office), and if you find that hard to believe, try doing one your self. The book covers several different animals, fox, coyote, bever, zebra, lynx and more. The kids seem to like this one and it is a nice book to read to them and then let them have a try. Don't underestimate this one. It is quite good and an excellent additon to any children's library.

This is a good book of mammal poems. The poems are short, but also educational and funny. Included are: the aardvark, the bactrian camel, the fox, the coyote, the gorilla, the beaver, the zebra, the lynx, the ibex, the otter, the rhebok, the elephant, the mule, the tapir, the lemur, the giraffe, the hippopotamus, the wild boar, the bear, the porcupine and the tiger.

My daughter is only 5 months old, however, the rhythm of the poems in Mammalabilia keeps her attention. We are able to read the whole book before she rolls away. She finds the large pictures to be captivating and "talks" right along with me as I read to her. I believe that this is a book she can grow with. What a wonderful way to introduct poetry to young children!

While the poems are fun and engaging, there is far less scientific information given than in some of his other works. "The Beaver" is a brilliant four line (four hyphenated words) poem packed with information, while "The Aardvarks" relays nothing except some clever spellings. If you must pick only one Douglas Florian book, "Beast Feast" or "Insectlopedia" would be much better choices.

I thought Mr. Elinsky's book was one of the most fun books I have ever read! I laughed so hard at times that I thought I was going to cry! Thank you!

I loved this book. I cannot remember how long it has been since I have been so wonderfully entertained. Buy the book and treat yourself to a few hardy chuckles.

This book cracked me up. If you need a good chuckle buy the book and have yourself a ball reading it!

I had a lot of fun reading this writer's book. Now I know where to look when I need a good chuckle. Thanks for writing this book! I love it!!!

How often do you read a book that you can learn something and chuckle
at the same time? Mr. Elinsky has achieved this in his work Meisas! A
light hearted compilation of jokes, anecdotes and absolutely
delightful tales, all threaded together for the readers pure
enjoyment.

Have you ever wondered about certain Jewish traditions? You'll find
out what they are about in this enlightening read. I found myself
saying, "Ah, so that is why they do that! Now I understand."
Outstanding information, and written in such a fun way! The author
also includes a few tid-bits that will make you wonder, such as, the
information given of the theory that the Native North American's
ancestry is traced to a supposed Israelite migration of the Lost
Tribe. Quite intriguing! Could it be so? Certainly gave me something
to ponder, I like that!

I also enjoyed learning some of the Yiddish language, and I liked the
listing in the back of the book.I told my grandchildren that I was
their Bubbie. They didn't really say much, but then again, I think
they may call me many names behind my back; they'll just add this one
to their list! "Oy Veh!" Now, if I hear a word, say in a movie, I can
look it up and know what they are talking about! Great idea!

All in all, this was both an educational and a fun read. I believe
anyone who would like a good chuckle and a learning experience in
Judaism should grab up this treasure and enjoy!

Thank you Mr. Elinsky! Mazel Tov!

If you like tall tales and humor, you'll like this book. Stories range from the wonderous fishing exploits of the "Monster Stick" to the Herculean feats of Buck The Wonder Dog. I especially liked the story about how wild turkeys learned to disappear from the hunters. Another favorite is a tall tale of how the author won $1000 in the lottery, only to lose it to a Wildlife Officer in fines. I hope the author will write many more!

This is really a fantastic book. I read a friend's Rev. Regina Spring's that she bought it directly from Rev. Bil ar her course of studies. I am purchasing this book for a Christmas present. I would recommend it to anyone! Funny! I would recommend it to all preachers!

If you like tall tales and humor, you'll like this book. Stories range from the wonderous fishing exploits of the "Monster Stick" to the Herculean feats of Buck The Wonder Dog. I especially liked the story about how wild turkeys learned to disappear from the hunters. Another favorite is a tall tale of how the author won $1000 in the lottery, only to lose it to a Wildlife Officer in fines. I hope the author will write many more!

If Mark Twain, John Steinbeck or Ernest Hemingway had been twins we'd be alot better off, but since that didn't happen we need as many W.V. Lepps as they had Waltons.

The Lepps have pieced together a hilarious array of short stories and tall tales that you'll want to share with everyone from your preacher to your parole officer. These stories capture a vanishing part of Americana in a way the old Andy Griffith show did, except that the Lepps lie alot.

Can't wait for them to get a book on tape, but until they do I'm sure glad they wrote this book.

Bil Lepp and his brother have put together a collection of new "Tall Tales" that is not to be missed. Not buying this book is akin to bypassing Twain in his day. (O.k.-Maybe that's a little much, but you get the point.) The storytelling is superb, always compelling and surprising, twisting around hysterical subjects and impossible(?) settings. In this day and age you don't get many chances to read a new author with as much talent as Bil has for spewing forth untruths that sound so believable! Take my word for it, this one is a keeper! You won't be disappointed!