Humor Books

Got it for our 12-yr. old daughter's birthday. She loves it! She's a big fan of Calvin & Hobbes. This was her 5th book!

Is it possible that just 20 years ago that Calvin and Hobbes - - one of the finest comics strips ever created - - was fresh and poignant every day in the paper?

"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us," says Calvin, looking at the chain-sawn stump of a tree, in 'Weirdos from Another Planet' by Bill Watterson. The demise of Calvin and Hobbes is reason enough not to contact Earthlings.

Doonesbury by Gary Trudeau is sometimes still incisive, with the same brilliance in political observations as when it was new and Richard Nixon was newly president. But brilliance is boring after 40 years of repetition. Doonesbury is dated. Nixon is long disgraced, dead and gone.

Calvin remains relevant, because like Chaucer's 'Canterbury Tales' he dealt with the universal human condition - - - as it applies to small boys and to the grown men they become without ever losing their small-boy outlook on olife.

"Do you believe our destinies are shaped by the stars?" Calvin asks Hobbes.

Ever the logical one, Hobbes replies, "Nah."

Calvin counters with words as relevant today as in 1988, because, "Life's a lot more fun when you're not responsible for your actions."

How do we greet strangers? Calvin went to Mars and, after mugging for the Viking Lander "to blow some circuits at NASA" he met a live Martian. Hobbes thought the Martian must be as scared of them as they are of the Martian. Like many of us when meeting a foreign culture, Calvin explains, "We're just ordinary Earthlings, not weirdos from another plsanet, like HE is."

Doonesbury was similarly brilliant in portraying Nixon as a weirdo; but, Nixon nostalgia remains firmly Nixon. "Weirdos from another planet" is sadly reminiscent of the usual reaction to the current resident of the White House, and most likely The-President-to-Be.

Calvin's Dad isn't all that slow either, as when he sets him up in the first three panels of one daily strip by asking, "Hey, Calvin! Guess what time it is!"

"Why? What time is it?

"It's a very special time!

"Oh boy, oh boy! What time is it?

"Do you really want to know?

"Yes, Yes! Tell me! Tell me! Quick! Please! Yes!

"IT'S YOUR BATHTIME! OH BOY!!

Gettting Calin into a bath is about the same agony as pilling a cat. In the final panel, a dejected Calvin is up to his nose in sudsy water and commenting, "You know how old people always write to Dear Abby, complaining that their kids never write,call or visit? Those letters really crack me up."

Calvin had his own four-panel approach to homework, "When I grow up, I want to be an inventor. First I will invent a time machine. Then I'll come back to yesterday, and take myself to tomorrow, and skip this dumb assignment."

Personally, for me, it was lima beans. Any time lima beans appeared, it was lima beans or no desert. Calvin and his Mom had more imagination; Calvin looked at his bowl of soup and horrified, "Hey! What's this stuff in my soup? Yeccch! Is this rice? It had better NOT be!"

His Mom was very worried, "Rice? Let me see!"

Calvin was insistent, "Look! These little white things! See, there's rice in my soup. I hate rice!"

His Mom looked closely and explained, "I didn't put any rice in. These are maggots."

Calvin was delighted, explaining, "Gosh, wait till I tell everyone at school what WE had for dinner.".

His Dad lamented, "Another lovely meal at home with my family. I wish my job required more travel."

Evolution? As Calvin explains, "Just think, Earth was a cloud of dust 4.5 billion years ago . . . 3 billion years ago, the first bacteria appeared, then came sea life, dinosaurs, birds, mammals, and finally, a million uears ago, man. Now, in 1988, there's me. The acme of evolutuion."

Hobbes, rolling his eyes, responds, "Oh, PLEASE."

Even Richard Feynman can't come up with better answers. Trudeau is always wordy, as Watterson was at times. But the genius of Watterson was the ability to draw a 14-panel Sunday strip showing Calvin filling a water balloon and sneaking up on Hobbes . . . . panel after panel. Only one dialoguie panel was needed, when Hobbes drily explains, just before he was otherwise to be doused, "As if life isn't short enough."

It ends with a thoroughly frustrated Calvin resting beside Hobbes.

This is the Master.

Calvin and Hobbes has always been a great read. This was the first one in book form that I read and thoroughly enjoyed.

The book has many good strips and quite a lot of Sunday strips as well. The aliens show up towards the end and there is a good many strips on that series where he explores the Martian surface and rightly is told by Hobbes that if one is not potty trained would you invite them to your home? So of course after damaging Earth, men need not expect a welcome from the Martians or anyone else.

There is a lot of wisdom and good humour in the book. The opening splash page itself is attractive about why intelligent life hasn't contacted us - with a picture of deforestation.

Other favourites are of course being a tiger, or the tiger's welcome to the kid coming home from school, Dad's approval ratings in the election, the family outing, room service for the ill kid, etc.

The parents are delightfully tolerant of the crazy nutty Calvin. The family outing to the woods is a riot. Calvin wonders what kind of vacation is it if he has to be with his parents, LOLz. Even Calvin's vulnerability is explored when he panics after breaking Dad's binoculars.

This book is cute as hell - and especially a great gift to pretty young girls who thank me endless for making their day. You won't ever be disappointed, probably not with any Calvin & Hobbes collection - they are a gem, a treasure, a laugh riot, a piece of modern art and culture.

Beware of Captain Spiff, the T-Rex, the paleontologist, the incredible comic strip from the best graphic art has to offer.

I am a Calvin and Hobbes fan. And this book did not dissapoint me.

I love all Calvin and Hobbes books, but this collection has a few of my favorites that never cease to make me laugh out loud, including:

"The Disembodied Hand That Strangled People" (I snicker just writing it)

The trip to Mars ("We're going in the wagon?" "Of course! What did YOU want to do? Flap your arms?" "I guess I hadn't thought about that part."
"Obviously."

What a brilliant idea! How many nights have you sat around with friends, old or new, and shared horrible stories of the embarrassing and/or bizarre things you'd done in college? This book will have you reading the stories over and over in disbelief... the best of the best.

The lessons learned, the nights you don't want to remember or desperately need to forget...the good, the bad, the ugly.

A great, funny read that shares moments everyone can appreciate, because chances are, in one form or another, you've probably been there. Really entertaining.

It's awesome. I miss college yet some of these stories don't see so far away from me now. ouch!

I dare you to take a trip down memory lane
& relive those days of just plain crazy, insane
and stupid fun...

This book is a must for anyone who went to College
and participated in stuff like this; or even if you
just saw or heard of the stuff that went down on campus.

Life does not get better than that.

I got this book for a friend of mine who just went away to college. I figured I'd read it first (very bad habit) and I was hooked immediately. One of my very favorite parts was the letter and response from the addressee, where the anal retentive dorm mate send out his list of rules, and the laid back one basically tells him to eff off. That cracked me up, and sooo reminded me of my time in a dorm!

Dave Barry's "Complete Guide to Guys" is at once one of the funniest and fact-filled books I have ever read. I had the good fortune to be a little sister to two big brothers growing up, then married a guy, and have spent my career in fields wherein I was the only female professional on a staff of at least 35 or so males, and needed to maintain my femininity while being accepted as "one of the guys."

Dave's book was a Godsend in terms of understanding the "guyness" in my beloved husband and the men and guys with whom I worked. While being ENORMOUSLY entertaining, it contains so many nuggets of truth that will save a multitude of fights in a marriage (and thus, if the woman doesn't bug her husband about his guy stuff, he won't get on her case about her "girly-girl" stuff, which HE doesn't get, but unfortunately to which there is no guide). Ladies, this book will make you look like such a heroine at home and work, because almost NO women "get it" when it comes to the "guyness" in men, and constantly berate them when they're simply doing their "guy thing."

All Mothers should give a copy to their daughters as soon as possible when they're growing up, and I am not exaggerating here, since the guy thing sets in very early in a boy's life. You'll be giving your daughter the advantage of understanding this concept as soon as she possibly can, and maybe get along better with her male classmates at school, and not, as I did, think they were complete, shall we say politely, "jerks."

Anyway, I have never taken the time to write a book review before, but in the case of Dave Barry's "Complete Guide to Guys," I just had to, since it is one of my all-time favorite books (and I am an avid reader). Over the years since its publication, I have bought many copies of it and given them away to cool women who I thought would appreciate knowing the wealth of very useful information about their husbands, sons, boyfriends, colleagues, clients, neighbors, and any other males in their lives. Can't recommend it enough.

As a guy, it is hard not to like something that is clearly written by another guy trying to explain to the rest of the world why we're wired the way we are.

As Barry says, "Woman have always wondered, 'just what are guys thinking?' ... and the answer is, of course, 'not very much'". It's true! Guys are simple creatures -- give a guy a beer and a steak, and he gets happy. Turn off his TV during a game and he becomes unhappy. Cause and effect. None of those inexplicable mind games or multiple levels of reasoning and analysis other genders tend to display; what you see is what you get.

And all jest aside, I think that this is a key message that really needs to get across more so that women everywhere learn to adjust expectations accordingly. A forgotten anniversary is just that -- stupid forgetfulness -- not a sign that he's secretly begun loathing her and now fired the first shot in a battle that will last years and eventually lead to a bitter divorce. A dirty sock on the kitchen counter is not a demonstration of his disrespect for your mother. And yes, that 49ers game really IS more important than your coworker's baby shower.

Of course, this is a humor book so expect at least three laughs per page -- par for the course in Dave Barry reading. So you have a great time PLUS you can use it to make others gain a better understanding when you're done with it. If I ever get married, I'll make sure to strategically leave this book out and "available" -- chances are I just might save myself a ton of grief.

So funny and so on the mark I have bought at least a dozen copies since it came out -- to give to friends. We used to read it at dinner parties, wait until the eating is over, you would otherwise choke!! Laugh so hard you will cry... and smile with recognition. Men and women LOVE this book!

My daughter -- in her late teens -- is experiencing her first Venus vs. Mars misunderstandings with her boyfriend. I am about to buy her a copy of "Guide To Guys" of her own. I expect she'll laugh out loud. Or cry even louder.

This is without a doubt the funniest book I have ever read. Period. And I read a LOT of books.

Yes, this is totally hilarious. But are 40 or so mind-altered quips really a book? So that's why I gave it 4 stars, not 5. If you want a collection of looney, twisted, crazy aphorisms, buy Deep Thoughts; but if you want a humor book, get a Dave Barry.

I loved deep thoughts ever since I saw them on Saturday Night Live. This book is worth every penny!

Don't let the small size of this book let you think it a light weight in the world of books on deep thoughts.What I'm really trying to say is that when something is really thought out ,it doesn' take a volumous manuscript to get the message across. Take Moses,for example,he could have filled 50 volumes explaining God's instructions.He took two stones,and in 10 Commandments,got the message across clear and simple.
When Handley set out to explain deep thinking,he managed to do it in so few pages ,he didn't even have to number them.Not only that,most of the page is a simple picture.
Most of the reviewers talk about how funny this book is.What he really makes us laugh so hard ; is how complicated we make the thoughts on living for ourselves.The great Philosophers have tried over the ages to give us great thoughts to live by.You know what? It ain't that difficult.
For instant,much has been written on the meaning of life.Handey tells us to think deep.
"Life is a constant battle between the heart and the brain.
But guess who wins. The skeleton."
Or how about this;
"You might think that the favorite plant of the porcupine is
the cactus,but it's thinking like that that almost ruined
this country."
Then his thoughts on afterlife;
"In my next life,I hope I come back as a parrot,because I
already know quite a few words."
And finally a deep thought in case we are invaded by Aliens;
"Warning to all outer-spage guys: You can capture me and put me
in your "space zoo" if you like,but I will sit way in the
back of my cage,where it's hard to see me.And when I do come
out,I won't be wearing any pants."
Now,how about that; Deep thoughts or what? Yeah,and it'll
make you laugh,too.

If you have any sort of a sense of humor whatsoever, you must get this book. Jack Handey is one of the most hilarious people alive! You may already be familiar with Handey's work, his work was featured on Saturday Night Live some years back. These are great to memorize and randomly quote throughout the day. I love this book, I've read it a bunch of times, and it's always funny.

If I were a rich gal, I would buy everyone in the world a copy of this book, because inside are some of the funniest thoughts ever produced! Each page holds a different "deep thought"; some immediately bring out the laughter, while others take a sec or two to sink in. Then you grin and want to immediately share it with someone. I think this would make a wonderful coffee table book. Put it out there at your next get-together and watch people chuckle, roar, giggle, snort, whoop, guffaw, howl, snicker, crack up, or whatever they do when they've just read something hilarious.

I love starting the day with this, eveyone wants my old ones when I finish. I think Dilbert seems to relate to every office.

This daily comic helps to relieve the stress and tension in my office. Scott seems to have his finger firmly planted on the pulse of corporate America with Dilbert, Asok, the "pointy-haired guy", Dogbert the evil HR guy, Catbert and more. If you need a therapeutic laugh to make it through your sometimes insane days at work, this is the calendar for you.

You'd think Scott Adams would run out of material. Sadly, today's workplace seems to provide plenty of fodder. Good calendar.

i look forward to getting to the office a little early, tearing off yesterday's sheet, reading today's calendar sheet, and laughing out loud. i use the old sheets to write notes for colleagues (instead of stick-it notes), which usually are apropros to the office goings on that day. i love adams' creativity - the ironies and utter stupidity are something that we all can really relate to at work! for the amount of laughter that this calendar has given me and my colleagues, it was well worth the price and i'm destined to purchase it again next year!

I've had this on my desk the last 3 or so years. This time around I ordered the desk diary by mistake.
I tried to persuade myself that I could use that one, and do without the daily, but I caved in, and ordered this again. Makes the working day get off to a routinely funny start, always a chuckle. A great gift too.

I can't fault it.

Picked this book up when looking for fodder to help sort through a number of issues of mine relating to "growing up" and accepting change. This book is particularly good because it deals with the difficulty an otherwise jaded & skeptical person can experience when faced with accepting something truely positive for their life ... like a relationship that actually works!

Given the nature of the topic, it's length was about right ... but still, I was a little disappointed that I finished reading it so quickly (only ~2 hours, and I am a slow reader!).

Overall, I like Anita's perspective and I appreciate her means of expressing it ... even if I find her to be more than a tad solipsistic. Actually, the fact that she apparently revels in her egocentrism and makes no apologies for it almost makes it acceptible.

An angry poet and performer meets the perfect man, falls in love, and struggles to escape a strange state of bliss in How to Stay Bitter Through The Happiest Times of Your Life, which uses blog entries, poems, to-do lists and more to explore her changed life. While it's difficult to neatly peg this title - it's part memoir, part humor, part psychology - it's something any public library collection should put on its display shelves, and is especially recommended for New Yorkers who will readily recognize the caustic humor.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

You know how sometimes you love the first book an author wrote so much that you're afraid to read their next one for fear of being disappointed? There's nothing to fear here. Anita's follow up to her hilarious debut "How to Heal the Hurt by Hating" is just as insightful and entertaining. Do yourself a favor and add it to your cart immediately. Oh, and you might want to buy two because this is not one you're going to want to lend to your friends.

Oh my gosh - once again Anita Liberty KICKS [...]!! Her books are hysterical and so funny that you just laugh out loud (caution to those of you who read in unfunny places). If you've been through a break up, good one or bad, her books are a MUST. You'll relate to everything she says and has the nerve to do. If you haven't been through a break-up, good for you but read the book anyway. So, if you are reading this review to see if you should buy this book - DO IT NOW and get How To Heal The Hurt By Hating while you're at it - now GO!!

It's hard to stay grounded when you fall in love - and it's even harder to keep a sense of humor and reality once you become engaged and begin planning a wedding. The experience of falling in love to getting married is both amazing and overwhelming. However, somewhere in between the dress shopping, the registry, the diet, the guest lists and the family drama, a woman can forget who she is and who she was before the entire process began. This is where Anita Liberty steps in and slaps every intelligent, independent and accomplished woman who is going through (or has gone through) this process and reminds them that who they were before the engagement will inform who they'll be after the engagement and during the marriage. Anita's poetry is inspiring, funny, and real. In one poem, she admits that she doesn't want to get engaged, for fear of losing her independence, but also acknowledges that some other part of her really wants to be married and is dissappointed when an engagement doesn't come sooner. To me, this poem echoed what so many women I know go through as they fall in love - they want to be with that person entirely, but they don't want to lose who they are completely in the process. And I think that within the pages of Anita's book, any person can identify with the contradicting feelings she has, the inner struggles, and even the surrender to a Vera gown (despite a desire for simplicity). The book is about saying goodbye to ex-lovers, saying hello to one's future, and embracing who you are as an individual going forward. I laughed, I cried and I re-read it the same day I finished it. I really hope you consider buying this for yourself or for your friend/sister/cousin because it's more therapeutic than that hour massage you planned on buying her at the local spa.

One of the funniest books I've read, even for a bit of a hypochondriac like myself. FULL of the most fear-inducing information that one shouldn't take on board- like the chapter on ordinary body quirks that could meant the most catastrophic of illnesses. Particularly amusing (for me) was the chapter where the author interviews a Proctologist. Hilarious, with insane little footnotes, and illustrations. Be prepared for a rather sobering finale. Great book.

Despite the macabre subject matter, this is a hilarious book. I laughed out loud many, many times. And while it may, indeed, feed a true hypochondriac's neurosis, it can also show just how obnoxiously far you can take it. I will admit that even I (not so much a hypochondriac) took a few of the `tests' presented in the book. I evidently have about a half-dozen serious medical conditions...

If you like Dave Barry, you'll like this book.

Warning... this is not for the paranoid, for those that read every bad bio-terrorisim book out there then wonder if they've contracted Ebola, or for those who call emergency when they've stubbed their toe thinking it's fleah eating cancer....
Great book full of witty looks at all the medical disasters that can kill ya...
It is well written, funny, well organised and lends itself to reading to friends and relatives who enjoy combining a lack of medical background with pure paranoia. Keep a copy around for flu season...

Several laugh out loud moments. Weingarten's newspaper column is funnier than this book. I love the column. The book isn't bad.

If you truly want to sample Weingarten at his best read his column.

Gene Weingarten used to be Dave Barry's editor at The Miami Herald. Enough said.

I have used Dr. Claire Weekes' books on nervous suffering and agoraphobia for over 20 years, I highly, highly recommend them to fellow sufferers. I didn't have her audio, Pass Through Panic, so I purchased it. Delightful hearing her Australian accent as she 'walks' sufferers through their difficulties. Simple, easy to understand, in laymen's terms.

Dr. Weekes seemed to know that her job was not to motivate or inspire people, but instead, to help those who were suffering get well. In her books and tapes, she offers real hope to people, many of whom (as she acknowledges) might not have the energy to hope - yet. In these days of pop psychology

and trendy motivational products, Dr. Weekes goes right to the heart of the matter: that people suffering from panic attacks don't do so because of defects in their personalities, but because they've been sensitized to certain situations. Dr. Weekes helps us learn techniques to get past that sensitivity.

Her genius was in understanding exactly what her audience was going through emotionally. I've never heard any other doctor speak with such empathy. And by her example, she teaches us to be patient with ourselves while we're getting better.

I usually HATE self-help materials, but I love Dr. Weekes' work. She's one of my heroines.

The advice Dr. Weekes provides is just as relevant today as it was 30 years ago. Nothing has changed. I have returned to Claire Weekes' work time and again. I don't mind her "old fashioned" wording and no nonsense approach to this condition. Everything she says is God's truth... and she does it in a non-frightening way. I've tried other programs, including Lucinda Bassett's. I still think Weekes' tapes are superior. I also recommend David Johnson's Freedom from Fear program, which is entirely based on Claire Weekes' work.

Dr. Claire Weekes is the only one that I had come across in my journey to end my panic and anxiety attacks. After reading many of her books and listening to her tapes, etc., I finally got it. I suffered for over 5 years with debilitating attacks while being a single mom with 3 small children. After adopting Dr. Weekes philosphies, I have had a happy and emotionally healthy life. If ever I feel any major stress, all I do is remind myself of her face, accept, and float philosphy and it works to rid me of that anxious feeling. I highly recommend Dr. Claire Weekes materials for panic and anxiety disorder recovery.

The main argument that Claire Weekes makes in these talks is that fighting the feelings that are upsetting you actually prolongs them. Having suffered from anxiety and depression on and off throughout my life, I immediately knew that what she was saying was 100% true. When you're experiencing feelings that are painful and uncomfortable, your first response is to try to do whatever you can to make the feelings go away. But, since you can't, your sense of discomfort increases with your sense of desperation (why won't these feelings go away?) and a vicious cycle begins. The only solution is to accept what you're feeling, remind yourself that the feelings will not last forever, and go on with your life as usual as best you can. This may not seem like "brilliant" advice, but for those who have experienced this cycle firsthand, they'll recognize immediately just how right and insightful she is. Dr. Weekes goes into some detail about what brings on these feelings in the first place, why, no matter what we do, they don't always go away immediately, and how to best deal with this situation. Her words are very reassuring and right on target.

Definitely recommended.

your friends will think you are serious until they read this. the "chicken leg" illustration is the best...

Brilliantly written with a sense of humor that goes beyond the normal chuckle! Purchased both books by the author as a gift for a pregnant friend. Can't wait to hear the erupted laughter from everyone that comes in contact with these books!!

OMG--this book is sooooo funny! My niece recently had a baby, my sister purchased it for her, and I recently visited them & was able to read it. I laughed so hard; I was crying & my ribs hurt!! :)

I gave this gift at a baby shower and it was big hit...everyone passed it around and was laughing at it and wanted to know where I got it.

A co-worker brought this book into work one day and we all had a good laugh. I ordered it shortly after reading it. Everybody I have showed it to has laughed hard and really enjoy it. Several people asked where I got it and plan to order their own copies.

This book is simply delightful - my 8-year-old is constantly giggling - he is unable to read it to me for the laughter...He has a high reading level - but kids love it (almost as much as their parents!!) My son really is Calvin (I am a bit concerned he may be getting ideas from the little rascal!!)
LOVE IT!!!

. I like this book because it has funny parts.
. I also like the part when calvin pretends to be GodZilla and destoys Tokyo, which is the buildings that Calvin made in his sandbox.
. I dislike someparts of the book.
. I also dislike the part when Calvin pretends to be a zombie.

What can be said about Calvin & Hobbes that hasn't already been shouted to the heavens by legions of prematurely grown-up fans ?

Calvin is the eternal Child/Id within us all, and Hobbes is his stuffed tiger / best friend / faithful companion in arms come-to-life ... and together they swashbuckle their way through a childhood world populated with drooling monsters of the imagination, screaming ray-guns, carboard boxes turned magical transmogrifiers, and giant tut-tutting adults who are forever dragging us back from our revels by the ear, in order to make us wipe our feet, bathe, eat, do our homework, and go to bed on time.

By laughing at Calvin & Hobbes, we get to vicariously relive some of our own carefree childhoods exploits ... exploits which echo in our adult lives, because (looks both ways) we never actually grew up. Only our bodies did.

Highly recommended.

Calvin is in alliance with Hobbes to combat the monsters that lurk in his imagination. The victims of this battle? Usually, Calvin's hapless parents. This collection is among the funniest as it centers on the darker side of Calvin's runaway train of imagination: monsters, space creatures, icky girls, and nefarious snowmen. Pick it up, or the monsters in the closet will come out as well.

Well, I must admit I have had this book since I was in 8th grade when my best friend at the time gave it to me. I still crack up when I'm going through the pages upon pages of strange situations that Calvin and his stuffed friend find themselves in. Definately a must for any C&H fan and really funny. Buy it.