Humor Books

really good book. no matter who you are, it will keep you turning pages

wonderful. inspiring. positive thinking.
one of my favorites.
a treasure.

I totally enjoyed this book. Kathy is an inspiration and I wish her nothing but continued success in the future. The book is hard to believe in some points - that so many bad things can happen to one person. It is amazing to see the metamorphasis Kathy goes through in her life and how the total of all of her life's experiences both good and bad have shaped who she is today. She's triumphant!

Kathy's severe hearing loss lead to an early diagnosis of mental retardation: she was also molested, run over, and stricken with cancer all before the age of thirty but she never lost her sense of humor. If You Could See What I Hear provides her life story and how she kept this sense of humor through the darkest of days. A powerful memoir and personal account of hope.

This poignant and beautifully written tale is both inspiring and hysterically funny! An easy read, but brilliantly written, it ties the reader to the book. Without pity, Kathy portrays herself and shows her life through wit and humor that can bring a tear to your eye without making you feel sorry for her. Instead it helps you see your life in better perspective and inspires the reader to attain higher goals. Excellent read.

Keillor is probably best known in the Midwest where his tales of the imaginary town of Lake Wobegon are heard on many radio stations in that region. This book is set in a variety of real Minnesota towns and depicts life in the rural Midwest. Those from these stomping grounds will easily relate to the short stories contained in this book. But even if you dwell in a California metropolis you will still find a warmth, perhaps uncommon, yet very appreciated. Take, for example, the following exerpt quoted from The Notebooks of Carl Krebsbach:
"It was the annual January thaw, nature's way of arousing false hopes and tempting the good people of Lake Wobegon to let lown their guard and not wear a scarf so that nature can kill them. A form of natural selection to reduce the optimist population and promote the survival of embittered stoics who believe that fate is against them. Which it is.
The thaw means that snow on the roof melts and freezes on the overhang of the eaves, forming a dam to back up the water so it can get under the shingles and freeze and gradually rip our house apart, which is nature's goal, to obliterate us. Nature is not benevolent towards us, it wants us out of here. It's good to know this. In summer, you can almost believe otherwise.
Luckily, summer is soon over. As it turns cold, our mood improves. we're excited. Cold is a stimulant. So is danger. It's good to have nature to deal with. That's why self-pity declines in the fall. People don't sit around and anguish over what to do with their lives. Instinct tells you. You're a mammal. Stay warm. Stay close to the food supply. Shovel the roof. Make babies. Make a few extra in case the wolves get one. And then on a cold night in January, you walk out in the moon light and agsinst all reason, beyodn all expectation, you're utterly happy."

In addition to Keillor's down-to-earth story telling this book contains wonderful photography by Richard Olsenius. I actually bought this book because I am a fan of photojounalistic photograghy. Great writing and great photography, a bookshelf is incomplete without this volume.

I was what you would call a "Noobie" to all of Garrison's work until recently. I picked up this book at a college library after speaking to my mother about the Minnesota author project I was recently assigned. She was familiar with his work and suggested that I look into it....so I did. I never thought that this would open up such big can of worms, and I mean this in a good sense. After reading the book from cover to cover, I went on the internet to find out more about Garrison's work and turned up some very interesting search results. I then read it again and now I guess you could say that I'm hooked on the Lake Wobegon saga and I am planning on picking up a couple of his earlier writings related to Lake Wobegon.
I really enjoyed reading this book and I would recommend this book to anyone who has vast, little, or no knowledge of Lake Wobegon.

I was what you would call a "Noobie" to all of Garrison's work until recently. I picked up this book at a college library after speaking to my mother about the Minnesota author project I was recently assigned. She was familiar with his work and suggested that I look into it....so I did. I never thought that this would open up such big can of worms, and I mean this in a good sense. After reading the book from cover to cover, I went on the internet to find out more about Garrison's work and turned up some very interesting search results. I then read it again and now I guess you could say that I'm hooked on the Lake Wobegon saga and I am planning on picking up a couple of his earlier writings related to Lake Wobegon.
I really enjoyed reading this book and I would recommend this book to anyone who has vast, little, or no knowledge of Lake Wobegon.

Fans of Keillor's "A Prairie Home Companion" are already an imaginative sort. We know what Arlene Bunsen looks like, or Pastor Inquist. We've got a good idea how Roger Hedlund has been rotating his crops, and the main goings on on Main Street. We don't need pictures of this area because we already know it by heart--we've seen it on the radio. This book does exactly what it should...it doesn't dispel our images of Lake Wobegon, but gives us pictures of its neighbors and people living their lives in rural Minnesota. All the images are sepia toned. With a few exceptions, the subjects are unposed and candid, getting ready for the prom, or readying the field for corn.

The composition of the shots are superb. The short prologue gives a first person retelling of how Keillor invented the town that "time forgot and the decades cannot improve." That introduction, however, is so short that it's almost unfair to say that this is a Garrison Keillor book. He essentially wrote the foreword (although it's not titled that way), and the pictures tell the real story.

My only disappointment is that there isn't any color. Certainly sepia tones give us nostalgia the way we'd like to remember it, but sunset on a farm is something you can't appreciate in shades of brown. Rural life has its monochromatic moments, to be sure, but there's enough color and life to help us remember that not everything is nostalgia.

This gripe doesn't detract from the beauty of this book, though. Thankfully we never see Lake Wobegon, only hints and shadows. It allows us to preserve our preconceptions, but gives us a deeper feeling of connection with the area. If you're a fan of APHC, you probably already own this book (or you should). If not, take a look at a lifestyle that might be foreign to you.

From the Central Minnesota prairie, in beautiful black and white pictures and picturesque prose, here is the Genesis of Garrison Keilor's magical mythical Lake Wobegon, site of "A Prairie Home Companion." Here we get to *see* the strong women, good-looking men, and above average children of and for whom he speaks on Saturday nights. Accompanying Richard Olsenius' stunning photography (how can the viewer not be deeply moved by the picture of the veterans at the St. Wendell cemetery on Memorial Day?) are excerpts from the Radio Show, interviews with inhabitants, and essays and musings from Keilor - like this:

"Culture isn't decor, it's what you know before you're twelve. It sticks with you all your born days. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. You can try to wrestle free of it, like those geese who trail the V-formation, trying to look as if they aren't part of this bunch, as if flying south were a personal decision on their part, but your feint towards independence only makes it clearer who you really are. Some people like hot dish better if it's called cassoulet, or pot roast if it's pot-au-feu. Fine. Suit yourself. Same difference."

Whatever you call those culinary delights, you'll like this book. Come see Father Kleinschmidt's Annual Blessing of the Snowmobiles. Ja, you betcha! Reviewed by TundraVision.

Truly a great book. Tales of epic adventures and misadventures from around the globe. I recommend Quigley's book, "In the Company of Rivers". It's the ideal paperback to take with you on your next fishing trip.

An eloquent work...destined to be a classic. Those who cherish the outdoors will relish every word.Ed Quigley has given us a magnificant gift. Thank you Ed.

I shelled out good money for this book - and thoroughly enjoyed it. Quigley is a masterful storyteller. While I am not a fisherman, the word pictures painted by the author really made me feel as if I were there with him. I particularly liked "The Legend" and "Painted Ladies."

I enjoyed it. Don't care much for fishing stories, but I like good writing. Nice tales, well told.

This book contains a great collection of stories which will stimulate an outdoorsman's desire to escape to a better place. A must for any fly fisherman's library.

Lucy Snyder has one of the most unique voices in speculative fiction, and this book is an example of her at her best.

What Terry Prachett does for fantasy, what Douglas Adams did for S/F, what Christopher Moore does for horror, Lucy Snyder does for technogeekism. She twists it, she warps it, and she makes it side-splittingly funny. She is well on her way to creating a lexicon of humor that will have the whole Gen X and Y community feeling even more smug and geekier-than-thou.

The title piece in this collection is a beloved classic to the online crowd; anyone who's ever suffered through a technical manual will be at home with the zombie badgers.

This book also contains one of my favorite stories of all time, "In The Shadow of the Fryolator". Chick lit meets Cthulu via the brain of Lucy Snyder.

I highly recommend owning this book if you want to be cool.

Well, being a fan of every zombie based litature and or media that has come out...pretty much since i can remeber this book takes the cake. Not only does it contain zombies, but it shows how to make them and the nessary tools and items needed to do so. I should have guessed that Linux would have been involved i just dident realize it would be so easy. Now i barely ever have to do any work my self, except for matience on my zombies of course. Iv even taught one to take dictation, although they cant spell worth a D#@N. Over all i loved this book, from obscure hacking references to common problems we could all have with the "living impared" this is a A-1 book in my opinion.

This handbook is priceless. Sure, Linux is free, but learning how to use it properly, a necessity when installed on a dead badger (something I'd been meaning to try) can be tricky (especially for those of us who were trained on Windows machines).

I'd been wanting to explore Linux use and the wider applications of the life-challenged to handle my small business's basic chores--mailing, filing, tax preparation, security--but until I read this book I had no idea I'd need to know which aethernet company would require the least amount of holy water. The need for a priest on speed dial or a martyr-minded virgin had also never occurred to me.

I especially liked the down-to-earth language of the book. Sure, there are some shoutouts to people I've never heard of, and some references to computer skills I haven't mastered yet, but I found it written in a fun, easily-accessible way that made it possible for even my (Windows) challenged brain to keep up.

Installing Linux on a Dead Badger is one of those books that begins with a small chuckle, quickly advances to a chortle and then moves you directly to 'Laughing out loud'. Really quickly. With dry humor and clear prose Lucy Snyder deconstructs hackers, corporate culture and megalomanic alien squids in short order, and with a side of fries.

This collection of sprightly tales begins with the title piece, a pseudo technical manual that should delight geeks and non-geeks a like, particularly those whove sat on hold waiting for tech support. We then proced to corporate vampirism, psychic stock predictions, zombie employees and haunted networks. Luc's prose is funny, fast moving, absurdist and served with a healthy dose of irony. Two stumps up, and way up.

ILOADB is a smart, funny, and often deliciously macabre look at eldritch horrors, necromancy, faeries, and most mindbending of all, corporate culture and values. Where else do people willing to become vampires get onto the middle management track so they can handle the zombies at the call center?

And let's face it, if you've had to look for a job in the past few years, pretending to be a zombie to get reliable health benefits doesn't seem so bad...

Lucy Snyder's sense of black humor and horror blend wonderfully in this collection, and I highly reccomend it to anyone!

I recieved my purchase in a timely manner. I was sooooo excited to have been able to add this book to my collection. I would purchase other items from this buyer in the future if they had something i liked.

I have been a faithful FoxTrot reader for years. Roger, Andy and their kids Peter, Paige and Jason are always good for a reality check with a large dose of laughter. I've got two girls and let me tell you, I see a lot of my kids in Paige with, I believe, even a healthy dose of Jason thrown in. And they have Peter's bottomless stomach. Of course, they're faithful FoxTrot readers too. I used to read the strip to them, explain what was going on, but now they get it just fine and we three all laugh together. Then my girls try and explain the strip to their dad, who pretends he doesn't get it.

The FoxTrot folks are a great family, one we sort of got used to checking up on every day, so we took the news that Mr. Amend was going to cease daily distribution of his wonderfully funny people and turn his strip to Sunday only, with a bit of sadness. Still, we have these terrific FoxTrot books to keep us going with our FoxTrot fix. Mr. Amend is to be commended for his great gift to our culture and his great gift to so many lives. I truly believe a laugh a day, helps keep the blues away and the FoxTrot gang are always good for a laugh. Heck there are a lot of laughs in the FoxTrot books. I know, I have them all and I am, along with my girls and my hubby dear, eagerly awaiting the next one.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention, we don't have an iguana, but my girls do have a pet gecko and, you guessed it, his name is Quincy.

I've been a Foxtrot reader for a long time and personally I think there is something suspiciously wrong with people who don't find Bill Amend's characters funny as all get out. If you want a good laugh, check out Bill in your local newspaper, or better yet, get one of the Foxtrot books. They are all great, really, they are.

Like many of Mr. Amend's fans I'm a bit disappointed he's switching his strip to Sunday-only, but fortunately I can still read him daily in the Foxtrot books. Get them one and all and you can keep right on a laughing.

Of course it gets five stars. You like Foxtrot, and you get the Foxtrot humor. If you like the comic, you'll love the book. Mine was brand new and perfect condition (as promised by amazon) and came at expected date.

Jason and Marcus, the ultimate geeks. I got'em all. This is my alltime favorite comic strip. It sure beats 1 strip a day. Don't do the little books just get the giant treasury books and you won't get repeats.

This book is hilarious! A must read if you've spent time in a gray fuzz covered, neon lite cubicle in corporate American. you'll love this book. If you've ever received mass emailings containing executive directives that make you talk to your computer screen in colorful ways, you'll love this book. If you've ever heard a company executive tell you that the company is doing fine, despite the headlines, you'll love this book.
If the first names of the CEOs of your former employers are Joe, or Bernie, and have recently been Indicted by the Justice Department, you should read this book. As Jimmy Buffet once said, "If we don't laugh, we'll all go insane!" A truly sarcastic and humorous work of art.

J.J., poor guy, has experienced my luck in the business world! Mr. Talbott's book is hilarious because it's so true! About time someone tells it like it is in the "real" world.

WAY TO GO!! This is a wonderful humorous example of the REAL Corporate America!! It is about time we take a look at the structure which is leading to the downfall of many corporations! Mr. Talbott has very successfully and humorously accomplished that task. This is a must read for anyone working in or affected by the Corporate world. Is there anyone who has not been affected by the situations he so adequately describes??

Read and enjoy. Get ready to laugh. Get ready to act on and advocate for change in corporate America!! Nomatter what your situation, I believe you will find many things in the book applicable to you.

Thanks Mr. Talbott for your honesty and realness in addressing this issue!! Please write some more!!

A valuable book for anyone working in a corporate job, a university job, a government job, a military job, or doing business with them. (That's everyone, isn't it?) Whether you are in a cubicle, a wood-paneled suite or a home office, it's time to lighten up. Fred Talbott's scenarios and one-liners cut like a razor because he finds humor as he reveals basic truths about the way we work.

If you are a public speaker, steal from this book. If you are a consultant, quote from this book. If you are a working stiff like me, read this book and laugh and remember what Mama says, "Misery loves company."

Whether you are in the corporate structure or at a mom-and-pop shop you can learn from and relate to this book.

Mr. Talbott utilizes a swift and humorous pen to teach and entertain page after page. Unfortunately or fortunately we have all been through a variety of what Talbott depicts, now we have the solace to sit back and have a laugh about it!

Take the bullets out of the chamber, iron your shirt and don't forget your briefcase and this book on your way to your nine to five! Thanks Mr. Talbott!

This is the first book I have read by Ted Cohen but it will not be my last. Do not be frightened away by the word "philosophy." Everyone seems to grasp the fact that some jokes work with some people and not with others. This book shows us how jokes depend on a "complex set of conditions" in order to work and that jokes are "conditional." The book has a wonderful cadence allowing room for the philosophy behind and the intimacy caused by good joke telling and -- great jokes too. Laughter is indeed the best medicine -- grab this book and have a laugh!

Of course I read this book, sort of, five years ago when I received it as a gift. It is unlikely ever to be more famous than Lenny Bruce, who had the honor of Dustin Hoffman playing him in the movie "Lenny," but it also devotes much of its attention to the difference between Jewish and goyish. Chapter 5, "Jewish Jokes and the Acceptance of Absurdity," ends on page 68 with a joke which starts:

"Once a perverse Jewish young man in a small village in Poland enjoyed his role as apikoros [see appendix].

The joke ends with:

"I see," said the older man. "Let me tell you: I'm an apikoros; you're a goy."

The last five years have not been kind to public intellectuals who share the annoying attitude of the people observing modern life who "have the stance of an outsider, and the soul of a critical student. A tendency to laugh at absurdity and to traffic in jokes exploiting this tendency are constituents in American laughter generally, I think, and may well have their own sources there, but surely they have been abetted by the infiltration of Jewish humor."

Philosophically, I find that modern life generally ignores the ability of philosophers to refute common assumptions, but people have their own form of upmanship which consists of flipping out epistemic modalities like September 11, presidential leadership, or the triumph of free economies to justify their lack of awareness of any long-term consequences of grandiose missions and dubious crusades: to the moon, to Mars (the god of war beacons), to Baghdad, to the Chinese embassy (was May 7-8, 1999 in Belgrade too recent to get a joke in this book?). As the system works, people who know a lot of jokes are sure to guess the profession of the guys walking past a woman who say:

"Man, Id like to screw her," said one of the *******.
His companion answered, "Yeah? Out of what?"

Given the nature of professional ethics, the second of the two men might be considered more professional, more interested in the economic possibilities for financial rewards, than the first, while the first is merely reflecting years of absorbing modern entertainment values or male chauvinist pigishness (take your choice). Since impeachment proceedings in 1999 were dominating the jokes which the public were hearing at the time, this book was riding on a crest of awareness that some professions need complicated rules about what you can say after you swear to tell the truth. The president would have surprised everyone back in 1992 on "Sixty Minutes" after the Super Bowl if he had said, "If I had to choose between telling the truth or lying my ass off, I'd pick Gennifer Flowers." That is easier to understand than all the is meanings in the world of doubletalk that professional mindbending encourages when faced with specific questions about allegations of infidelity.

The 24 hour day puts strains on everyone's relations with each other, best illustrated by the line in "Get Off My Cloud" by the Rolling Stones in which an anonymous voice on the phone complains:

"It's 3 a.m., there's too much noise. Don't you people ever want to go to bed?"

The key word here, you, can be looked up in the index of joke beginnings and punch lines in this book to find a joke with an exchange at 3 a.m. which ends with:

"For God's sake, Abe, you don't have to get up in the morning."

With characters named Abe and Sarah, this joke could have some relevance to a society growing much older than anyone is used to, and doctors who dare to inform patients when their number comes up and they have a duty to die, but our society keeps pretending that it has not reached that stage yet. More likely our society thinks of itself as being more like the joke in the Introduction which ends with:

"Of course they take bribes." (p. 9).

ted cohen is bleeding hilarious. he's even funnier in person than on paper. he happens to be my philosophy professor - ain't i lucky?

buy that book!!

Cohen's pithy but enterprising volume is not only fun to read but he builds a suprisingly sound idea of the joke-work as an aesthetic bond between two or more. This was refreshing in itself as so many now seem to think of jokes as offensive before they begin, or at best as an offensive against political dullards and people with whom we don't agree.

Cohen doesn't fall into this standard academic rap, and so his arguments were a novelty.

I especially enjoyed the joke based on Niels Abel's commutative groups, as I didn't realize that mathematicians had a sense of humor that was parlayed into such odd and exquisite visions.

The ending was an attempt to take on the morality of joking in an age in which almost everyone is offended by everything from dust to sun-rises. While Cohen says go ahead and be offended, he also says to not try to outlaw other people's sense of humor. I felt he set up a Catch-22 that needed more work. On what basis is it reasonable to be offended?

Is it ever reasonable?

Unfortunately, the book ended in this snag of ook after seventy good pages building a model of the joke-work as a mode of appreciation. To end with the Maoist stalemate that has held culture in a quagmire of contention was less than cheering, not that I myself know any way out of that quagmire of ooky skook.

Thank heavens jokes live on. Some of these are really unusual, and Cohen's commentary is always scintillating. Bravo! I am tickled that this book was written and published. Everyone in America should have a heavily annotated copy under their pillow and we would begin to have a civilization worthy of the zig-zags and ziggurats of the star-bellied Sneetches.

-- Kirby Olson, Author
Comedy after Postmodernism

I might as well admit up front that I didn't buy this book. In fact, Ted Cohen gave me a complementary inscribed copy so that I could reinvigorate my cocktail party repetoire of jokes (my wife says this book will add at least 5 years to our marriage). But for all of you who read this review, you should know that I intend to buy a few dozen copies to distribute to my best friends. And not because Ted needs the money, but because this book is both a scream and thought provoking. If only for laughs, it's well worth the price. And the publisher has considerately type-set the many jokes in bold so that you can easily skip the philosophy. But after you've read the jokes, I recommend you go back and read Ted's thoughts and commentary. You'll see jokes and joking in a new light. Thank you Ted!

After spending some time in Japan, I find that Meghan Murphy pokes delightful fun at the culture of kawaii.

Besides the bountiful collection wonderful four pane commic there's a few treats like the manifesto, kawii-o-scope and a short story.
As an added bonus, I find that the way the book is constructed lends itself nicely to turning each commic into a postcard. My friends love recieving them.
I'd recommend this as a gift to anyone over 13, seeing as some references and wording are a more adult.

If you want to get an idea of what the humor is like, Ms. Murphy has constructed a website: [...]. Most of what you see there is also in the book. I hope you enjoy!

I LOVE THIS BOOK!!

randomly found this in a book store & started flipping through it and i couldn't put it down! I love the (sometimes) inappropiate humor...but it definitely says the things I'm sure some of us think of! :)

Showed it off at my office & my friends LOVE it too!! We're picking up more copies so they have their own...

Looking forward to another collection! (HOPEFULLY SOON!!)

I bought this for a friend for her birthday. I have never even heard of the website. My friend knew about the website and absolutely loved the book. I plan on giving it as a gift to at least 5 other people.

It's both a humorous and "keeps your mind in the gutter" type of fun. Every page is funny and cute at the same time! I love it! I can only hope the author brings more books as adorable as this one!

I have the book sitting on my desk and people come in all the time to flip through it. Everyone leaves laughing! It's not too raunchy (well minus a few that might be considered not exactly 'work safe') and the majority of them of hysterical. My personal favorite is the chainsaw "whir!" but a lot of the engineers are partial to the can of botulism.

I love the way it props up even though the cover gives me a bit of trouble sometimes. It's a great book to share.

There's a rumor floating around that Duhamel's got a Selected Poems forthcoming from _________. (I don't want to start a stampede). It's about time. Kinky is yet more evidence that Ms. Duhamel is quickly becoming one of our shrewdest social critics.

First off this is one of the funniest books of serious petry ever written. Second, using Barbie to show all the hypocracy and flaws in our culture and society works wonderfully. Third the empathy the poems show for those of us, for whatever reason, don't fit the Barbie and Ken mode is truly touching.

Modern poetry tends to drool over itself when addressing sexuality. Kinky touches on modern american sexuality with a healthy willingness to see diversity in behaviour. There is no lurid, smutty element in this book. It has no deep-seated sense of shame; that is so common as the motivation in modern poems. I felt happiness as the motovation in these poems. A good read.

I've read all of Denise Duhamel's collections of poetry. _Kinky_ is the funniest, most focussed, most controlled, least self-absorbed, most accomplished of them all. I've given it to friends and shared it with my family, and we all absolutely love it.

The book explores the issues of gender, beauty, religion, and effects of imperialism and corporatization with cutting and savvy humor. A quick and pleasurable read.

We teach a graduate class at Western Michigan University entitled "Humor and Fun: The Brain's Best Learning Strategy." After much deliberation, we made LAUGH AND LEARN the required text for the course. We love the sound and accurate science on humor and brain function, and meanwhile it is a genuinely funny read. In short, the book both proves AND demonstrates the central point of the course: that fun really is the best learning strategy.

Our students include pre-school, middle school, high school, and college teachers, and even administrators. In spite of the fact that LAUGH AND LEARN was written primarily from a trainer's point of view, we find that it offers good stuff for all. We're delighted to report that the response to the book (and the class) has been excellent. We highly recommend this book for virtually any teaching professional.

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!"

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...