Humor Books - Page 16

Cancer on Five Dollars a Day (chemo not included): How Humor Got Me Through the Toughest Journey of My Life

Robert Schimmel

Amazon Price: $11.20 List Price: $14.00 Not yet published By: Da Capo Lifelong Books

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 25 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

In the spring of 2000, Robert Schimmel was riding high. He'd won the Stand-Up of the Year Award, his HBO special was a huge hit, and his sitcom had been picked up. And then it all came crashing down. Diagnosed with Stage III non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, he was told he would have to undergo chemotherapy immediately. The sitcom was dumped and the fire of his white-hot career started to go out. But Schimmel never lost his sense of humor, his knife-like edge, and most of all, his passion to entertain. Indeed, it was his basic need to laugh-even if the only people around him were suffering from cancer and the room he was playing was the Mayo Clinic infusion center-that carried him through his ordeal. From his colorful banter with nurses and other patients during chemo, to his hilarious conversation with a wig salesman, going for the laugh was Robert Schimmel's survival mechanism. Alternately laugh-out-loud funny and profound, "Cancer on Five Dollars a Day" is an honest account of how one man's face-off with a deadly disease helped him better understand himself.

Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography

David Michaelis

Amazon Price: $13.57 List Price: $19.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Harper Perennial Amazon Marketplace: 62 new & used starting at $11.53

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 86 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

I will never look at Snoopy the same way 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

As a life-long admirer of Peanuts, I could not put this book down. I found it at times profound, highly readable and full of insight. The use of the strip to illustrate the biographical material was masterful. David Michaelis has come under fire from the Schulz family, especially Charles Schulz's son Monte for his depiction of "Sparky" as a depressed artist, as well as dwelling on Schulz's late 60s love affair. But Monte Schulz's criticisms are unfair. Michaelis creates a portrait, his own, of both the artist and the meaning of the strip. That is all he can do. Truth is multifarious and memory, even among family members, is fluid as quicksilver.

Michaelis does an admirable job of charting the thematic metamorphosis of Peanuts, from its early emphasis on the angst-ridden Charlie Brown to the later ecstatic id-antics of Snoopy. While not a work of art history, the biography makes a good companion to the Complete Peanuts volumes, revealing many subterranean currents of meaning. For Schulz to endure as the great artist and writer that he was, critical and serious works like this need to be read, even when people might not like what Michaelis has to say. For this reviewer, Schulz and Peanuts enriched my understanding of characters I have loved all my life, allowing me to appreciate them even more.

Editorial Review:

Charles M. Schulz, the most widely syndicated and beloved cartoonist of all time, is also one of the least understood figures in American culture. Now, acclaimed biographer David Michaelis gives us the first full-length biography of the brilliant, unseen man behind Peanuts: at once a creation story, a portrait of a native genius, and a chronicle contrasting the private man with the central role he played in shaping the national imagination. Schulz and Peanuts is the definitive epic biography of an American icon and the unforgettable characters he created.

Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Plunges into Music (Uncle John's Bathroom Reader)

Bathroom Readers' Institute

Amazon Price: $12.21 List Price: $17.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Portable Press Amazon Marketplace: 40 new & used starting at $8.20

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Fun Read 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

My hubby loves these readers. Since he is always breaking out in a song, we thought this would be the perfect gift! He loves it.

Editorial Review:

What do Franz Liszt, Louis Armstrong, Woody Guthrie, and Elvis Presley have in common? What’s the story on the birth of the banjo, the electric guitar, and the Stradivarius violin? Why did disco happen? Who are the punk princesses? These are just a few of the questions answered in this lively book. Filled with facts, trivia, and stories about the world’s musicians, instruments, songs, and more, this endlessly diverting "plunge" dips into the history of Motown, muzak, and marching bands; tells the secret stories behind the hits; explores legendary venues like the Grand Ole Opry, the Apollo, and the Fillmore; spots the rarely sighted “two-hit wonders”; describes the origins of karaoke, rap music, and the cha cha cha. In short, it includes all the music news that’s fit to print is here in a variety of formats — longer entries for extended sojourns and brief tidbits for shorter stays.

This Is the Part Where You Pretend to Add Value: A Dilbert Book (Dilbert Books (Paperback Andrews McMeel))

Scott Adams

Amazon Price: $10.39 List Price: $12.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Andrews McMeel Publishing Amazon Marketplace: 35 new & used starting at $6.17

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Adams - As Sharp & Funny as Ever! 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This latest (31st) collection of Dilbert cartoons contains all the syndicated cartoon strips (including the longer Sunday strip) from March 2007 - early January 2008. As a bonus, they are now ALL in colour, not just the Sunday ones. I have really enjoyed this collection - Adams has hit a new bit of sharp form in this latest collection. Wally, PHB, Alice....they are all here. An excellent, humourous read. Highly recommended.

Editorial Review:

"Ninety percent of ethics is picking the right ethicist." --Dilbert

Scott Adams offers up his this Dilbert collection exploring themes of sloth and corporate indifference. The arbitrary, unspoken rules of interoffice emailing, the random policy generator, and the knowledge that management has indeed given up ever trying to win an award for best place to work all combine to make life in the Dilbert workplace as demoralizing as real life.

Dilbert navigates through the same corporate 9 to 5 existence in which his readers physically dwell. Dilbert, Dogbert, the boss, Wally, Alice, and Catbert tackle corporate indolence, avarice, and pretense one strip at a time, from the neighboring cubicle whistler to the project naysayer to the guy who's always just too busy to lend a hand.

Happier: Learn the Secrets to Daily Joy and Lasting Fulfillment

Tal Ben-Shahar

Amazon Price: $17.79 List Price: $26.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: HighBridge Company Amazon Marketplace: 32 new & used starting at $9.99

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 45 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

No-Nonsense Happiness Info 5 out of 5 stars.
134 of 135 people found this review helpful.

I really liked this book. Although I wouldn't say I'm a particularly unhappy person, who couldn't benefit from some more happiness? While doing a little searching on the subject of happiness, the book caught my eye with its bright red and yellow cover. Glancing through the book, the infomation caught my attention.

I guess what I liked best about it was the realistic approach of the author. Right off the bat, the book makes it clear that the goal should not so much to be happy, but rather to be "happier"- hence the reason for the title of the book. As the book points out, trying to be happy suggests it is a point you reach and then you've "made it." Wrong. Nobody goes around in a perfectly blissful state all the time and pursuing such a goal is doomed to fail. Instead, trying to be "happier" is a much more realistic goal- and suggests that it is more of an ongoing process, rather than just some state you finally reach. So how does the book intend to make one "happier"?

In two words, the research. Since the author teaches a class in positive psychology at Harvard, the book's tips to increase your happiness, such as setting goals and expressing gratitude, stand on solid ground. I believe most readers will find them pretty doable.

So to sum things up, I found the to be pretty quick read. Not only does it explain the happiness research and give you practical happiness boosting tips, it just might help you re-frame your whole idea of how to pursue happiness. Other evidence-based happiness books readers may want to check out include Finding Happiness in a Frustrating World.

Editorial Review:

Can we really learn to be happy? Yes, we can. Each semester, nearly 1,400 students sign up for Harvard professor Tal Ben-Shahar's life-changing class, "How to Get Happy." Currently it's the hottest course at Harvard, taken by 20 percent of its graduates.

In Happier, Professor Ben-Shahar brings the ideas of the Ivory Tower to Main Street, distilling the lessons and exercises from his course into a slim volume of practical wisdom. Grounded in the Positive Psychology movement, based on years of researching the works of scientists, academics, and philosophers, Happier emphasizes the importance of pursuing a life of both pleasure and meaning.

The Gun Seller

Hugh Laurie

List Price: $24.00 By: Soho Press Amazon Marketplace: 28 new & used starting at $5.80

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 108 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Apparently this guy is multi-talented 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I don't watch House, but I've seen Hugh Laurie in other work, and apparently he's very talented. Not only can he pull off a genuine American accent, he can write a heck of a crime novel.

The Gun Seller works as a thriller and a comedic novel. It is expertly written, very smart (well researched, with sundry technical details about motorcycles, weaponry and international espionage), and hilarious. A lot of full-time crime writers would do well to read this work.

The protagonist is in many ways a typical crime novel hero -- full of faults, doesn't quite fit in with mainstream culture, has a taste for liquor and the occasional woman, falls for a femme fatale and has at his center an admirable moral code -- but Laurie also gives Thomas Lang a hilariously scabrous interior monologue that will keep you laughing throughout. Also, as is typical in crime novels, Thomas Lang, for all his tongue-in-cheek dialogue, takes doing the right thing very seriously. At times, he is alone in a world filled with corruption, cowardice and greed.

This novel isn't just good because it's surprising that an actor could pull it off. It's excellent work on its own. It's no wonder that Laurie has become such a big success: He's got the chops.

Highly recommended for fans of crime novels, espionage thrillers and irreverent humor.

Editorial Review:

A spoof of the spy genre set in Britain features a drifter who orchestrates a magnificent caper involving the CIA, international terrorists, arms dealers, a high-speed chase on skis, and buxom, blonde beauties."

Ductigami: The Art of the Tape

Joe Wilson

Amazon Price: $10.17 List Price: $14.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Boston Mills Press Amazon Marketplace: 33 new & used starting at $7.23

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 16 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

It's back -- with more tape and more projects: 18 projects using the do-it-yourselfer's not-so-secret weapon.

NASA has a written policy that requires every space shuttle mission to carry at least one roll of "the gray tape." Duct tape now comes in designer colors, and for the color-shy there's a transparent version. The once-humble tape has hit the big time, and now there are duct-tape clubs, competitions and websites. In the words of Red Green, head possum on the PBS-syndicated The Red Green Show, "Spare the duct tape, spoil the job."

In this instructive, entertaining and downright funny how-to book, Joe Wilson shows how to rip, cut and fold ordinary duct tape to make 18 amazing projects, including:

• Wallet
• Barbecue apron
• Lunchbox
• Tool belt
• Cell phone holder
• Baseball cap
• TV chair caddy
• Raingear for pets
• Toilet roll cover
• Halloween masks.

Ductigami is more fun than a crossword puzzle, more useful than a welder's certificate, and more durable than a rechargeable battery. With duct tape it's easy to create a remarkable personal gift for any occasion.

(20061101)

Scientific Progress Goes 'Boink': A Calvin and Hobbes Collection

Bill Watterson

Amazon Price: $8.79 List Price: $10.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Andrews McMeel Publishing Amazon Marketplace: 161 new & used starting at $0.01

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 28 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Hysterical and bittersweet 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

When you get right down to it, is there anything better than Calvin & Hobbes? In this compilation or any of the others, you get lessons in quantum physics, nostalgic looks at the agony of grade school, observations in human nature, and a bit of the "thing under the bed" style horror. All this and you'll laugh yourself to the point of wetting your pants.
The Calvin & Hobbes strips are hysterical. But beyond that, they are poignant and often bittersweet, reminding us of the children we once were and of the rich fantasies that come with childhood.
Behold Calvin, utterly impish and wise-beyond-his years. His snowmen displays, at times morbid at times downright surreal, could fill a collection of its own.
Calvin fancies himself the smartest boy in the world. And who can argue with him, other than his long-suffering parents and his faithful friend Hobbes, a tiger who may or may not be real.
Hobbes is the pentultimate friend. He is Calvin's confidante and his patient ear, but he is also the first to pounce on the boy or to challenge his sordid views of the world. Together, the pair ponder the meaning of life, question the adult world, or sneak off to explore the fascinating landscapes of childhood found under dead logs or under rocks.
If I were banished to a small island with only scant supplies to get me through my days, this book would be among the items in my trunk. I have had this collection for ten years or more and I've gone through it a dozen times. I'll go through it a dozen more before it's battered to the point of unreadable.
Watterson is an absolute genius. But as you fall into the world of Calvin & Hobbes, you'll forget that they were created by a mere man at all.

Editorial Review:

Calvin and Hobbes touched the hearts (and funny bones) of the millions who read the award-winning strip. One look at this Calvin and Hobbes collection and it is immediately evident that Bill Watterson's imagination, wit, and sense of adventure were unmatched. In this collection, Calvin and his tiger-striped sidekick Hobbes are hilarious whether the two are simply lounging around philosophizing about the future of mankind or plotting their latest money-making scheme. Chock-full of the familiar adventures of Spaceman Spiff, findings of Dad's popularity poll, and time travel to the Jurrassic Age, Scientific Progress Goes "Boink" is guaranteed to set scientific inquiry back an ean--and advance the reading pleasure of all Calvin and Hobbes fans.

Understanding Comics

Scott McCloud

List Price: $19.95 By: Dc Comics Amazon Marketplace: 25 new & used starting at $9.25

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 126 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A Brilliant Look at the Psychology, Physiology, and Effectiveness of Comic Strips and Books 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This is an important book that everyone should read. I would give it twenty stars if I could.

I've long been interested in both art and comic books (I have collected them for over 50 years). While the library shelves are full of wonderful books that explain what traditional artists are trying to do and why they succeed, I've often found the books to be pretty boring. In recent years, such books have gotten bogged down into abstruse language that is much less appealing than the art which is the subject.

But in those years, I've never seen anything that was very helpful in discussing the rules of comic art, except some books about pop art when that was popular that examined how the pop art was different from comic art. Naturally, I was blown away when I found that Understanding Comics is a far more comprehensive, thoughtful, and accessible book about interaction with art than I have ever read. Although the subject is ostensibly comic strips and comic books, it's clear to me that that Mr. McCloud has a deep and powerful understanding of all art. Some of his conceptual displays of where different forms of art fall in different dimensions of choice (degree of realism, abstraction, and message) are unbelievably powerful.

I hope that some art historian will stumble on this book and recast the history of art to explain and relate different styles to one another using this book's methods. There would be a lot more art lovers if that were the case.

Ultimately, the book's main benefit is to help the reader appreciate that comic art can be a higher and more effective form of art than either pure images or written words by requiring a mastery of more elements . . . elements that are more powerful in grabbing attention and conveying meaning.

Yet the book stays in humble form, a comic book. The powerful ideas sneak up on you as Mr. McCloud deconstructs the elements of comic art expression into chapters on defining what kind of art comics are ("sequential art" for short); explaining where various comics fall on the spectrum of reality, story, and abstraction; the way we fill in the spaces around the lines and between panels with our minds, allowing us to participate in creating the story and the experience; how time is expressed in various ways; the role of lines in creating our understanding and responses; how words and images can interact; a conceptual look at creating comic art; the effect of color; and a synthesis of the book in historical and conceptual terms.

If you want to enjoy both traditional art and comic art more, read this book. It's the Rosetta stone for non-artists in appreciating the images, stories, and messages that artists want to share with us through these media. You'll never be the same . . . and the change will be good for you!

Bravo, Mr. McCloud!

Editorial Review:

Praised throughout the cartoon industry by such luminaries as Art Spiegelman, Matt Groening, and Will Eisner, this innovative comic book provides a detailed look at the history, meaning, and art of comics and cartooning.

The Crass Menagerie: A Pearls Before Swine Treasury

Stephan Pastis

Amazon Price: $11.55 List Price: $16.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Andrews McMeel Publishing Amazon Marketplace: 41 new & used starting at $9.98

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Total reviews: 15 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

"Pearls is the hottest comic in the newspaper business these days." --Raleigh News amd Observer

Named Best Comic Strip of the Year by the National Cartoonists Society in 2004 and 2007, Pearls Before Swine is regarded by fans and critics alike as a thoughtful commentary on humanity's pitiable plight.

Stephan Pastis sketches this nuanced comic strip tale, which features the arrogant, self-centered, and totally hilarious Rat, who leads his four-legged friends through misadventure after misadventure. Joining him for the journey are Pig, the slow but good-hearted conscience of the strip; Goat, the voice of reason that often goes unheard; and Zebra and the eternally inept Crocodiles who pursue him. Together this mindful menagerie mocks the flaws and shortcomings of human nature through Pastis's cynically biting wit.

• The third Pearls Before Swine treasury, this book combines all the cartoons from Da Brudderhood of Zeeba Zeeba Eata and The Sopratos, along with annotations by Pastis.
• From courtroom antics to references of other cartoon strips, Pastis's strip is a fresh presence on the comic pages.