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Ha!: The Science Of When We Laugh And Why (2014)

by Scott Weems(Favorite Author)

3.47 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0465031706 (ISBN13: 9780465031702)

languge

English

genre

Humor

publisher

Basic Books

review 1: According to a study conducted by Thomas Ford of Western Carolina University: "Ford gave groups of adult males assessments of existing sexist beliefs...From these assessments, each subject was classified as possessing either low or high hostile sexism...Ford found that, compared to low-sexist subjects, high-sexist subjects were willing to commit much less money to the National Council of Women--but only after reading the sexist jokes. The nonsexist jokes , as well as the nonhumorous sexist stories, had no impact on their donations...High-sexist subjects advocated the most drastic cuts, but only after reading the sexist jokes."
review 2: At the conclusion of the book, the author Scott Weems takes a humorous jab at himself by quoting Avner Ziv, “It is more enjo... moreyable to read a humorous book than to read one explaining humor.”This is not a book on how to be humorous or funny. This is strictly a scientific view of laughter, jokes, and why people laugh. Very technical in spots, Scott attempts to explain humor through previous studies, diagnosis, and experimentation. Whenever the book started to stray into being a funny book with jokes and entertaining, he made a quick correction with technical jargon.This is a learning book, but I am not convinced humor can be so easily analyzed and explained. Still, there were some things I learned about humor which were informative, probably not useful. In the end, I disagree with the joke that won the 3 WD Humor Test. Too violent for my tastes which I am sure allows Mr. Weems to now categorize me. Lastly, I applaud his attempt at being a comic. Few people could attempt such embarrassment.In the end, I do agree that laughing is the best medicine (sometimes a cliché is the best explanation). less

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