Theories of Humor

The Healing Power of Humor

Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious

They Used to Call Me Snow White...but I Drifted: Women's Strategic Use of Humor

Laughter: A Scientific Investigation

Is it really the best medicine? Neurobiologist Robert R. Provine discovered that no scientist had ever looked into the weird, uncontrollable, and very human phenomenon of laughter, so he started off on his own. Laughter: A Scientific Investigation is his warm and--of course--funny report on how and why we giggle and snort with such regularity. Basing his views on field research conducted in a broad array of social situations (laughter being notoriously difficult to evoke in the laboratory), Provine posits that we use it as a universal, preverbal means of communication. Though animal research is controversial, it suggests that apes establish and maintain relationships using laughlike behavior, so it could be the missing link between animal communication and true language. He also explores instances in which we seem to laugh our way into and out of social situations, and includes a list of tips for keeping the laughs flowing. The irony of the scientific community not taking laughter seriously isn't lost on Provine, and he takes every opportunity to remind his fellows that even the seemingly most trivial matters can hide the most profound truths. If that isn't funny, what is? --Rob Lightner

"[A] well-written, often amusing and always fascinating exposé." (Scientific American)

DO MEN AND WOMEN LAUGH AT THE SAME THINGS?
IS LAUGHTER CONTAGIOUS?
HAS ANYONE EVER REALLY DIED LAUGHING?
IS LAUGHING GOOD FOR YOUR HEALTH?

Drawing upon ten years of research into this most common-yet complex and often puzzling-human phenomenon, Dr. Robert Provine, the world's leading scientific expert on laughter, investigates such aspects of his subject as its evolution, its role in social relationships, its contagiousness, its neural mechanisms, and its health benefits. This is an erudite, wide-ranging, witty, and long-overdue exploration of a frequently surprising subject.

Humor at Work: The Guaranteed, Bottom-Line, Low Cost, High-Efficiency Guide to Success Through Humor

Humor can be an extremely useful tool for success; when used properly it can reduce dtress, improve communication, and create a more comfortable work environment. Now best-selling humorists Esther Blumenfeld and Lynne Alpern offer guidance for identifying and developing your own sense-and style-of humor. Focusing on both traditional and nontraditional workplaces-whether you're a seasoned executive or an entry-level assistant-HUMOR AT WORK reveals the inside track on using humor to improve you speeches and negotiations, to develop management abilities and leadership roles, and to guide you through the pitfalls of day-to-day life.

Key chapters deal specifically with such professions as teaching, sales and customer relations, secretarial and support positions, and the health care field, with a special chapter devoted to women in the workplace. An extensive resource chapter offers further information on conferences and organizations, publications and courses, and recommended reading.

Your Seventh Sense: How to Think Like a Comedian

Want to be the last comic standing? You can! For years Jay Arthur, has been studying and reverse engineering how comedians think. With his co-author Karyn Ruth White, a standup comedian and professional speaker, they have refined the process and come up with the essential skills of how to think like a comedian and find the funny in everyday life.

The Beginner's Guide to Humor and Healing

When Dr. Bernie Siegel tells a joke, it's not only funny - it's good medicine. Now this pioneering physician and author of the perennial bestseller Love, Medicine and Miracles (nearly 2 million copies sold) uplifts our hearts and tickles our funny bones again, with The Beginner's Guide to Humor and Healing. From how love helps us lead longer, more productive lives - to fascinating research about laughter's ability to boost the immune system - to true stories of miracles of spontaneous remission in "terminally ill" patients, here is a life-affirming housecall with America's favorite "stand-up physician."

I'd Rather Laugh : How to Be Happy Even When Life Has Other Plans for You

Remember "Coffee Talk," the Saturday Night Live skit with the Barbara Streisand-loving, constantly verklempt character portrayed by Mike Myers, who encouraged listeners to "talk amongst themselves"? Linda Richman was the inspiration for her. (Myers is her son-in-law; a sharp sense of humor apparently runs in the family.) Like the "Coffee Talk" lady, Richman teaches people how to handle suffering through laughter. She's so good at it that she teaches a seminar on the topic at the posh Canyon Ranch Health Resort in Arizona.

But she speaks from some harrowing experiences. Several friends and relatives have battled cancer. Her 29-year-old son died in a car crash. Her depressed, institutionalized mother died a few days later after falling into a coma (her final words to her daughter: "Linda, you got fat"). In case you're thinking, "Sheesh, how depressing, who wants to read about that stuff?" think again. Her friend Rosie O'Donnell, who wrote the foreword, raves about "Linda-isms." Richman is a modern-day Norman Cousins, but she talks like your best friend--a very witty, resilient friend--offering an inspiring tribute to the power of humor. (Or is it denial?) Heck, what difference does it make, when Richman's "pity party" has you laughing and crying so hard simultaneously?

Remember "Coffee Talk," the Saturday Night Live skit with the Barbara Streisand-loving, constantly verklempt character portrayed by Mike Myers, who encouraged listeners to "talk amongst themselves"? Linda Richman was the inspiration for her. (Myers is her son-in-law; a sharp sense of humor apparently runs in the family.) Like the "Coffee Talk" lady, Richman teaches people how to handle suffering through laughter. She's so good at it that she teaches a seminar on the topic at the posh Canyon Ranch Health Resort in Arizona. But she speaks from some harrowing experiences. Several friends and relatives have battled cancer. Her 29-year-old son died in a car crash. Her depressed, institutionalized mother died a few days later after falling into a coma (her final words to her daughter: "Linda, you got fat"). In case you're thinking, "Sheesh, how depressing, who wants to read about that stuff?" think again. Her friend Rosie O'Donnell, who wrote the foreword, raves about "Linda-isms." Richman is a modern-day Norman Cousins, but she talks like your best friend--a very witty, resilient friend--offering an inspiring tribute to the power of humor. (Or is it denial?) Heck, what difference does it make, when Richman's "pity party" has you laughing and crying so hard simultaneously?

She's a summa cum laude graduate of the School of Hard Knocks. A lecturer at Canyon Ranch (yeah, that fancy spa). A woman who reaches out to help others by sharing her own incredible story. She's also, believe it or not, the mother-in-law of comedian Mike Myers--and even inspired some of his craziest sketches with her irresistible sense of humor. The thing that will impress you the most, though, is Linda's string of almost unbelievable losses and setbacks--and the equally unbelievable way she's dealt with them. How did Linda persevere? She will tell you about the subway rides and the cleaning binges, the loneliness, the relentless spiritual questing, and all-night sessions with the saddest movies she could find. And then she'll tell you about the healing--how the process slowly revealed itself and how she has used it to heal others. In the words of Linda herself, this is a "self-help book for people who realize self-help doesn't come in books." In it, she offers the type of blunt, no-nonsense advice you probably haven't heard since that bold, brassy, always-reliable best friend of your youth gave you a breath-of-fresh-air reality check. The truth is, when it comes to facing the worst that life can dish out, you don't need to reinvent the wheel. Linda Richman has been there before you.

Laughter The Best Medicine: The Healing Powers of Happiness, Humour and Joy

Laughter is one of our most valuable and basic human needs. This book presents over 50 simple techniques to help you build confidence, feel good about yourself and learn to have fun again.

Personality and Sense of Humor