From the Publisher
"Anyone with an interest in language is going to find this book fascinating." ---David Crystal, author of How Language Works
Boston Globe
"The best books on language are the ones that encourage us to reexamine what we think we know, and "The Pun Also Rises" does exactly that."
P.J. O'Rourke
"He tells us, with a clarity unusual for the subject, how the mind works..."
The Los Angeles Times
"A compelling exegesis on what puns are and why they matter."
Detroit Free Press
"Whether you are practicing punster, interested in language or just hungry to learn something on the beach this summer as you lie on the sand-which-is there (see what happens when you talk to this guy?), Pollack's book is fun and informative."
Library Journal
Pollack is a compulsive pun-maker who won the 1995 O. Henry Pun-Off World Championship. While some may think puns are a low form of humor, Pollack explains how punning helped shape our language and influenced the rise of modern civilization. He draws heavily from various disciplines to present what he considers the first known pun; explains the legendary Polynesian punning duels, Shakespeare's invention of the knock-knock joke, Thomas Jefferson's lost comments on punning; and reveals that the history of the pun goes back further than the recorded history of almost anything else. Pollack also demonstrates how the brain processes humorous wordplay. Pollack's work aims to combine punning history with modern-day use of puns, but, surprisingly, he does not include the work of many well-known punners, e.g., Richard Lederer's Get Thee to a Punnery (1988) and Pun and Games (1996) and Art Moger's The Best Book of Puns (1998), preventing this title from being the definitive choice on puns. Former New York Mets announcer Pete Larkin's resonant voice nicely balances this lively material, which will appeal to all etymologists, lexicographers, and language mavens and nicely supplements other related titles. [The Gotham pb will publish in April 2012.—Ed.]—Dale Farris, Groves, TX
SEPTEMBER 2011 - AudioFile
John Pollack, a World Pun Championship winner and former speechwriter for President Clinton, plays with words in a most delightful and ingenious way. This is a real treat in audio since narrator Pete Larkin seems to be having as much fun recounting Pollack’s abundance of groan-producing puns, newspaper headlines, and other clever language-based witticisms as listeners will. Pollack first defines puns and then relates their origins and their significance to the evolution of language. He categorizes puns, analyzes “knock-knock” jokes and riddles, and tells a few outrageous “shaggy dog” stories, all the while quoting from master punsters. From anatomy to neurology, from literature to law, it seems puns know no discipline, and Larkin makes the listening punderful. (Sorry. This book will have you doing it, too.) S.J.H. © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine
