funny,

overall I enjoyed it obviously. Parts of this are really a college course. The professor reads his own material. He is able to detect the nature of humor and also the history of previous philosophers who have addressed the question of the nature of humor.

Anyway it's good if you have the time.

One thing I noticed, and I can't prove this by any means, statistically or otherwise, is that over the five days it took to listen to this while I was in my car traveling, I actually felt myself being elevated into and through humor, and somehow somewhere the things I said. More of a laugh, without even trying! There's a lesson in there somewhere.

18 people found this helpful

Absurdly Educational

I learned, I laughed, I loved. My favorite course thus far. Far funnier than most courses & packed to the brim with philosophy. As an avid consumer of philosophy this course opened my mind to many concepts & schools of thought about something I had never thought deeply about. If you’re interested in humour or philosophy in general this is for you, if you have no interest in either, you probably will after this course.

10 people found this helpful

This is no joke

This book is about the philosophy of humor which means it is about philosophy. I think philosophers are a joke, but so does the author. He has no problem joking about himself. This makes the material much more assessable. But like lots of philosophy, the book gets convoluted and difficult in places. Philosophers like to argue, and if they can't find an opponent they will argue with themselves. The first joke is on you because the picture on the cover is not the author. Each lecture starts off with a joke which is not as audible as the main body of the lecture. I like this book or course and recommend it. This is as funny as philosophy gets. Now I must share a joke or two not in the book. "You can lead a horse to water, but a pencil must be led." ~ Stan Laurel. "Time flies like an arrow, but fruit flies like a banana." ~ Groucho Marx. I believe the author would call these script jokes as described in chapter 8. Have fun.

10 people found this helpful

Full of liberal opinion

Has some decent information, but it seems, knowingly or unknowingly, the lecturer could not help but to insert his personal opinions...

8 people found this helpful

Funny and interesting

Okay, so the jokes that begin each lecture are pretty lame--deliberately so. But, the course is really interesting--who knew that you could get almost 12 hours of lectures on the philosophy of humor. Gimbel is an excellent lecturer and clearly has a grasp on the subject. Like all philosophy, you won't get any real answers, but you will enjoy the ride.

7 people found this helpful

Great for Those thinking about starting comedy

I feel this was very well done I liked the narrators voice and mannerisms you actually get an idea of his personality and comedy while listening I listened to it probably five times already I love it

4 people found this helpful

Enjoyable

I enjoy philosophy so I decided to see what this was about. As philosophy goes, I didn't agree completely with the author on every point. But I certainly enjoyed and appreciated the book in its entirety.

1 person found this helpful

Humor doesn’t have to be mean or average

Did you hear the one about the human who walked into a bar? Ridiculous! Ridiculous! Rediculous!

1 person found this helpful

it's good

It's a very exclusive humor philosphy lecture, more of a introduction to it. There is more to read section in each episode's end and it's pretty cool.

1 person found this helpful

Very informative

I never related humor and philosophy. This was a great experience, not funny but great. Just kidding!