A rollicking collection of good-natured humor designed to put patients at ease.
A chiropractor’s book of jokes and gags.
Friedman, who has multiple degrees and is the author of a college-level textbook on the nervous system, has practiced chiropractic and alternative medicine for decades. Named by the Hollywood Reporter as “The Chiropractor to the Stars,” his clients have included John Travolta and Anthony Hopkins, and he has been a contributing writer for Newsweek, Reader’s Digest, and other national publications. In this lighthearted book of jokes, he embraces the maxim that laughter is not only the best medicine, but has been scientifically proven to release endorphins and serotonin, induce euphoria, and increase immune cells and infection-fighting antibodies. Like Dr. Patch Adams, whom Friedman has interviewed on his radio show, the author has amassed a vast repertoire of jokes, puns, and other gags that he uses to “entertain or simply keep a patient’s mind off the pain they are experiencing.” Barring a brief introduction regarding the science of laughter, the bulk of the book comprises one-liners and inoffensive gags that span from eye-roll–inducing dad jokes (the music most chiropractors listen to is “hip-pop”) to sidesplittingly funny, admittedly juvenile, scatological humor (one entire chapter is devoted to fart jokes, given the proclivity of chiropractic patients to release gas during procedures). While most of the jokes are family friendly, like one that renames cars after bones (i.e., the “Ford Fibula” and “Kia Clavicle”), the chapter “Couples Comedy” offers PG-13 fare in the form of mild sex jokes. Accompanying each chapter are humorous illustrations drawn and captioned by the author. While many of the jokes may be a bit corny or only funny within the context of a doctor’s office, Friedman offers a template for medical practitioners to approach their patients with amusing quips that dispel awkward tension inside examination rooms. That these do not rely on stereotypes or other offensive tropes is a model on how to bring humor into a professional setting. Most important is the author’s golden rule to never laugh “at anyone in my office” and to only laugh “with them.”
A rollicking collection of good-natured humor designed to put patients at ease.Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022
ISBN: 9781632996176
Page Count: 200
Publisher: River Grove Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 1, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.
The veteran actor, comedian, and banjo player teams up with the acclaimed illustrator to create a unique book of cartoons that communicates their personalities.
Martin, also a prolific author, has always been intrigued by the cartoons strewn throughout the pages of the New Yorker. So when he was presented with the opportunity to work with Bliss, who has been a staff cartoonist at the magazine since 1997, he seized the moment. “The idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me,” he writes. “I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny.” Once the duo agreed to work together, they established their creative process, which consisted of working forward and backward: “Forwards was me conceiving of several cartoon images and captions, and Harry would select his favorites; backwards was Harry sending me sketched or fully drawn cartoons for dialogue or banners.” Sometimes, he writes, “the perfect joke occurs two seconds before deadline.” There are several cartoons depicting this method, including a humorous multipanel piece highlighting their first meeting called “They Meet,” in which Martin thinks to himself, “He’ll never be able to translate my delicate and finely honed droll notions.” In the next panel, Bliss thinks, “I’m sure he won’t understand that the comic art form is way more subtle than his blunt-force humor.” The team collaborated for a year and created 150 cartoons featuring an array of topics, “from dogs and cats to outer space and art museums.” A witty creation of a bovine family sitting down to a gourmet meal and one of Dumbo getting his comeuppance highlight the duo’s comedic talent. What also makes this project successful is the team’s keen understanding of human behavior as viewed through their unconventional comedic minds.
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-26289-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
An ebullient nature lover’s paean to birds.
A charming bird journey with the bestselling author.
In his introduction to Tan’s “nature journal,” David Allen Sibley, the acclaimed ornithologist, nails the spirit of this book: a “collection of delightfully quirky, thoughtful, and personal observations of birds in sketches and words.” For years, Tan has looked out on her California backyard “paradise”—oaks, periwinkle vines, birch, Japanese maple, fuchsia shrubs—observing more than 60 species of birds, and she fashions her findings into delightful and approachable journal excerpts, accompanied by her gorgeous color sketches. As the entries—“a record of my life”—move along, the author becomes more adept at identifying and capturing them with words and pencils. Her first entry is September 16, 2017: Shortly after putting up hummingbird feeders, one of the tiny, delicate creatures landed on her hand and fed. “We have a relationship,” she writes. “I am in love.” By August 2018, her backyard “has become a menagerie of fledglings…all learning to fly.” Day by day, she has continued to learn more about the birds, their activities, and how she should relate to them; she also admits mistakes when they occur. In December 2018, she was excited to observe a Townsend’s Warbler—“Omigod! It’s looking at me. Displeased expression.” Battling pesky squirrels, Tan deployed Hot Pepper Suet to keep them away, and she deterred crows by hanging a fake one upside down. The author also declared war on outdoor cats when she learned they kill more than 1 billion birds per year. In May 2019, she notes that she spends $250 per month on beetle larvae. In June 2019, she confesses “spending more hours a day staring at birds than writing. How can I not?” Her last entry, on December 15, 2022, celebrates when an eating bird pauses, “looks and acknowledges I am there.”
An ebullient nature lover’s paean to birds.Pub Date: April 23, 2024
ISBN: 9780593536131
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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