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Rating: 
Summary: Here for the Holidays
Review: As a longtime reader of the New Yorker -- and, more importantly, a longtime reader of its cartoons -- I was happy to see that the cartoon editor of the magazine had written a book. To be honest, I expected more about the inside dealings of the magazine: the idiosyncracies of famous cartoonists, the backstage intrigue that led to my favorite cartoons. That's not exaactly what this book is. It's more a solo performance by Robert Mankoff, who writes at great length about his own internal creative process. This was offputting at first, but by the end of the first chapter, I was hooked. He has an engaging voice and a real talent for illustrating his ideas (as you would expect), so the result is a pretty wonderful guidebook to human creativity and humor.
Rating: 
Summary: Bravo Very Good Book
Review: I come to United States to visit a cousin and took this book from his table. It is a wonderful amusement that will remain in my mind for many years.
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Summary: What Goes Ha Ha Ha Ha Plop?
Review: Me, laughing my head off as I read this book. But this book also filled my head before I laughed it off. I thought it would be a hilarious collection of some of the best New Yorker cartoons, and it is, but it's also a complicated theory of creativity, humor, and art. The author keeps things light, but there are some serious points made as he investigates the links between cartooning, dreaming, surrealism, and so on.
Rating:
Summary: Bound Gold
Review: Perhaps that is an exaggeration: I have seen gold, held it, even watched as it was melted and molded into coins, and this book is not as valuable as gold. And yet, I cannot let go of the metaphor entirely. Gold comes from mines, where it begins life as brilliant flecks of value and inspiration amid the humid dark. And Mankoff's book, too, illustrates (literally and figuratively) how moments of comic gold can be identified, mined, and then shaped into something valuable. The mind reels, because the mind itself is shown to be a kind of reel. Auriferous artwork and puckish prose, all underpinned by a genuine interest in the alchemizing of human nature, ensure this book's success.
Rating:
Summary: Forget the text. Enjoy the cartoons
Review: Robert Mankoff, the Cartoon Editor of the New Yorker has written the book purportedly as a learning guide for prospective cartoonists. Well, I don't want to be a cartoonist, but I do love cartoons, especially those found in the New Yorker. In leafing through the book I began having doubts that the text of the book would provide much help for a fledgling cartoonist. After awhile you simply become oblivious to the written material and hone in on the many delightful cartoons. As the book says there are 400 of them in this volume, and, to me, that justified the purchase price. This book is certainly as good as any of the other books that form part of the New Yorker cartoon book library, and if you are a devotee of pictorial humor do pick up a copy.
Rating:
Summary: Forget the text. Enjoy the cartoons
Review: Robert Mankoff, the Cartoon Editor of the NY Times has written the book purportedly as a learning guide for prospective cartoonists. Well, I don't want to be a cartoonist, but I do love cartoons, especially those found in the New Yorker. In leafing through the book I began having doubts that the text of the book would provide much help for a fledgling cartoonist. After awhile you simply become oblivious to the written material and hone in on the many delightful cartoons. As the book says there are 400 of them in this volume, and, to me, that justified the purchase price. This book is certainly as good as any of the other books that form part of the New Yorker cartoon book library, and if you are a devotee of pictorial humor do pick up a copy.
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