Barron's Book of Cartoons

Rating:
Summary: Funny Money!
Review: Did you lose money on tech stocks in the last two years? Do you still hold dot com stocks? Are you worried about your 401k? Barron's Book of Cartoons will cheer you up!

"A lot of what we see on Wall Street is nothing short of comical, and it's our job [at Barron's] to point that out."

If you don't know Barron's, you should. The editors love to poke sharp points at inflated egos (and accounting), and the articles from over the weekend often move the market on Monday. Much like The New Yorker, also Barron's abounds in money cartoons. This volume contains 100 of the best from recent years.

The opening essay by Barron's editor and president, Edwin Finn, Jr., describes a little about the background of Frank Cotham, Mike Shapiro, and Leo Cullum whose cartoons often grace the Barron's pages and are well represented in this volume.

I thought that all but a few of the cartoons were above average, and many were terrific. Here are a few examples to give you a flavor:

Executive behind desk talking on telephone -- "Sorry, Frank, I didn't mean that . . . it was the money talking." (Mick Stevens);

Hot dog vendor to executive -- "I believe Dijon is available at our Madison Avenue location." (Leo Cullum);

Man watching newscast on television -- "The stock market went down today, on fears that it would go down." (Leo Cullum);

Woman to man as they leave restaurant -- "I'm not jealous, I just didn't like the way you talked about aggressive-growth bond funds with her." (P.C. Vey);

Executive talks to subordinate around a board table with graphs pointing down on the wall -- "What happened, Carswell? You were in charge of feng shui." (Leo Cullum);

Man grabs another man at bar -- "Careful pal, you're talking about the stocks I love." (Bernard Schoenbaum);

Man with knife in back speaks to physician -- "It happened either over the weekend or when I left the office today for lunch." (Leo Cullum).

Like all good humor, I found myself remembering situations that I had found myself in where similar comments were made.

Remember, you can't take it with you. So you might as well get a laugh or two now!

Rating:
Summary: Some best cartoons I have ever seen
Review: This books contains 100 cartoons, many of which are the best I have ever seen. They are related to businesses, job, interviewing, stock investments, and would make a good cartoon book for house guests or company clients to read, on the coffee table or in the waiting room.