Ha!: The Science of When We Laugh and Why
Here’s an interesting idea: humor (and what the author calls its “most common symptom,” laughter) is a consequence of having a brain that relies on conflict. Weems, a neuroscientist, explores what goes on inside our cranium when something makes us laugh; he also explores the essence of humor itself (Why can we tell when something’s funny, but a computer cannot?), why we laugh longer and harder at some things than we do at others, and how a healthy sense of humor can help us have a healthy body. If, as the author suggests, humor results from conflict in the brain, then certain things follow from that: we laugh loudest at stereotypes because we know on some level that they’re wrong, even if we find them amusing; we cackle when we’re surprised because our perceptions have been suddenly altered. Considering its subject, the book is a bit dry, but then it’s not a humor book; it’s a serious book about the neuroscience of humor. --David Pitt