Humor / Topic Books

The Tao is such a simple thing, but we complicate it by using esoteric language and piling concept on top of concept to try and explain it. What better way to describe a basic idea than to explain it to a child? Although THE TAO OF POOH isn't really aimed at children, it takes the beloved A. A. Milne characters, copies their familiar cadences, and describes the Tao with picture-perfect clarity. The hero that emerges here, of course, is Pooh, who perfectly exemplifies the way of no-way.

Following the best-selling footsteps of Jon Stewart's AMERICA (THE BOOK) comes Stephen Colbert's absurdly patriotic and intentionally wrongheaded ode to America. He tackles the big topics plaguing our nation today: the dangers of Mother Nature, the ways you might become gay, the utter fraudulence of evolution and atheism, and those ridiculous things called books. Boldly ignoring truth and the oppression of the "fact-a-nistas," Colbert goes with his gut and finds the "truthiness" of the issues. Filled with lots of splendidly useless charts, figures, and illustrations, his infamously acidic speech at the 2006 White House Correspondent's Dinner, plus a bonus DVD, I AM AMERICA (AND SO CAN YOU) teaches you, the reader how to become America. As Colbert explained in an Entertainment Weekly interview, "I think Walt Whitman said it best in SONG OF MYSELF: 'What I assume, you shall assume.' And that's what you need to do. Read the book, be me. Hold my truths to be self-evident." As always, his jokes are hilarious, but Colbert's parody taps into the fiercely stupid reality of modern American politics and culture.

Before returning to the United States after 20 years in England, Bryson embarks on a farewell circuit of the country. He integrates history and reflections of his own debut tour of England in this valediction.

A consultant and story editor from the hit TV show SEX AND THE CITY tell you what's really going on in a man's mind when he's apparently sending out mixed messages about his feelings for you: HE'S JUST NOT THAT INTO YOU. According to this humorous but intensely practical self-help guide, men avoid telling women that they're not interested in them because men hate messy, emotional confrontations. However, their actions are fairly screaming their interest, or lack thereof, and women need to pick up on that, dump the losers, and move on to the real, fulfilling relationships that they so richly deserve. This book torpedoes every lame excuse a woman makes for a boyfriend's bad or indifferent behavior. A man who's interested in a woman will move heaven and earth to be with her. If he won't call you, he won't ask you out, he won't propose, or he disappears entirely, wake up and smell the coffee: HE'S JUST NOT THAT INTO YOU. As featured on OPRAH and NBC's TODAY SHOW. Winner of the 2005 Quill Award in Health/Self-Improvement.

Quirky essayist Sarah Vowell, known both for her pieces on NPR's "This American Life" and her star turn voicing teen superhero Violet in the animated Pixar blockbuster THE INCREDIBLES, waxes both witty and rhapsodic in this monumentally obsessive travelogue chronicling her so-called pilgrimage to various places related to the first three assassinations of American presidents (Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley). From the museum housing Lincoln's skull fragments to James Garfield's favorite office armchair to the apartment building of anarchist Emma Goldman (falsely implicated in McKinley's assassination), no site, major or minor, is left unvisited. Along the way, Vowell shares various tidbits of history related to the three presidencies and their abrupt endings, including the career of Lincoln's eldest son, Robert Todd Lincoln, whom she refers to variously as the "jinxed Zelig of doom," and "Jinxy McDeath," due to his misfortune of being in close proximity to all three of those assassinations.

Ralph Steadman's tribute to his friend Hunter S. Thompson's cat, and to cats in general. Illustrated by the author.

Conservative Mormon comedian and talk-show host Glenn Beck goes on a no-holds-barred assault, as the title might suggest, on Al Gore (a man he has compared to Hitler), environmentalism, and liberal sentiment in his bestselling AN INCONVENIENT BOOK. His political stances and "real solutions" are always controversial, but always presented in a lighthearted and hilarious manner--a right-wing equivalent of Jon Stewart. When he advocates clear cutting forests or eliminating the minimum wage some will be outraged, but his legion of fans will appreciate Beck's ability to cut the crap and speak his mind. Because for Beck, and for many of his readers, the biggest danger to America isn't global warming, it's political correctness. Funny if you share his point of view, and perhaps in a different kind of way, also if you don't.

In this witty guide, a group of outspoken Southern belles offers other women advice on love, life, and relationships.

This collection of essays by right-wing humorist O'Rourke includes, as usual, plenty of eyebrow-raising political pontifications (for both Democrats and Republicans), but focuses more on the everyday turmoil in the home.

Do not confuse this book with your standard Christian inspirational self-help books. A.J. Jacobs, a self-proclaimed secular Jew, follows up his Herculean reading of all 33 volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica (a task he recounts in THE KNOW-IT-ALL: ONE MAN'S HUMBLE QUEST TO BECOME THE SMARTEST PERSON IN THE WORLD) with an even more difficult quest: to obey the dictates and rules of The Bible for an entire year. He refrains from shaving, he gives up shellfish ("an abomination" in the eyes of God), abandons clothing made from two types of fabric, and stops mentioning the blasphemous days of the week (named after pagan gods). Fortunately, he decides not to stone to death adulterers or murder any magicians. Additionally, he ventures out across the world to talk with other biblical literalists: Amish, snake handlers, and Samaritans. The result is a hilarious and fascinating journey, filled with comedy, hypocrisy, and surprising revelations into the bizarre texts on which faith is based.

In this mock reference book, the clever folks who publish the satirical newspaper the Onion take on the very funny (who knew?) topic of world geography. Spanning the globe, and using maps, charts, and a lot of questionable statistics, they provide a wealth of misinformation on countries ("The United Kingdom: surging ahead to the 19th century") , regions, and places no one has ever heard of (such as the Great Human Pyramid of Egypt). Though not recommended for school research projects, this rip-roaring cartographic tour makes a wonderful graduation gift. (And the cover promises a "free globe inside"!)