Humor Me
How Laughing More Can Make You Present, Creative, Connected, and Happy
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- Vorbestellbar
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- Erwartet am 6. Jan. 2026
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- 10,99 €
Beschreibung des Verlags
From a comedian and host of hit TED podcast, How to Be a Better Human, a hilarious and enlightening guide to laughing your way into a fuller life
“Warning: this book may cause repeated smiling. It’s a delightful read about how we can bring more levity into our lives.”
—Adam Grant, author of Hidden Potential and Think Again
In his days as an exhausted fifth grade teacher, Chris Duffy taught the funniest person he’s ever met: eleven-year-old Gary. Gary was the school newspaper’s official food critic, blasting cafeteria pizza for looking like cardboard and opining that the baked beans weren’t “beany” enough. These days, Duffy is a professional comedy writer and the host of a podcast with millions of listeners, but he’s never forgotten the transformative joy of laughing with Gary during a bleak Boston winter. In Humor Me, he shares a road map for how to cultivate and strengthen a sense of humor in a challenging world.
Duffy embarks on a journey that takes him from comedy clubs to emergency rooms to a helicopter full of Navy SEALs and back to his own keyboard to reveal how—and why—a good laugh can bring us closer to the good life. Drawing on personal stories, insights from the social sciences, and the wisdom of comedians, Duffy offers practical strategies, including:How to hone the art of noticing, finding humor in the most unlikely placesWhy you should take social risks (to build connection through humor!)How to apply the comedy secret that laughs come in threes.
Humor Me promises to deepen your friendships, enhance your creativity, and lighten life’s burdens, and is a genuinely funny read along the way.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Comedy is as essential to a healthy and happy life as diet and exercise, according to this illuminating debut from comedian Duffy. Mixing personal anecdotes with research and expert interviews, he outlines the key pillars of good humor—being present, laughing at oneself, taking social risks—before pivoting to a more serious analysis of how humor underpins different areas of life. Interpersonally, joking releases tension, inverts conflict dynamics, and helps groups and individuals bond (laughter, Duffy writes, is "a by-product of connecting honestly and deeply with each other"). Physiologically, laughter decreases blood pressure and stimulates the release of dopamine and serotonin. One of the book's most intriguing chapters explores how humor fuels innovation, partly because the willingness to not take oneself seriously is fundamental to curiosity. Duffy is a wry and funny narrator, but his best insights arrive when he sets aside his need to land a punch line and compassionately and insightfully unpacks how humor functions in deeper and more unexpected ways, such as helping to endure challenges like bullying, grief, and suffering. This will entertain and enlighten aspiring comedians and regular folks alike.
