Humor Theory

Of all human qualities, humor is perhaps the most puzzling. In this very first history of humor, author and humorist William Hartston looks at every aspect of the evolution of humor and our attitudes toward it with a view to developing a proper theory of everything humorous.

Orchestrated at the highest levels of society, the nation’s food supply has been hijacked and contaminated in the first step of a global plot. George Miles, a scientist, discovers something is wrong and joins grocery delivery driver Dustin Fowler on the trail through a world turning insane: terrorist wristware, inflatable farm equipment, a woman following her dream to become the world’s fattest person and Tolkien-themed Pyramid schemes all stand in their path to save everyone from a monstrous fate.

The High Priests of the Economics profession are a privileged and highly-compensated group. Their speeches are endlessly analyzed, their every public utterance transcribed and disseminated world-wide. Yet they’re often wrong. How can this be? How can a profession that sends one of these high priests to Scandinavia each year to receive a Nobel Prize for achievements in “Economic Science” be so error-prone? The answer is quite simple: Economics, and the social and soft sciences more generally, are not science in the same sense that physics and chemistry and engineering are science. In ...

It would be easier for Thomas Mullen to move on from what he'd seen if Sarah stopped calling. It would be even better if she stopped appearing to him, and only him, to remind him of what he was powerless to stop. But months later, after Thomas loses his phone and the random woman who recovers it arranges to return it to him, his predicament intensifies. This woman tells him that while she's had his phone, his mother has called. His mother really needs him to call her back. And who is Sarah?

There is a great war coming. Since before recorded history, Humanity has battled a terrible foe. Long ago we won a battle, but the war continues. The Duck has been waiting, watching and preparing to once again rise and crush humanity. This time they will have allies, new weapons, and thousands of years of bottled up rage... Those enlightened few of us who are capable of seeing this threat in time must learn, study and arm ourselves against the coming storm. It's to educate yourself and prepare for what may be our species' most perilous days. Skeptical? This book contains the FACTS that will...

A science fiction, fantasy, and humorous tale with a strong social theme, narrating the tragic experience of an individual held captive in a Mooncheesist re-education camp on the dark side of the Moon. The story exposes the fragile social balance that arises from the blurred line between the rightful struggle for the rights of different groups and the intolerance exercised by cancel culture as a form of ideological cleansing, where a new ideology incessantly replaces an old belief, constantly pitting factions against each other until total social madness ensues. Does anyone know what our ...