Bennett Cerf has had many careers over his lifetime - publisher, lecturer, newspaper columnist as well as television personality (the host on "What's My Line", seen on the cable channel Game Show Network). But one of the things Mr Cerf was most famous for was making people laugh.

In "The Sounds of Laughter", Mr Cerf serves up some help for those who like a good joke or a bad pun, but especially those who have to do public speaking. The book is divided into various catagories - politics, history, wildlife (among others) and of course, puns. And all of the jokes are suitable to tell any audience of any age. There are history lessons (including an interesting quote from Adolph Hitler) as well as famous folks'
anecdotes such as Dorothy Parker and Gertrude Stein.

This book is definitely a funny one for people of all ages and especially helpful if you happen to do a lot of presentations. Slip one of these jokes into your presentation, your audience is laughing - and you got them eating out of the palm of your hand.
So give it a try - you'll really enjoy yourself.

This collection of Science Fiction Short stories is phenomenal. Each story prods our thinking and is easy to relate with. One ends up appricating this great authors imagination as I felt as if I was living through the whole thing. Old But Gold.

I thimk this is a good book of fauns

A book that seeks to clear the muddle of distorted African history, especially as found in the bible. The book starts by explaining the origin and meaning of the word Negro as an introduction. It then informs the reader of the many black people of the bible like, Zipporah the Ethiopian (wife to Moses), the great pharaoh Taharqa, Absolm (David's son) and the great Candaces (Black women warriors) of Sudan, just to mention a few. The chapters are short yet very informative. Although I was not that convinced regarding the identity of Moses: ie was he a black jew or otherwise? Yet a good book of black history especially in the old testament.

This is a great book for those interested in WW2 bomber development. Although not large or exhaustive in detail it contains many nuggets of information that are hard to find elsewhere. Highly recommended.

My late father was a bookie in his younger days so I could relate to the story better than most. Dad purchased a copy of this when it came out in the 1970's and laughed all the way through it.

Some of the sports references are dated now (the book is about 30 years old) but a realistic insight into a bookmaker's life and incredibly funny. The writer has a great style and really enjoyable.

I bought a new copy and re-read recently. Glad I did. ...

Reading of the Democratic party's enfranchisement of immigrants in our 1996 presidential election, specifically the Mexicans illegally coming across the Rio Grande, parallels the story of the big city political machines doing the same thing around the turn of the 19th century and thereafter. Because of shifts in the composition of the labor market, reflecting the advancing information age, and for other reasons, these Bosses have seen their political power continuously diluted. They have in turn been replaced by race baiting demigogues such as Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and Louis Farrakhan. 20% of the Democratic party base is made up of potential Black voters, and the most effective way of getting them to the polls is to practice the politics of divisiveness by lying to them. What's changed?

The book is a facinating insight into political machines and their place in the political arcana of America. A must for poly-Sci majors.

Reading the empiricists is a rare treat. Because of their style, Locke, Berkeley, and Hume seem to be more accessible to the novice and general reader than much of philosophy. However, the three essays included in this volume are welcome additions to the Oxford University Press's "Past Masters" series, and anyone reading this book will gain a greater appreciation for the empriricits. Highly recommended.

I have owned and read several times the David and Charles publication of this book (as a Pan Books paperback) since it first appeared in 1969.
It is an outstanding work written by a distinguished mechanical engineer very familiar with his subject. In clear language which even the non-technical should understand, the design and workings of the steam locomotive in Britain is made clear. Much of it is applicable in its fundamentals to steam locomotives anywhere in the world. It is definitely not a hagiography of some enthusiasts favorite designs but an objective account of the continued and successful development of the steam locomotive to the much improved state it reached after about 50 year's development in the 20th century. There is a rare but proper examination of compounding, superheat, boilers, cylinders, valve gear, and adhesion and many other relevant subjects. Also of experiments with ultra-high pressure and steam turbines and the author shows how the final designs tended to gell around a certain relatively simple but effective and efficient conformity in both Britain and the USA. Unusually there is a proper emphasis on maintenance and its costs, a subject often neglected.
I thoroughly recommend this book especially to provide the reader with a useful reference for a clesr understanding.
My own copy is now falling apart and I would be glad to find a robust hardcover edition.

The world's oldest subway tunnel, the second largest art museum in America, and the greatest concentration of historic houses in New York. These are just three of "Brooklyn's Best" described in this book. Every time I visit New York I always spend time in Brooklyn and with this excellent guide in hand, I now have even more reasons to visit. Brooklyn is huge-it would be the fourth largest city in the States on its own. The authors, both Brooklyn residents, manage to pack an enormous amount of information in its compact 160 pages: shopping, sightseeing, restaurants and "happy wanderings." Few guides to New York City spend much time covering Brooklyn except for the three "B's"-the huge Brooklyn Museum (which has a real mummy), the Botanical Garden (go in May for the cherry trees), and the most famous bridge in New York (which happens to be named after Brooklyn.)

The book's chapters are short-usually two pages-and conducive to browsing. Before you know it you've read half the book and learned that Brooklyn has 93 ethnic groups, the Park Slope area has one coffee shop per adult resident, and the tallest building is the Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower which, by the way, is every bit as impressive as anything in Manhattan. You'll also learn where to find the colonies of parrots that thrive in Brooklyn, or the floating barge that hosts chamber music recitals. From its colorful cover to its list of web sites, this is a handy and attractive guide to the best of Brooklyn.