Laughing Nine to Five by Clyde Fahlman
ISBN 0-9656055-3-1
Paperback 5 1/2 x 8 1/2; 204 pages
List price: $14.95 (US);$19.95 (CDN)
Amazon price: $14.95
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A well respected author and lecturer, Adams makes this statement about creativity and humor: "Creative groups with which I have been associated have been funny. So are creative people I have known. Humor is present in all manner of ways. I am not suggesting that creative activity is all fun since it is fraught with frustration, detail work, and plain effort. However, humor is an essential ingredient of healthy conceptualization."
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Comical predictions on technology, work, jobs, and gender relations lace this book, arguably his best to date. One major prediction: There will be a shortage of acronyms in the 21st Century because there are only 26 letters in the alphabet and all the good ones will be used up. A nugget. Adams has another attribute: Like other great people he was once employed by a Bell System company.
This is a hilarious argument for women to unleash their sense of humor. As she says: "Women's humor may be undervalued, but it is priceless. It may have been hidden away, but it has been constant. It may have been ignored or challenged, but it has always been a secretly potent, delightfully dangerous, wonderfully seductive, and, most important, powerful way to make ourselves heard, to capture the attention, the heart, and the respect of our audience."
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This is a very practical book purportedly made from shredded paper. In this well researched piece Borowitz makes effective use of reference material such as the One Minute Prisoner and the Seven Habits of Highly Effective Prisoners. He also selects the organization system by Neutron Jack at GE: Six Sigma over Total Quality Management. (He admits to understanding only 17 % of TQM.)
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The author made an important contribution to holistic medicine with Anatomy of an Illness (order Anatomy now from Amazon) and this book. He was so respected as editor of the Saturday Review of Literature that he was listened to when he said that laughter and humor reduces pain and improves health. Extensive medical school studies have proven this thesis to be accurate. Both books are classics.
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Here is a great quote from his book that gives the flavor: "Like the spoonful of sugar in Mary Poppins, I believe that a bit of laughter at the right moment helps the medicine go down. After a fallen tree has landed on your car, putting a sign on it that reads COMPACT CAR may not make the car whole again, but it will help you see misfortune a little differently."
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What is humor? How does it reduce stress? How does it relate to creativity? Morreall delivers in-depth responses to these questions and many more, using humor that... works. In one section he says: "Keep Your Comic Eye Open" and offers this example from a lost and found notice in a newspaper: Lost Dog 3 legs, blind in left eye, ear torn, recently castrated, answers to the name"Lucky"
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From " accidental humor " (physical and linguistic) to " urban legends " this book provides the theoretical base and extensive examples of humor in our culture. It reads so well that it can be read cover to cover---not your ordinary reference book. It's a must for all who are serious about humor (and if you've come this far you are.)
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Anyone who has attended one of his seminars knows that Peters has a marvelous sense of humor. Hear his aside about laughter: "One form of emotional involvement, laughter, deserves a special comment. Urgency and laughter go hand in glove...To speed action taking, we simply must learn to laugh at our own (personal, organizational) bureaucratic, action delaying foibles, and we must learn to laugh at interesting and useful mistakes...In general, a spirited environment is marked by laughter."
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Another look at the creativity-humor connection. Here is just one imaginative exercise: "What if dog food manufacturers put non-digestible additives--for example, petunia or marigold seeds--in their products? Dogs would then become delivery systems going about planting and fertilizing flowers. Another additive might be a non-toxic fluorescent material. This would be especially appropriate in cities at night where pedestrians would know that the object glowing in the dark uphead is something they don't want to step in."
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Weinstein reports: "I'm always amazed when people proudly proclaim 'I never mix business with pleasure.' I want to reply what's wrong with you? If you want to build a successful team at work your management philosophy should be exactly the opposite." His book is loaded with concrete ideas for bringing fun and productivity into the workplace."
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