Dipping back into non-fiction, this one interested me because it seemed like investigating what makes things funny and how that can be integrated into business would be useful. Maybe not for my own situation, but advising others who plan to go do business overseas in America.
I got a lot out of this book, especially the analysis of what makes something funny. By hearing from actual comedians as well as professors you could start to see the anatomy of a joke. I especially liked the model showing the structure of levity -> humor -> comedy, and understood the need to keep a sense of levity in my own teaching situations.
That being said humor is of course highly culture-dependent, and I would say 90% of what is in this book would absolutely not fly in a Japanese business situation.
There are sections of this book where they are clearly talking to American CEOs or leaders, and when they switch on the business-speak it was a little unnerving for me. I am so glad I am not subjected to that kind of vocab on a daily basis.
Next I am reading The Man Who Saw Seconds by Alexander Boldizar.
