Wit's End

What Wit Is, How It Works, and Why We Need It

By: James Geary

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Paperback | 29 November 2019 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

Paperback
240 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
21.0 x 14.0 x 1.3

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In "this inventive and playful book" (Tom Beer, Newsday), James Geary explores every facet of wittiness, from its role in innovation to why puns are the highest form of wit. Adopting a different style for each chapter--from dramatic dialogue to sermon, heroic couplets to a barroom monologue--Geary embodies wit in all its forms. Wit's End agilely balances psychology, folktale, visual art, and literary history with lighthearted humor and acute insight, demonstrating that wit and wisdom are really the same thing.

Industry Reviews

"Wit's End is delicious." -- Stephen Fry
"James Geary has produced a rich cornucopia of wit and its origins in the wittiest literary way possible. A delight." -- Julia Hobsbawm
"Geary presents a history of wit with all the intellectual force and facility that the more learned reader might expect..." -- Times Literary Supplement
"... there's a fascinating exploration of visual wit in the form of an art-history lecture. With humour and verve and by the variety of his style, Geary shows wit to be multifaceted, subtle, ambiguous and akin to wisdom." -- The Irish Times
"... convey[s] the power of wit to refresh the mind..." -- The Wall Street Journal
"Playful, fiercely intelligent, silly, funny and immensely informative - [Wit's End] makes for a breathless read that leaves you feeling enormously enriched. The reinvention from chapter to chapter is a masterstroke and keeps the subject matter joyously buoyant." -- Reece Shearsmith
"Wit's End juggles scholarship, humorous anecdote and critical insight with a diabolical, almost sinister dexterity. No shrinking violet, Geary fully intends to strut his stuff, to glitter and beguile, and he does so with remarkable ingenuity and chutzpah." -- The Washington Post
"Geary is a keen storyteller, promiscuous with quotes and figures. One could do worse at a cocktail party than simply opening his book at random and reading aloud." -- The New Yorker
"... playful, occasionally chaotic road trip through comedy's links to innovation and creativity." -- Discover

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