Just because they have survived doesn’t mean they made history happen. Although it’s only 150 pages long, the middle third was slow and plodding.Īnd I’m not sure I buy Pollack’s theory that puns drove the course of human history. The Pun Also Rises suffers from the dreaded mid-book slump. Pollack is wordy, since he pushes puns into every topic. And after learning everything about lexicography in last year’s selection, we all thought this would be an interesting addition to our knowledge base.ĭespite a few flaws, I liked this book.

Another member of my postal book club suggested it. I like learning about language, although the book wasn’t on the top of my list by any stretch. Every variation in the punning world is explained, from visual to homophonic and homographic. But he also tells stories of history’s unknown punsters, focusing especially on times the pun was ascendant. He slides puns into every paragraph, whether he’s talking about brain chemistry or England in the Middle Ages. You must appreciate puns to get the most out of Pollack’s writing. The book is just riddled with puns! It cries out for groans of appreciation. The rest of the book ranged from snoozy to informative and mildly entertaining.

This was the most intense part of his book, The Pun Also Rises: How the Humble Pun Revolutionized Language, Changed History, and Made Wordplay More than Some Antics. Skillfully weaving together stories and evidence from history, brain science, pop culture, literature, anthropology, and humor, The Pun Also Rises is an authoritative yet playful exploration of a practice that is common, in one form or another, to virtually every language on earth.John Pollack prefaces his exploration of puns with his experience at the world pun championship. In The Pun Also Rises, John Pollack-a former World Pun Champion and presidential speechwriter for Bill Clinton-explains why such wordplay is significant: It both revolutionized language and played a pivotal role in making the modern world possible.

But such attitudes are relatively recent developments.

The pun is commonly dismissed as the lowest form of wit, and punsters are often unpopular for their obsessive wordplay. A former word pun champion's funny, erudite, and provocative exploration of puns, the people who make them, and this derided wordplay's remarkable impact on history.

The pun also rises by john pollack