Most Popular Books by Bob Mankoff

New York Times Bestseller: "A memoir [and] an enormous window into the mystery and alchemy behind the creation and selection of New Yorker cartoons." — The Washington Post Hi, this is me, Bob Mankoff. And this is my memoir. In it I''ll usher you into the hallowed halls of the New Yorker (Shhh! Quiet, you''ll upset the fact checkers) to show you the soup-to-nuts process of cartoon creation, giving you a detailed look not only at my own work, but that of the artists who keep you laughing every week, except, of course, when they don''t, puzzling you with a cartoon that you "don''t get" and then you shoot me an email asking me to explain it. Well, you can stop the shooting. You''re holding the solution to those cartoon puzzlers in your hands (it''s in chapter nine). What else? Oh goodness, self-effacing, humble me has left out the personal part, the essential me-ness part, forged in 1950s Queens, New York, where I became a wisecracking Jewish kid who mimicked Jerry Lewis, did funny drawings, and turned my mother''s Yiddishisms into American humor, leading straight to a career as a successful cartoonist and cartoon editor of the New Yorker. Nah, that''s not the way it happened. You''ll need to read the book to find out how it really went down. "Fascinating, forthright, and funny . . . Mankoff also writes with first-hand knowledge about the topic of laughter itself. He dares to ask the question, ''What makes something funny?'', and answers it with intelligence, originality, and, of course, humor." —Roz Chast, #1 New York Times–bestselling author of Can''t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? "Not just a charming memoir but also a charming grab bag of cartoon history, cartoon theory (nothing too woolly), and shop talk." — The New York Times Book Review "Serves up not only a mini-collection of great cartoons but also a look at the shift in styles through the editorships of legendary William Shawn, Tina Brown, and current editor David Remnick. Mankoff also provides a very funny and insightful look at how to win the New Yorker caption contest." — Publishers Weekly

"Fascinating, forthright, and funny . . . Mankoff also writes with first-hand knowledge about the topic of laughter itself. He dares to ask the question, ''What makes something funny?'', and answers it with intelligence, originality, and, of course, humor."-Roz Chast, cartoonist for The New Yorker Hi, this is me, Bob Mankoff. And this is my memoir. In it I''ll usher you into the hallowed halls of The New Yorker (Shhh! Quiet, you''ll upset the fact checkers) to show you the soup-to-nuts process of cartoon creation, giving you a detailed look not only at my own work, but that of the artists who keep you laughing every week, except, of course, when they don''t, puzzling you with a cartoon that you "don''t get" and then you shoot me an email asking me to explain it. Well, you can stop the shooting. You''re holding the solution to those cartoon puzzlers in your hands (it''s in chapter nine). What else? Oh goodness, self-effacing, humble me has left out the personal part, the essential me-ness part, forged in 1950s Queens New York where I became a wisecracking Jewish kid who mimicked Jerry Lewis, did funny drawings, and turned my mother''s Yiddishisms into American humor, leading straight to a career as a successful cartoonist. Nah, that''s not the way it happened. You''ll need to read the book to find out how it really went down.

If you like inexpensive restaurants where the main course is Beluga caviar, radio stations that play nothing but your favorite hits, and airlines that automatically upgrade you to first class and never lose your luggage, forget it. There''s no such thing. But here''s a dream that actually comes true: The New Yorker 75th Anniversary Cartoon Collection, the biggest and funniest collection of New Yorker cartoons ever assembled. From the unforgettable classics to contemporary favorites, this drawing gallery of comic genius spans nearly the entire 20th century! This satisfyingly bulky volume brings together the best of every New Yorker reader''s favorite feature of his or her favorite magazine. Edited and introduced by New Yorker cartoon editor and no-slouch-himself cartoonist Bob ("How about never -- is never good for you?") Mankoff, The New Yorker 75th Anniversary Cartoon Collection is a riotous panorama of three-quarters of a century of life, love, business, society, and human nature as seen by the most gifted comic artists on the planet -- Peter Arno, Charles Addams, Mary Petty, Roz Chast, William Steig, Jack Ziegler, and many more. Besides reminding us of how fresh the old favorites remain, The New Yorker 75th Anniversary Cartoon Collection unearths page after page of long-forgotten gems that startle us with their perspicacious commentary on the ever-changing world around us and the neverchanging ways we react to it, cope with it, and stumble (or, occasionally, triumph) over it. The New Yorker 75th Anniversary Cartoon Collection is too thick to be Scotch-taped to the refrigerator or pinned on the bulletin board, but every one of these on-the-nose cartoons yields an insight that stays sharp -- and stays funny -- every time. The New Yorker''s cartoons and its cartoonists are one of the great treasures of the century. Trusting their keen eye for the idiosyncrasies of people and the caprices of culture, we know we can rely on them to make us laugh, over and over again, as they reveal what we are really thinking about -- usually before we realize it ourselves.

Let Bob Mankoff be your guide to laughing at your relationship (or the relationship of your favorite friend or couple). Monograph contains 146 of Bob''s favorite relationship cartoons covering every possible relationship topic imaginable: First Dates, Proposals, Marriage, Anniversaries, Infidelity, Couples Therapy, Divorce, and much more! After all, if you can''t laugh at the existential rom-com that is human intimacy, then the joke''s on you.